Softmentor, I wanted to add something to my previous response. You are partially right. There is something called cocktail citrus and yes it does have more then one fruit on the same tree, sometimes 3-4. I wish I could have found one of these before I bought my tree. They are a great option for someone who lives in a temperate climate and has to grow indoors at least part of the year but the name is cocktail citrus. It does not contain champagne or grapefruit in the name, that is what seperates the two from another. I just wanted to clear that up in case someone here sees that and buys what I got and ends up being upset because what they ended up with was just one variety of fruit. I am very torn right now. I really want one more citrus and I am having such a hard time trying to decide between the IM lemon and the washington navel orange which is my all time favorite. Ahh..decisions descisions. i eny the gropu of people here who live in zone 8 and higher and can grow whatever they want! I recieved a Logees catalog in the mail yesterday. The only thing that I really like about the catalog is the pictures. Well at least until I got this catalog yesterday! On the cover of the new catalog is a photo of a 'Day' avocado. I almost bought an avocado the last time I was in Florida. I remember the Home Depot selling them for $9.00! I almost picked it up but i was determined to buy a grafted condo mango and there was no stopping me! I remember seeing the cocktail citrus and all the other citrus trees they had for sale. It made me want to cry when I saw the price tag. I am now considering renting a van and loading up while i am there. When I checked out the price tags, it made me sick! They had huge citrus trees for under $50.00! You Florida peopole are so lucky, and even though it is not legal to buy citrus and take them out of Florida, I really doubt that anyone would have noticed or said anything. The security people at tampa airport didn't say much when they saw me carrying on a large box with my mango inside! Andrew

They tend to do best flavorwise when the night time temps are higher. Also, being up north, growing them in the summer (when the light quality and duration is different). I prefer Sakata's precursor variety 'Sweet Quartz" but 'Sweet Hearts' has added firmness to reduce bursting (they burst which is technically different than cracking). This made it more attractive to a larger seed market.

If you read the blurbs, it is only intermediate resistance, not immunity. You MUST protect the plants to some degree or they will always go down with TYLC. There are some varieties available now that have more stacked resistance genes. Four genes are in current literature ty-1, ty-2, ty-3, and ty-4. Check the Florida breeding program for some details. One of the new resistance mechanisms is plants that repel whiteflies. Combine this with some of the virus tolerance genes and we should have tomatoes that grow and produce regardless of whitefly presence. The Florida breeding program is working on this but may be a few years away from highly resistant plants.

Yum, I'm with you... I only have room for 2 tomatoes in my new retirement garden. (I used to grow 24). I also agree with Carolyn... Taste them in your own garden to try them as I did using pots if necessary. I tried Sweet Million a couple of years ago and it was terrific, but it cracked!! Then last year I tried Nectar. It was even more delicious and no cracking. I planted it again this year but also taste tested it in a pot, along with 5 other cherry tomatoes grown in 1 gallon pots. Now before everyone jumps in to tell me these pots are too small, please note they are TASTING SAMPLERS, not intended to be full grown tomato plants. When I get a taste of the tomatoes to compare, I'll toss the tomato plants. Nectar had to be one of the plants grown in a 1 gallon pot so all tests would be equal. It had ripe fruit second behind Ample which was also very good, but not good enough to bump Nectar out of first place for taste. Still waiting for Sakura, Sunsugar, Sunpeach, and Sugary to ripen. Sugary has the most blossoms at this point... Absolutely loaded beyond belief!! This experiment has been totally perfect in every way for me. It allowed me to see which cherry tomato was the best for my garden and my tastebuds with my qualifications... Early. Sweet. Delicious. No cracking, lots of tomatoes. Nectar wins the test. If I run into a tomato I feel I can't live without, I buy a bigger pot and plant one. :) I encourage you to try it next year and enjoy the ride!! Rebecca