On Thu, 4 Nov 2004 04:06, Keith Thomas <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>On Tue, 2 Nov 2004 00:15 Wally Day wrote:
>
>>>"Tomato-Wild - Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium.  This species
>>>of tomato is little changed from the wild.  The indeterminate
>>>(need staking) plants produce literally hundreds of tiny
>>>(3-4g) red fruit on long trusses. These ripen sequentially
>>>so that fruit may be ripe at the top of the truss
>>>and still quite green at the bottom.  Rich, sweet
>>>and tart taste."
>>
>>So, what is your analysis of the taste. As advertised? Are they somewhat
>>like the so-called "grape" tomatoes?
>
>I'll let you know when they are ripe.  It's still Spring here and the
>plants are just a few inches high.  We are experiencing light frosts most
>mornings so the plants depend on my remembering to protect them for their
>survival through to fruiting.  The challenge here is to have fresh home-
>grown tomatoes by Christmas day.  On track so far!
>
It's mid-summer now and I've been eating these tomatoes for 10 days.  They are - as Wally said -
3-4g each (I just weighed ten at a toal of 32.4g).  They grow 5-10 on a branch, but not clustered -
spread out.  Although small tomatoes are sold in punnets in local greengrocers, those shop
tomatoes are much larger than these; these are about the size of my thumbnail.

The plants have smaller leaves than the usual garden tomatoes and the cropping would be about
one tenth - or less - per plant of regular modern varieties.  What distinguishes then most from
others is their rangy growth: I have tied the plants to stakes and nipped their growing points when
they got to 160cm, but they are not like garden varieties which have a thick single trunk and small
leaf branches and fruit stems all the way up.  These, in contrast, send out branches in all
directions, not just the usual laterals, but quick-growing branches which sprout out from all
places, even on leaf branches or fruit stems. It's just not possible to control the plants: they want
to have ten skinny trunks rather than one and yet they do not have the strength to support any of
these trunks without staking.  The plant would probably be happier in a tangle on the ground
where the fruit would generally be inaccessible to birds.

Oh, yes, the taste.  They are pretty much like other tomatoes, though I reckon the skins are a little
thicker and the taste a bit more tangy.  They are the tastiest among the six varieties I'm growing
this year and, while not bitter by any means, are not as sweet an any of the other, standard,
varieties in my garden this season.

Keith