Well, take it easy folks. Just kidding and looking for

attention. I have no need to smack anybody and certainly

not over which tomato variety they choose to like.

Anyway, I did have a chance last season to compare Dona F1

with Ramapo F1. This was a comparison that Carolyn suggested

and, as it turned out, a rather good suggestion at that

since the two are pretty similar. I apologize for not

reporting sooner but I've been away from the computer for

some time.

So, here goes:

The comparison was done late in the season (latter half

of September 2010) because of the difficulty in obtaining

the seeds for Dona F1, which I received only in mid May.

Shortly thereafter I germinated a couple and ended up

with one plant and one plant of Ramapo F1. All of the

Dona F1 seeds germinated readily (3 or 4 days) though

all were "helmet-heads", i.e. the outer seed case

remained stuck to the cotyledons. Through carelessness

in separating that, I lost two of them.

Also, last season I had an infestation of Late Blight

which destroyed a Moreton F1 plant that I had hoped also

to compare. By extensive spraying with Daconyl and

copper soap I was able to keep this under reasonable

control and obtain a harvest. Both the Dona F1 and Ramapo

F1 plants (one of each) were relatively free of disease

and produced good fruit by the end of August.

Best production was in mid to late September. Dona F1

is earlier than Ramapo F1 by about a week to ten days.

Other than that, the plants are very similar - regular

leaf, vigorous, etc. I lack the technical knowledge to

provide much more of a description for now.

The fruits are also very similar, being almost identical

in shape, nice and round, relatively large when grown in

good soil and slightly flattened. Dona F1 is slightly

more orange in color than Ramapo F1.

Now the taste test. After sampling a few fruits of each

in a fairly casual manner, I was able to get a good

sample of quality fruit from each plant, ripe at the

same time, two of each. These were sliced and placed on

separate plates. No attempt at double-blind or anything

like that. Tasting was done (I'm the one, results are

at my discretion alone.) with and without any dressing

(salt, vinegar, oil).

Both Dona F1 and Ramapo F1 are relatively mild in flavor.

Neither one possesses a blow-the-top-off-your-head

intensity of taste. So, if you like that, and I do

sometimes, neither one of these is, as the Irish would

say, your only man. Both however, are well-flavored,

not bland and very fine salad or slicing tomatoes. Both

of them outclass such varieties as Early Girl, Big Boy,

Celebrity, etc. by a country mile.

Ramapo F1 had a plain and simple tomato flavor. No

complexity there at all. I like it as many others will.

Dona F1 is much more complex and subtle. It possesses

numerous overtones of flavor that, in my opinion, would

require the techniques of a wine-taster to evaluate

fully. I am not that person, so I can't provide that

sort of analysis. Overall, though, my conclusion is

that Dona F1 is superior in taste to Ramapo F1 for

its subtlety.

So there! That's what I think. Take it as you wish.

To finish up this commentary, I still have seeds and

intend to repeat the trial again this year. I will

grow more Dona F1 though as I prefer it. I'm also

hoping to get a good Moreton F1 plant for further

comparison and to have more people to help with tasting.

Anyone who has suggestions for what characteristics to

look for this time or for improvements in the description

is welcome to add their comments. I will try to take

any of them into consideration. Please bear in mind

though, that I am one person, no longer young and

probably can't satisfy everyone's wishes. In that light,

I encourage any readers of this piece to conduct their

own trial comparisons and report the results.

Finally, please remember - it is Dona F1 hybrid and

anything else being sold under the name of Dona is not

the same. Like those or not, as you will, but they are

not the same.

Thanks for reading.