My indian stripe is slower than molasses! I find the leaves a bit weird. I'm getting flowers but don't know if or when the fruit is going to start.

RIP Tsar Kolokol ( Tsar of Bells), a heart variety I really like, but then I'm a dedicated heart lover anyway.LOL

(Biyskaya Roza and Bychie Serdse which is Ukrainian old fashioned oxheart tomatoes.)

Are both heart varieties? I know the last one is b'c of the Serdtse, which means heart and most of the time the Serdtse ones I've grown have that word first, such as Serdtse Buivola, heart of the buffalo.

Carolyn , but then Serdtse Buivola is also known as Cerce Bawole in Polish/

I picked my first ripe mato 2 days ago. It came from one of my Bloody Butchers. Next inline are : Slletz, Sun Gold, Stupice and Silvery FT. It will be a while for things like Ml, CP, Pineapple. I have a few mid season too. Like legend, Bush Steak, Siberia, JBT, Kumato, Mtina.

Hooray for Noir de Crimee!

Sorry to hear about Tsar Kolokol. I hope it's nothing serious! I've had a couple of plants with wilted branches at the top and no obvious reason as to why. I cut them off, just above healthy growth, and so far the plants are ok. I wonder if something is damaging part of the root system. I have a resident (large) grass snake who seems to love living under the black plastic, and who is probably devouring all my lovely earthworms. Maybe he's been making holes....

Linda

Tsar Kolokol is am amazing plant and I have another one in less than prime location but am growing to grow some next year. Not very tall rather wide but production was outstanding... cry
Carolyn, it is really good question about Bychie Serdse, serdse Bawole etc. I remember this variety since my childhood but who knows if all those oxhearts are separate or same ones just different spelling and language. Bychie Serdse is Russian, Volove Serse Ukrainian, or Slovenic, serdse Bawole or anything with W is Polish...hmmm
Got my seeds from Tanya, canôt wait to try to see if it tastes as good as I remember.
Biyskaya Roza is large beefsteak and is from area with climate similar to MN zone 3. Having large beef so early is valuable too but from Russian forums I know it is well known and respected by taste.
I would not have picked up Noire De Crimee if not for Carolynôs book as I am not that great of opinion about BK, there are better dark ones...
Linda, yeah, I will keep looking for the cause but am so thinking of trying grafting next year...

Linda, I'm delighted to find that you are also confused about the various names mentioned above, and I say that b'c well I remember getting seeds from Andrey in Belarus for Serdste Buivola, and then seeing Cerce Bawole at Reinhard Kraft's website, he doesn't sell seeds but we've traded back and forth for many years,and thinking it was a new variety asked for Cerce Bawole,only later to find they were the same.LOL

Why would you try grafting which is only for greater tolerance, not resistance, to some systemic root borne diseases.?

What you describe with the wilting could well be Verticillium in your zone which often starts with wilting on one side of theplant and I've seen that on a few varieties I was growing VERY seldom here in upstate NY.

Carolyn

What IS it with the wilting this year?

Blondkopfchen is fine since I removed a wilted branch.

Yesterday, after a good rain the previous night, I noticed that Purple Bumblebee had several wilted leaves on a couple of stems. This time, they were the bottom of the plant and the top looked healthy. I resisted the temptation to water, and removed most of the wilted leaves, but I left one branch and it has perked up this morning. I will keep an eye on it and hope to goodness that it's not one of the dreaded wilt diseases! I looked them up on-line, but there was no yellowing to be seen on my plant.

So far, none of my large tomatoes are showing any colour, just some of the cherry varieties.

Looking forward to tasting Brandywine Cherry today!

Linda

One of my MLs started wilting. I cut off the branch and cut it open - yep, there was a little caterpillar munching away. So while I had the pruners in my hand I cut him into a couple of little pieces. That'll teach him! LOL!! But really I thought I only had to worry about my squashes with the vine borers. So now I am checking every day on all my tomato plants for holes. Ugh.
Edie

Oh no Edie!

Thanks very much for the warning. I didn't think that tomatoes suffered from vine borers either. Shows how much I know!

Linda

Carolyn, as I garden in limited space community veggie area, I have no way of rotating my plants, they are all nightshades, so if this one is vercillium which probably is, so my option is to graft next year to rootstock like Celebrity which has at least some resistance to vercillium and 2 types of fusarium just in case...
Fungal issues are run abound at community gardens but there is no resistant to Septoria and Early Blight rootstocks... not greatly familiar with subject so my way of thinking might need corrections...
Just broke down and finally bought aerated compost tea brewer, pricey one from KIS. Hoping this will help as well.
Here is my tomato haul, Noir De Crimee, Bychie Serdse, Koroleva and Biyskaya Roza. They probably need another couple of days of ripening...