Since nobody responded :

I have NOT grown it but from what I have gathered over the years, OPALKA is probably one of the tops in paste/sauce category, rivaling San Marzano , Amish Paste , etc.

The reason I have not grown it is because I am not a big time canner and paste maker.

Sey

Opalka is my favorite, and the only plum tomato that I raise. Much different from San Marzano. Send me an email and I'll fix you up.

John A

Wow what an incredibly generous offer, and not something I expected!! As soon as I figure out how I will send you an email.

Now that I said that, I also cannot figure out how to message someone on their email. Everything changed once gardenweb was taken over by Houzz. I sent a help request to Houzz but got no response. If anyone knows how to message another member, please let us know.

John A

John, I sent you a test message, let me know if you got it ok.

Hi Dee - I did NOT get your message. Do I have something set wrong on my profile?

I thought I had it figured out, since you did have the Message button enabled, but if you did not get any notification, it's not yet working right. Please try to Message me, click on my ddsack or froggy and you should see a Message button you can then click on.

To send private messages to other Houzz users, they have to have their privacy settings enabled to receive and be notified of messages. You can click on their user name in any thread to send a message. This takes you to their public profile page. If you do not see a large a Message button,at the top of their profile screen, they have not enabled it and you can't contact them unless they do so. You may also see a Follow button, but no Message button, or no buttons at all.


To receive messages from other Houzz users, you have to set your user profile to allow messages. To check and see if you are enabled, do this:

1. Click on the "Your Houzz" at the upper right hand corner of the screen.

2. At the drop down menu, choose Edit Profile

3. Now over on the left margin, choose Advanced settings

Under email notification ("Send me an email"), scan down to the end and
on "Someone messages me" , be sure that "Every Time" is enabled, instead of "Never."

4. Then keep scanning down the page to "Privacy settings", and check that "Allow Anyone to message me" is enabled.

5. Remember to click "Update" at the very bottom of the page.


You should now be enabled to receive private messages from other Houzz users, in which you can exchange info for trades or other private conversations. Their message will be forwarded to your email account, they will not have your actual email address.

You can change these settings back at any time to whatever privacy level you want.

To be able to get messages , Do this

1-open you Houzz

2-click on "Edit profile"

3-click on "Advanced Settings"

4- Go down to "Someone Messages Me"

5- from the options ( in the box) choose "Every time "

6- Update changes . You are done.

Sey

Dee & Sey - Thanks for all the advice and your patience with me. I did have my profile set correctly. I am receiving the emails that I have messages now. I guess they were just taking a while to get to me.

John A

I've grown opalka with minimal success. But I would love to grow some good ones as people rant and rave over it!

Hi John. I am not sure why I can't receive messages - that is strange for sure as I have received them in the past and have not made any changes to my settings. Thank you for reaching out to let me know. Enjoy the Florida warmth!!

FWIW: I tried growing Opalka in two consecutive years using seed from two different reliable sources. In both cases the seedlings seemed to grow more slowly and be more prone to problems than other tomatoes in my garden. One year the plants died early in the season due to a disease (probably alternaria) that didn't kill my other plants. In the second season I had two plants reach maturity. Most of the very few fruits they produced suffered from blossom end rot. I was growing a San marzano hybrid that had no BER under the same conditions. I didn't find the few fruits that lacked BER to be anything special.

Thanks for the feedback Ohiofem. It looks like we are in the same zone and probably very similar environments (I am near Pittsburgh). I might consider a hybrid but just curious - have you had success in your area with any other heirlooms? Thanks!

I should have mentioned that I grow all my tomatoes in 25-gallon fabric containers using the 5-1-1 mix described in the Container Forum. I have had success with several heirlooms over the past five years, including mortgage lifter, Brandywine, several different oxhearts, and Cherokee purple. I've also had problems with some popular hybrids, like brandy boy, which I tried two years in a row. I'm in Southwest Ohio on the border between zone 5 and 6. My biggest problem is probably that we usually have a lot of rain and humidity at beginning of the season, which sets up perfect conditions for early blight and the like.

I am loving this feedback. I am new to gardening but had a very successful year last year. Now, for 2016, I want to grow more tomatoes including some interesting heirlooms. Since our garden is pretty much spoken for - I was considering trying some tomatoes in containers. Mortgage lifter and Cherokee purple were ones I was considering along with berkely pink tie dye, Black Krim, and Arkansas Traveler. As to the containers themselves - I was either going to buy 20 or 30 gallon Smart Pots or perhaps the Earthbox system.