Finally - Reisentraube!

I know what you're wondering right about now - what on earth is Reinsentraube?  Well, let me enlighten you:

Photo credit:  Baker Creek Seeds

Reisentraube is a lovely little tomato that ended up in my stash 5 years ago....waaaaay back in 2017.  It's been on the grow list for almost as many years, but it's never ended up in the garden for one very sad reason.  Every single time I sowed it - even up to 5 seeds at a time - it never once germinated.

I knew I would have issues the minute I opened the packet.  The seeds were in clumps, most of them stuck together as if they hadn't been rinsed off properly.  In fact, I purchased several different tomato varieties from this particular vendor and every single packet had this issue.  Just a note that while the photo of this variety (above) was from Baker Creek Seeds, I did NOT purchase my seed from them.

Fortunately, I was able to get some germination from the others.  Reinsentraube was the only holdout.  I've decided not to tarnish this vendors reputation by naming names as this was 5 years ago and I have a feeling they likely received enough complaints from others and this type of thing is no longer an issue.  Well, I would hope so, anyhow.

This year, I decided to try one last time & sowed 10 seeds.  Once again zilch.  The thing that bothered me the most was that I REALLY wanted to try this German heirloom, a cherry tomato which is supposed to have amazing flavour.  It's also not one that you normally see in seed catalogues.

So what to do (short of throwing the seeds away).  Well, I did the only thing that I could do...dumped the entire packet of seed into a single cell, topped it with a bit of soil and threw it on the heat mat.  Lo and behold, one seed germinated.

That first seedling after being potted up just today....

After a few days, another germinated, then another - until I had a congested mess of seedlings.  Still nowhere near the number of seeds I put in - less than 10% I would say - but I was thrilled.  This would be the year when I finally grew (and tasted!) Reisentraube.

I wish I took a photo of the seedlings in the cell - I totally forgot to do that - but this is the next best thing:

Reisentraube - Those left behind when potting up...

I potted up the seedlings this morning, selecting the biggest/best ones. While I'm only growing one plant for the other 15 varieties of tomatoes I chose this year (don't judge!), for this baby I decided to keep 4 seedlings.  I'll place one in a tomato bed and then I'll figure out a spot for the other three.

Being too lazy to label them all,
I know that the popsicle gang are all Reisentraube ;)

Stay tuned...I'll let you know whether it was worth it later in the season!

Comments

  1. Well, now that is fun! Wouldn't you know it: The last attempt in an unusual format was successful! Yay. We'll stay tuned for more updates. :)

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    1. I'm so thankful that it germinated! I really did expect nothing to come up.

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  2. Congratulations! It's funny how things sometimes come together when you just throw out the rules and make that last ditch effort :)

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    1. Thank you Kris - I was, quite frankly, shocked when I saw that first seedling & even more when so many came up in that cell. Thankfully tomatoes are just fine with a little bit of rough handling :)

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  3. Fingers crossed that you finally get to taste it. I hope it's been worth the effort, haha.

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    1. I am so looking forward to it - after all the years of sowing and being disappointed, I really hope it was worth the effort too!

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  4. Hi Margaret, That is so funny that you had to throw the whole packet in and then got so many. Maybe they liked company! It will be interesting to see what they turn out like. I had never heard of that kind before......Nancy

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    1. I know! I guess I have had bad luck over the past 5 years as I only picked the duds when I sowed them :)

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  5. Your persistence paid off--finally. Hooray! Sometimes you have to kill a few plants (or seeds) before you figure out what they want.

    'Sungold' is a favorite cherry-type in my garden.

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    1. Thank you! What's the saying? You never really know a plant until you kill it 3 times ;) Well, these seeds really gave me a run for my money!

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  6. Maybe you should send a link from this post to you supplier - good luck.

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    1. In hindsight, I probably should have let them know about this issue as soon as I opened those packets.

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