On 19 Sep 2018 22:38, Mark Rand wrote:
On Wed, 19 Sep 2018 17:30:55 +0100, Bob Hobden wrote:

This year we grew, amongst others, some Indigo Rose tomatoes out on our
allotment. What a waste of time and effort. Despite daily watering they
suffered badly from Blossom End Rot, a bit of rain and then they
started splitting, took ages to ripen too. Finally got to taste a
decent one and just no taste at all certainly compared to Ferline. A
failed experiment.

In the greenhouse, they have an interesting, slightly smoky, taste just before
they're fully ripe, but they do seem to get bland once they are ripe to the
point of softness. They do seem to be a late-ripening variety. I've grown them
for her indoors, who has a slight reaction to raw tomatoes.

I had a lot of blossom end rot on one San Marzano plant, but not the other,
they were in pots filled from different bags of compost. Adding a bit of
slaked lime to the water managed to control it, after a fashion. Next year,
the compost will be home made, including the local limy-clay soil.

I grew the Indigo Rose for the second and last year, San Marzano plum tomatoes
and Sweet Million cherry tomatoes for the first time. The Sweet Million have,
and are, out cropping the others even with the small fruits. The San Marzano
were later and tasteless until completely ripe, but going well now. The Indigo
Rose have only been ripening over the last four weeks, but nit the single
plant has collapsed under it's own weight because some idiot didn't tie it in
properly...

Grown Ferline for years and it's a good doer producing decent large
tomatoes with some flavour also blight resistant which helps when
outdoor growing. .
Also grown Old Brooks and will be using them for cooking, first time
tomorrow. They have not suffered with Blossom End Rot despite being
next to IR and are very large fruit.
Our favourite tomato was Brigade but T & M took it off the market both
here and the USA and we can no longer get the seed. Normal sized fruit
with a good flavour, deep red flesh and solid, excellent for sandwiches
and cooking.



--
Regards
Bob Hobden