Please tell me, has anyone planted Blush and Candy Sweet Icicle? The fruits look very similar in photos. I grew Icicles this year, and Blush is planned for next.
Dears! I want to add something: I grew Blush both in the Moscow region and in the Ryazan region. If you compare the taste, in Ryazan the kids loved it for its fruity flavor. And in the Moscow region, adults liked it for its interesting peppery aftertaste (a certain sharpness) with an absence of sourness.
An excellent variety—productive, sweet, beautiful. Just like candies. It grew outdoors in open ground.
amarant said:
Planted it for the first time…
I see your Blush also has complex (multi-branching) trusses.
Edited November 13, 2017 by Drosera
Good morning, Elena! My Blush also had complex trusses last year. It grew outdoors however it wanted and was very productive and tasty. The fruits were even and beautiful. But they weren’t giants like yours; compared to yours, they were very modest in size. It seemed to me that your fruits even had a slightly different shape. Seeing your photos, 👏 I understand your enthusiasm for this variety 😋
It wasn’t giant. The truss had both large and smaller ones. Amarant’s aren’t small either. Maybe the fact that I pruned it to a single stem played a role? True, once the bush reached about 1.5 meters (5 ft), it grew however it wanted and set a lot of fruit there, but the tomatoes at the top were much smaller.
I want to say a big thank you for all the reviews on this tomato 🌺. I sometimes used to pause my eyes on it in Popenko’s catalog, but then kept scrolling. Now I will definitely order it; I’m selecting varieties for 2018. My only question is, can anyone answer how it will behave outdoors in the Southern Urals? Maybe someone from Chelyabinsk has grown it… Greenhouse space is strictly limited.
remko said:
Maybe the fact that I pruned it to a single stem played a role?
You did 1 stem… and I probably had about 6. I saw a photo of Svetlana’s bush the previous year and was very impressed. She also gave it the freedom to choose 😃. My bush grew upwards at first, and then the stems laid out like a palmette and grew horizontally. There was a massive amount of fruit 🍅
Lana_Sadovnica said:
My only question is, can anyone answer how it will behave outdoors in the Southern Urals?
It grows perfectly fine outdoors in the Moscow region. I’m sure it will grow quite well in the Southern Urals too. It’s not prone to diseases. The only thing is, Blush grows tall even outdoors, so it needs staking. Outside, Blush gets a more intense color; it turns out much “blushier”. But keep in mind, in some years, Blush can suffer from severe cracking. Last year, every single one that I tried to leave on the bush until fully ripe cracked; this year, only a few cracked.
Yulia, you have to love it for its yield alone. And added to that yield is the delicious taste. It can handle many stems and fruits high up, but the fruits do get smaller.
I also plan to grow it outdoors next year 😳 There’s no space in the greenhouses!
My plan is this: I’ll leave 3 stems, and at a height of about 1.2-1.3 meters (4 ft) I will top them all. Do you think anything will actually grow?
remko said:
It grows perfectly fine outdoors in the Moscow region.
Oh, Elena… 😬
I’ve talked myself hoarse explaining that nightshades do NOT grow well outdoors in all parts of the Moscow region. Even super-determinates struggle outside for me, let alone indeterminates. And the thought of completely removing covers, like people do on sandy soils, is something I can’t even fathom.
And as for judging the Southern Urals…
Until a person tries it, they’ll never know. The conditions in the Southern Urals vary widely too; it’s much bigger than the Moscow region.
Try planting it in the garden. It is very resistant to diseases, it should survive; it’s a very worthy cherry.
Svetlana, but it’s definitely worth trying to grow Blush outdoors. Because in terms of ripening time, it is definitely not late, and it is quite resistant to both low temperatures and many diseases. It does catch leaf mold (Cladosporium), though with its delicate wispy foliage, that’s barely an issue. But late blight didn’t touch it, even though some purple-brown plums growing right next to it caught the blight.
It’s not only possible to try, but necessary. Otherwise, how will you know?
It didn’t catch leaf mold for me, nor did it catch another disease that was rampant in my greenhouse that year.
I really like this variety. And I’ve noticed it has a quirk: one year it can be incredibly delicious, and another year it’s just ordinary.
But I think that applies not just to Blush; some other varieties behave the same way.
Svetlana, regarding the taste, I noticed that it needs additional feeding with potassium and phosphorus, basically wood ash. I specifically sprinkled some for it every 2 weeks, just like for eggplants, and that’s when it becomes sweeter.
Yes, I agree. Some add salt, some add sugar, some know magic words… 😃
But it seems to me that it’s all unpredictable anyway.
Girls (and boys), good day!
Regarding Shameful Blush. I liked the variety, although I haven’t formed a final opinion about it. I grew it for the first time this year, but I’ve decided to repeat the attempt next year and judge it then.
The bush seemed quite flimsy to me (I had to tie it in several places), but despite that, it is productive. The clusters appear one after another, the tomatoes are among the earliest, and the ones ripened on the vine have a very good taste—moderately sweet and sour, with some special delicate, yet still tomatoey, flavor. The skin is somewhat firm, but the walls are thin. Very beautiful—yellow-orange with red streaks, truly like a blush. And they look almost transparent.
What I didn’t like: since I mostly pick my tomatoes green, during indoor ripening the skin toughened up even more—so much that it was hard to bite into. And compared to those grown in other conditions, mine turned out quite small…
They look great in a jar, and the shape is convenient for canning.
Edited November 13, 2017 by Drosera
This year I planted 3 bushes in the greenhouse for the first time. They took over everything! You have to remove suckers almost daily! Tons of fruit! It bloomed right until the frost killed it. It’s very beautiful pickled in jars. And in salads, if cut into halves, it’s just gorgeous! I will plant it next year; I’ll try it outdoors!
It’s a pity to waste them in jars! My daughter wouldn’t even let me take seeds. Such deliciousness is worth its weight in gold!
For sure, pickling Blush or putting it in a salad is just ruining it.
