Porter tomato (pink plum-shaped fruit)

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Posted by Radishrain Radishrain
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I got some Porter seeds from AlittleSalt of Tomatoville once upon a time.

I grew a plant from them in 2016, without black plastic or mulch, in the ground. It got a lot of overhead watering from an oscillating sprinkler. The fruits were very pink, and kind of shiny. They got anthracnose pre-harvest (which was kind of unusual). The taste was bland, and the texture undesirable. I understood that this was probably because I watered it too much (as this variety is said to taste loads better with drought). I saved seeds and zapped them. The plant kind of vined a bit.

Anyway, I grew it again in 2017, from my saved seeds, with dry conditions in less-than-ideal soil (potentially salty), without black plastic or mulch. It didn't manifest any symptoms of anthracnose. The plant was slow-growing and slow to mature. The fruits still didn' taste awesome. I figured maybe it needed more acclimatization, since Idaho and Texas are very different when it comes to gardening. However, I didn't save seeds for some reason. The fruits were quite pink, again.

In 2018, some Porter Plants (or plants that looked like Porter) volunteered in the same area as in 2017, also without black plastic or mulch, also with drought conditions. They were slow-growing to start, but ended up prolific, and they tasted extremely sweet and awesome. I was very impressed. However, for some of reason, I didn't save seeds, again. The fruits were quite pink again. They had good texture. No anthracnose symptoms.

So, in 2019, I used saved seeds from 2016 to grow it again. I figured I might as well start the process of acclimatization again. However, I was also curious how it would do with black plastic, this year. Anyway, I harvested one today. It could have been riper, but I wanted to try it. This fruit was rounder than most. The fruits generally are smaller, this year, but that could be because of the soil (which wasn't condusive to the best growth). The plant growth habit is similar to the previous two years. I caged it. The fruit, while not quite as amazing as last year's (yet) was excellent and sweet. I don't think it's had any BER, this year, so far (nor in previous years), which is awesome. The gel sacks on the seeds were not significant. It doesn't look nearly as pink, today (but it could be riper). No anthracnose symptoms, this year, so far.

Here are some pictures of the fruit I ate, today (I'm zapping/saving seeds from it, too; keep in mind it's usually more oblong, and larger/pinker):

Whole Porter tomato.
Cut Porter tomato.

The black dots on my finger are from the marker bleeding through empty herbal tea bags when I was labeling them for seed-saving.

Offsite articles:
Dave's Garden
Tatiana's TOMATObase

heirloom_tomato

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Radishrain Radishrain
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Re: Porter tomato (pink plum-shaped fruit)

We got a bunch of ripe Porter tomatoes, on 26 Aug 2019. They're good and sweet. They're still smaller than in previous years, though. I think it's the soil. No BER, however!
Climate: BSk
USDA hardiness zone: 6
Radishrain Radishrain
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Re: Porter tomato (pink plum-shaped fruit)

This post was updated on .
In reply to this post by Radishrain
Here's my Porter tomato plant (from seeds saved from last year's fruit), this year. This picture was taken on 27 May 2020. AlittleSalt of Tomatoville gave me the ancestral seed, which I first grew in 2016. I grew it again in 2017 from seeds saved in 2016. It volunteered in 2018. In 2019, I grew it from the seeds I saved in 2016.

Porter tomato plant. This is the pink, plum-shaped, sweet Porter.
Climate: BSk
USDA hardiness zone: 6
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