"Lorenzo L. Love" wrote in message ...
Jim Carter wrote:

On Sun, 02 Feb 2003 14:36:22 GMT, Pat Meadows wrote in
rec.gardens.edible:


A while ago - maybe 15 years or thereabouts - I grew
mini-tomato plants in 8" pots. The plants got to be about a
foot high, and the tomatoes were about the size of ping-pong
balls. I started them under lights and eventually moved
them outdoors.

I grew a red and a yellow. The red one (IIRC) was called
'Red Robin' and I don't remember the name of the yellow one.

I'd like to grow these again this year - and I'd especially
like to be able to give well-started plants in pots to a
shut-in neighbor, but I don't know where to get the seeds.

I *think* they came from Burpee's way back when, but I don't
see them in the current Burpee catalog. Maybe they came
from Park Seed, which inexplicably hasn't sent me a catalog
this year although I've requested one (will try again).

Can anyone help?

Thanks!

Pat
-- Pat Meadows
CLICK DAILY TO FEED THE HUNGRY
United States: http://www.stopthehunger.com/
International: http://www.thehungersite.com/

There are a few such types listed on the US Department of Agriculture site at

http://www.usu.edu/cpl/sd%20tomato%20research.htm .

"We are currently characterizing tomato cultivars ‘Micro-Tom', ‘Red Robin',
‘Pixie' and ‘Reimann Philipp'. ‘Micro-Tom' is the shortest (15-cm) but ‘Red
Robin' is also very short (20-cm)." One inch = 2.5 cm.

A search on Google using the following keywords produced several seed
distributors. Be sure to include the quotes in the following search:

tomato "red robin" seed

--
Gardening Zones
Canada Zone 5a
United States Zone 3a
Near Ottawa, Ontario

I grow Red Robins every year. I have very limited space and I can tuck
Red Robins in 6" pots, hanging baskets and window boxes in odd corners,
fence tops, and borders. Very nice plant, high yield, good taste,
disease resistant. And in pots, I can start them earlier then in ground
plants, just bringing them inside at night. Looking at the catalogs on
my desk at the moment, I see them in R. H. Shumway's Horticultural
Products and Services (www.hpsseed.com) and in Totally Tomatoes
(www.totallytomato.com). The yellow version is Yellow Canary. I've grown
those too, otherwise identical to Red Robins. They don't seem to be
available every year. I haven't seen any this year. I have tried
Micro-Tom in the past but found the fruit to be low yield and poor
taste. Another small variety I have grown is Tumbler. Good yield, good
taste but I found it to be very susceptible to wilt diseases and have
replaced them with Red Robins. But they may do well in your area.
Haven't tried Pixie or Reimann Philipp.

Lorenzo L. Love
http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove

"A people living under the perpetual menace of war and invasion is very
easy to govern. It demands no social reforms. It does not haggle over
expenditures on armaments and military equipment. It pays without
discussion, it ruins itself, and that is an excellent thing for the
syndicates of financiers and manufacturers for whom patriotic terrors
are an abundant source of gain."
Anatole France

Ditto on the Micro-Tom, I got maybe 20 tiny tomatoes from my plant
last year and they had an unpleasant bitter taste. They did give me
bragging rights for the first ripe tomato in Tennessee, however. I
harvested my first one on April 20 (and have the photo to prove it).
This year, I am growing Micro-Tina, which is not yet commercially
available. I will post to the group if it turns out to be any good.
I am really an heirloom, beefsteak guy but I just can't resist
experimenting.

Lee Hall
Zone 6B, Tennessee