Quick Summary of Adelaide Festival (Dwarf)
- 🌍 Origin: An official release from the Dwarf Tomato Project. It was developed from the “Campine” family (a cross between Rosella Purple and Pink Berkeley Tie Dye). Named “Adelaide Festival” in honor of the arts festival held in Adelaide, South Australia.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: A classic Dwarf/tree-type plant with dark, rugose (crinkled) regular-leaf foliage. It grows compact and bushy, usually reaching around 0.5–1 m (1.6–3.3 ft) in Open Ground. Surprisingly for a dwarf, some growers note it can look slightly less stocky and a bit “lankier” than other Dwarf Project varieties during the seedling stage. Technically indeterminate in its growth habit, but stays compact.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Stunningly beautiful, medium-to-large beefsteaks. The base color is a rich purple/mahogany, overlaid with striking metallic green stripes and a fine iridescent dusting.
- 👅 Flavor: Good, well-balanced classic tomato flavor. Most growers note a pleasant balance of sweetness and tartness, with some reporting a more pronounced tangy kick.
- ⏳ Maturity & Sowing: Mid-season. Yields are very good for such a compact plant. Like many Dwarf Project varieties, it is highly recommended to start seeds early (mid-to-late February) under strong grow lights (14-16 hours/day) so the plants have time to build a robust root system before transplanting.
Out of the eleven Dwarf Tomato Project varieties I grew this year, this one turned out to be the most beautiful.
Mid-season, indeterminate but compact Dwarf project variety with rugose leaves. Regular leaf. The fruits are beefsteaks, very beautiful, sparkling, pink-purple in color with green metallic stripes and dusting. Grew in Open Ground, reached a height of 0.5 meters (1.6 ft). The yield for Open Ground was very good. Good tomato flavor, close to perfectly balanced.
It didn’t catch any diseases; I picked the last fruits to ripen indoors in mid-September.
Lena, they turned out so beautiful for you! 👍
ElenaN wrote:
Mid-season, indeterminate but compact Dwarf project variety…
Lenochka! Is it DET or INDET?
Very beautiful! 👍
Ogorod Larionovykh wrote:
Lenochka! Is it DET or INDET?
Lena wrote it in her post — it’s a dwarf, indet, height 0.5m (1.6 ft).
Girls, thank you! 🌷
Ogorod Larionovykh wrote:
Lenochka! Is it DET or INDET?
Nadya, INDET. But the bush is not wide, fairly slender, it turned out short in Open Ground, I grew it in 2 stems.
Lena, your Adelaide really did turn out beautiful and productive 🙌
Probably planted the seeds very early? I didn’t grow this specific one, but by the time my other Dwarfs get going — summer is already over 😵
Svetlana, it took a long time to germinate, I had to resow. Eventually, it sprouted, most likely in March.
I found a photo of it from March 20th — just a tiny baby:
I sowed a few other Dwarf Project varieties in April — and they managed to fully ripen 1-2 clusters on the bush.
I’ll add a few photos too. Mine had a bit of a tangy kick to it.
I’ll insert some photos too. I sowed seeds in early February. You can do it a bit later, but early sowing allows it to pump out more clusters.
Lana_s_Kavkaza wrote:
I sowed seeds in early February, you can do it a bit later…
Oh, and I sowed mine on February 18th. Maybe that’s too late… What’s surprising is that compared to my other Dwarfs, this one doesn’t look as stocky. It’s a bit of a lanky beanpole. Got the seeds from a local collector.
Tatyana77 wrote:
Oh, and I sowed mine on February 18th. Maybe that’s too late…
Not too late at all. With good grow lights (16 hours a day) and feeding, the Dwarfs grow by leaps and bounds.
Lana_s_Kavkaza wrote:
Not too late at all. With good grow lights (16 hours a day) and feeding, the Dwarfs grow by leaps and bounds.
I agree, they just explode! I actually pushed my sowing date back to the end of February, sowed them on the 27th, and they are already flourishing. Otherwise, I always ended up having to plant out overgrown monsters. Well, if you grow in a greenhouse, then yes, you can sow in mid-February, but I only grow in Open Ground.
