LYC 859 El Salvador tomato
$4.00 – $10.00
(Lycopersicon esculentum)
Indeterminate. A paste/plum tomato with impressive disease resistance. We grew it next to potatoes; they keeled over with late blight but the tomatoes throve. Small, elongated fruits are ideal for canning and drying, but I also like just cutting them in half, sprinkling on some salt, and eating half-a-dozen or so. Comes with an interesting history: in 1958, E. F. Schwanitz collected it in Nahuizalco, El Salvador, a mountain town noted for its Indigenous culture and night market. He donated it to Leibniz-Institut für Pflanzengenetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung (IPK Gatersleben, the German federal seedbank). Tatiana Kouchnareva got it from there to Canada in 2015; Paula Dubeski received it from her and passed it on to me. Cheers to Seeds of Diversity for connecting us! I had heard that some Central American tomato varieties have superior disease tolerance; now I believe it.
Start indoors 7 weeks before last frost. Sow 1/2” deep; harden off for 10 days before transplanting. Prepare hole with manure and ground eggshell in the bottom, covered by a layer of soil. Set bush types 24” apart, vines 18” apart. Train vines up trellises.