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bigpinks

Late Tomatoes

bigpinks
10 years ago

Been picking several Estlers Mortgage Lifters and C Purple from two 5-1-1 container plants on my driveway this week. I got lucky and experienced no BER this time. These were started from suckers about first of July when blight was everywhere. I was very surprised. I will end up getting about 7 or 8 big fruit from the ML. There are about 15 cherry size on the plant that wont have a chance. The plant was growing its heart out. Cant wait for next yr.

Comments (7)

  • sheltieche
    10 years ago

    Glad to know you got something after blight hit, hmm, how big were those suckers you had in July? Am also wondering when such thing happens regarding DTM all bets are off?

  • bigpinks
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    The suckers were 10-12" long and I kept them in potting soil in large size styrofoam cups very wet for a week before setting in the 5-1-1. What is DTM? Days to maturity? Seems they produced in approx 80 days in the containers(Jujy 1 to Sep 20)

  • ediej1209 AL Zn 7
    10 years ago

    Hey, BP, glad to hear the Estlers are still going strong for you. Do you ever save seeds? Those might really be at a premium next year. My crop failed - not only did we get EB/Septoria, we got wiped out by gray mold. So did my Aunt's garden. Neither of us were able to save any seeds. So no more MLs directly from William's descendants :( . Not sure if anyone else will have them, they were not easy to find this year.
    Anyway, glad you don't have to resort to cardboard from the grocery store just yet!
    Edie

  • bigpinks
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    hey girl.....I do have some seed but I purchased a dozen plants in May from Joyces Greenhouse. I figure they have looked ahead seeing as Bob had been failing for awhile. But I will keep putting a few back and let you have some if you cant find any. I have taken my 90 yr old parents about 3 in the last week about a pound ea and pink as pink gets. We really like those MLs.

  • seysonn
    10 years ago

    Very good. Happy you won over all those diseases.

    ML is on my list for the next season. And this is a very good review on it.
    BTW: what is the difference between Estlers ML and regular ML in terms of fruit, etc. ?

  • ediej1209 AL Zn 7
    10 years ago

    BP... thanks! I will check in a couple of months as folks start listing what they will have for sale for next year and if I can't find any I will surely let you know. I hope for goodness sake that Joyce's have a back-up plan!!!

    Seysonn - I've never grown any of the other varieties so I can't compare them for you. All I can vouch for is that Estler's is the original and all the others are copies! (You can do a search and it will bring up several previous discussions about it.)

    Edie

  • bigpinks
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Actually I thought someone at Joyces told me that Mrs Estler had been in and that she would be cutting back rather than stopping production. Is Mrs Estler still going strong? Or maybe some other relative? The plants were about a buck fifty in 4" sq pots....very nice. They in turn sell plants to a couple of other vendors, Southern States being one.

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