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| First year growing mortage lifter and the plants seem to have allot ligher foilage and seem to be kind of wispy. I was just wondering if that is normal for mortgage lifters. I do have some tomato sets and one plant gets less sun then the other but both appear wispy. Any thouhgts would be appreciateive. Sorry I did not spell check before posting. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by carolyn137 z4/5 NY (My Page) on Tue, Jul 3, 07 at 22:45
| seem to have allot ligher foilage and seem to be kind of wispy ******* go big, no, Mortgage lifters don't have wispy droopy foliage. There is one strain called the Mullen's strain that has consistently lighter green foliage that's easy to tell from normal dark green foliage. Is there any chance you might be growing that one? It's one you have to seek out and seeds are not all that available, but it does have lighter foliage. Carolyn |
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| Check the thread"new to garden web(3) by danmato. He has a great photo of his Mortgage Lifter. |
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- Posted by nctomatoman z7/8 NC (clehoullier@nc.rr.com) on Wed, Jul 4, 07 at 13:14
| A little more clarifying detail - Mullens Mortgage Lifter is pretty much the same as all of the others - the foliage is neither pale nor wispy. However, in growing out Mullens ML, I found an unusual seedling that did have very pale green foliage and a much more wispy growth character - I saved seed seperately and it is now pretty much stable. I sent it to Victory Seeds, and they sell it as Mortgage Lifter, pale leaf strain. (it is mistakenly in with the Red tomatoes, but it is pink fruited, just like the normal Mullens). I don't know how widely it has been distributed beyond that. But if your Mortgage Lifter has much more pale colored foliage and is very lanky/wispy, you have the Mullens Pale Leaf strain. Craig |
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- Posted by carolyn137 z4/5 NY (My Page) on Wed, Jul 4, 07 at 14:41
| I sent it to Victory Seeds, and they sell it as Mortgage Lifter, pale leaf strain *** I hadn't realized that you'd sent it to Mike at Victory Seeds which is good to know if this specific situation comes up again. gobig, what was the source of the Mortgage Lifter that you described in your opening post? Carolyn |
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- Posted by gobig_or_gohome_toms 4 (My Page) on Thu, Jul 5, 07 at 11:47
| I have seen the pale leaf strain and that is not the one I have. I purchased them at the seeds at the grocery store they were a Burpee Heirloom seed packet. I am growing on containers and we have had allot of hot weather 90+ and humid. I am getting some tomatoes on the two plants I have but the leaves almost look as if they need water but that might just be from the heat. |
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| I'm seeing the same thing with my Mortgage Lifter plants. I too bought the Burpee packet and started them from seed this year. I tell ya, I am completely unimpressed with these plants. You're right, it looks like there is something wrong with them. Mine are puny, wispy, and the leaves are as you describe. I too have fruit on them but am very disappointed. They are planted among all my other tomatoes that are over 7 feet tall and doing fabulously. The ML's seem to get every bug first and are completely problematic. I'll not be putting ML's in my garden again next year. They're not worth it compared to my other successful plants. Good luck with yours, I hope they do a lot better than mine! :) Erin |
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- Posted by carolyn137 z4/5 NY (My Page) on Sun, Jul 8, 07 at 1:28
| I'll not be putting ML's in my garden again next year. They're not worth it compared to my other successful plants. ***** When a variety that is liked by many does not turn out as it should be I think the first thing I would do would be to select another seed source rather than rejecting the variety. Sometimes seed for the same variety differs depending on the source. Carolyn |
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| In 1999 my now deceased Uncle gave me his mortgage lifter young plants. I planted them and had a good harvest. this year I ordered seeds from Totally Tomatoes. The leaves on this years plants are kinda wispy and considerably smaller then the leaves on my Uncles plants. The leaves on those were like maple tree leaves I mean huge. I'll wait to see how these do. Luckilly I saved seed from 2006 crop so did my son in law for future use if needed. Has anyone found this situation? I wonder if my Uncle mislabeled in 1999. |
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| Try the Estler's Strain of Mortgage Lifter, you won't be disappointed... It's the only Mortgage Lifter I grow now.
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- Posted by gobig_or_gohome_toms (My Page) on Sun, Jul 8, 07 at 14:53
| Well after more thought I am thinking that my problem might be due to the amount of sun the plant is getting. One plant is about 5-6 feet tall and not terrible wispy the other plant seems to be getting allot more shade (new spot this year for the container trying to sqeeze in an extra plant). I also attribute the leaves to me not using trays this year on my containers and letting them sit on the mulch. I think on the sitting on the mulch they may not drain quite as well and are retaining allot more water. Even though we are getting the heat 90+ I am going to try and water every other day instead of every day with 1/2 to 1 gallon of water a day and see if that helps. I have been reading of so many differetn heirlooms I want to try next year I have not decided on if mortage lifter will be in the top or not. Depends on the taste I guess. |
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| Carolyn, excellent point!! I hadn't considered the seed source as being a factor. It makes perfect sense. I'll try ML's again next year- probably the Estler's Strain as korney19 suggested. Thanks, Korney! Although, the ML's will have to earn their way back to prime real estate. Thanks again for the great point! Erin |
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- Posted by jackinthecountry nj zone6 (My Page) on Fri, Jul 27, 07 at 20:43
| My ML's are doing very well. It's been a while since I grew this variety but this year I was using up some old seed packets. These were from the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, c. 1998. They germinated quite nicely. And the plants are tall yet stocky and very vigorous. Putting out lots of tom's. My Carmello's are looking rather wispy. But the Mortgage's? Nope |
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| korney19 Quote: "Try the Estler's Strain of Mortgage Lifter, you won't be disappointed." From this forum I've come to believe that seed source is important too. These ML's of yours Korney look great what seed source do you use because ML's are one of my 5 top all favorite and I would love to grow this strain, thank you. :) |
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| Are You Growing a ML ? If so then, welcome to this thread. I am reviving this vantage thread to start some talk on ML, of all varieties. I am personally growing one for the first time. I bought it as a 6" Bonnie plant from HD (cost ~=4bucks). It is Radiator Charlie Variety , I believe. ABOUT foliage : Ever since I planted it has had light green foliage. I have other varieties in the same bed (and elsewhere in my garden) with much darker green foliage. The leaves are normal, not wispy thou. About DTM: Taste : Size : Color :: to be determined. How is your ML is coming along ?
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- Posted by carolyn137 z4/5 NY (My Page) on Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 17:44
| I am reviving this vantage thread to start some talk on ML, That would be vintage, not vantage, &&&&& Why revive this thread to talk about your ML's when the thread right next to this one on the first page which is from 2014 rather than this 2007 one and you've already discussed and shown pictures of your ML's in that other thread? And others have chimed in about their ML's. What am I missing? Carolyn , edited to add that both ML threads were next to each other as I said above until you revived this one, but you had also posted in the other one as well, |
This post was edited by carolyn137 on Mon, Jun 23, 14 at 17:50
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| Sorry for the misspelling and thanks for correcting. I don't see any cost to anybody or harm either. I did not start a new thread, just activated an existing one. |
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| Here is a picture of my RC ML. It still has relatively light green foliage. I water and fertilize it the same way as my other plants. But different plants exhibit different (slightly) foliage color. This I have know for a long time about pepper plants. |
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