Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zone 4 Experience)
In local seed catalogs, vendors often sound this out literally as “Mule Time.” The real English pronunciation is Mule Team.
Mule Team is an indeterminate vine, grown in the greenhouse, topped out around 7.5 feet (2.3 m), pruned to two stems. It was one of the very first varieties to start setting fruit. Very heavy yielder, orange-red fruit. Got my seed from V. Redko, whose catalog lists it as: “Tall, mid-season, orange-red fruits from 10.5 to 17.5 oz (300 to 500 g), excellent flavor, high yield.”
Edited March 14, 2018 by Drosera
First fruit was dead-ripe, sweet and meaty, but I reckon it should have been picked a couple of days earlier.
First fruit was dead-ripe, sweet and meaty, but I reckon it should have been picked a couple of days earlier.
So how was the flavor overall? Or does sweet automatically mean tasty in your book?
Need to sample the next one and do a side-by-side comparison, especially since there are always plenty of big, red, heavy yielders competing in the patch. This one had sat a bit too long on the vine. I’ll post more notes on the flavor today or tomorrow. 😉
Thanks Marina! 🤤💐 I’m growing Mule Team from Lena Leo this season. Wondering if it’s the exact same strain, definitely looking forward to comparing notes with yours!
Elena, try tasting it both slightly before full red and at deep red maturity. Did Lena mention anything about the optimal picking stage? Redko’s photo showed light orange, but mine went all the way to deep red, and it felt like pulling it a hair sooner would have been better.
Marina, she didn’t mention ripeness stages. She ordered hers from Tatiana, found it in the database:
https://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Mule_Team
Good call, I’ll definitely sample fruits at different stages of ripeness. 💐
Mid-season, indeterminate variety. Fruits are large, red, flattened beefsteaks with slight ribbing on the shoulders. Meaty with a very solid, well-balanced flavor profile. While it’s primarily a fresh salad slicer, you can easily can it in wedges because the flesh stays firm and won’t turn into soup in the jar. Grown outdoors in open ground, yield was average.
Mule Team 2015 season crop.
Full Summary: Plant, Yield and Picking Notes
- 🌿 Plant & Lineage: American heirloom introduced by seed saver Joe Bratka of New Jersey. Tall indeterminate vine climbing over 7.5 feet (2.3 m), well suited for greenhouse culture trained to two leaders, but also capable of producing outdoors in open ground.
- 📈 Yield & Season: Dependable mid-season workhorse. Noted for being one of the earliest large beefsteaks to set fruit in cool spring conditions, producing heavy clusters of 10.5-17.5 oz (300-500 g) flattened red slicers.
- 👅 Flavor & Texture: Meaty, dense flesh with a rich, balanced traditional tomato profile. Best picked just as it turns red rather than dead-ripe to retain lively acidity and crisp sliceability. Thick enough to preserve in canned wedges without breaking down.
- 🌎 Who Reviewed It: Experienced northern growers Marisha, ElenaN (Kostroma), and AleksandrS (Yaroslavl), all gardening in USDA Zone 4 short-season climates.
