I’m jealous! Glad you are appreciating them even tho’ they aren’t beauties.

Amazing! I'm jealous, my mortgage lifters didn't do so well this year. I chopped it up to a bad seed batch.

What did you do to get such a beauty? Any special tips for the ML?

@Robert Zone 6A I planted 5 seeds directly in ground and chose the best out of the batch. We water by drip daily for 20 min per plant. Also, I'm a firm believer in Asprin Spray and I do that early AM twice a month. I don't even know if that helps. Our Mortgage Lifter plant seems like it produced it's amount of tomatoes for the year already. Many aren't ripe, but nothing new is on the plant. It's acting very determinate.

It is so juicy and flavorful. A big oddly shaped slice in a burger is not noticed by anyone until the juice starts dripping down their arms!

I'll definitely plant again next year! Maybe 2 plants a month apart in opposite sides of the garden, just to extend the season.

Susan, your tomato may start producing again once the weather cools down a bit. I usually prune my tomatoes back a bit now and let them make new growth, then I have tomatoes until Christmas.

It's good to knw that Mortgage Lift will do well in our hot CA climate. I may try them next year.

@Susan Highland, that's wonderful. It's almost a trademark of Mortgage Lifters to have some catfacing.

@Robert Doe, from what source did you get your seeds? I sent seeds all over the country this spring and now I can't find my list of who I sent them to. :-(

I purchased mine from MIGardener back in 2018 during the fall 50% off deal. So far all my seeds have not grown true to what i was expecting. Infact, the Money Maker are showing three different characteristics in my three best plants i selected during germination.

The Mortgage Lifters are not dealing with the high temps this summer. And the tomatoes are much smaller than what Susan has shown from her garden. Infact, they aren't catfacing as bad either (which I'm fine with). Perhaps my batch of plants have less mega blooms? That would result in smaller, yet more uniform looking tomatoes. However, does that also mean the ML's i received aren't true heirlooms???

I love the MIGardener channel and the affordable seeds. I think what they are trying to do it wonderful, but from a breeding/seed saving stand point I've been disappointed.

@Robert Doe, you probably got Byles/Radiator Charlie's version of Mortgage Lifter. They're not that great. I grow Estler's Mortgage Lifters only. And I know they're true... My seed came straight from Robert Estler (who just happened to be my uncle!)

That would explain allot. I did hope to receive Radiator Charle's after reading the history, but maybe that was the wrong choice.

Back to the drawing board...

@Robert Doe, ol' Charlie couldn't even tell the exact parentage of his tomatoes if he grew a bunch of them in a circle to get his first set of seeds. My Grandfather, William Estler kept meticulous records. Unfortunately lost to the same house fire that claimed his life. :-(

I tried to link to the Goldenseal Magazine article but it wouldn't let me.

@ediej1209 AL Zn 7 The catfacing used to be a huge problem for me. So dammn ugly and I worry things are in those holes. But, I no longer wear gloves when handling my red wigglers in the compost pile and I no longer fear the catfacing!

You just have to learn how to work with it. A big knife and a few 1/4" slices for burgers and sandwiches and a little knife to work around the catfacing and that HUGE stem for salad chunks and salsa dices works great.

@Robert Zone 6A I will try to find my seed package so I can tell you where I got them. Something tells me seedsnow.com or something like that. My seeds last forever. I do toilet paper seed tape. One square with 5 seeds pasted in there with flour and water. I fold it over, plant it and cover with 1/4" soil, and keep it damp. They just grow. But 5 out of a package and I narrow it down to 1 plant?

Not sure how to save the seeds, but this mortgage lifter I have is loaded with them.

@susan highland, saving seeds is the easiest thing in the world. Scrape them out of the tomato, rinse all the "stuff" off of them in a fine sieve and spread them out on a paper towel. Put them in a cool, relatively dark spot for a few days, when they are dry pack them in an envelope and put it in a baggie. I know some folks store their seeds in the freezer but I just put the packet in my seed bin.

@ediej1209 AL Zn 7

What are your thoughts on fermenting the seeds before cleaning? Necessary or better off not?

PS

I use beed containers for my seeds. Nice a tidy

I know a lot of people ferment their seeds but the one time I tried it was Epic Fail. I watched my Mother-in-Law do the paper towel thing and it was easy enough so I've been doing it that way for 30+ years now.

@ediej1209 AL Zn 7 I will do as you say. If anyone wants my seeds from my humongo tomato, just email me and I'll give you my addy so you can send a SASE and I'll send seeds. You won't need too many. I put 5 in a sheet of toilet paper, remember? I fold it diagonally, paste the seeds in, fold over, plant! And that's it. Once you get a producing tomato, you can save your own seeds.

Now my big job is to make seeds for y'all!

I have several plants that are earmarked for seeds only. I grow them in isolation way away from other tomatoes so they won't cross.

@Susan Highland USDA Zone 9b

Please post when you've got some seeds saved up. I would love to get a couple!

@ediej1209 AL Zn 7

That is smart thinking. I unfortunately didn't do that with the last seeds from my grandfather's own cultivar he's grown for the last several decades. The tomatoes are beautiful and I'm not sure if the seeds will come back true. So my plan is to keep a sucker indoors over winter and grow it again next year as you say, far away.

I'm feeling guilty. You can't imagine how many seeds have gone down the disposal. From now on my mission is to save the seeds! They are legion!

Susan Highland USDA Zone 9b - Please add to your Houzz profile the ability to message you. I also would love to try your ML seeds. And I have plenty of seeds to trade from many varieties, if you are interested.

@cindy-6b/7a VA I just tried. Wasn't really sure how to do that, but I said "Allow anyone to message me." My big job now is to cut up a couple more Mortgage lifter tomatoes AND to start saving those seeds!

Susan - No sure what Houzz is doing but it doesn't look like the setting "took."

@cindy-6b/7a VA This is weird. I checked the settings again, "Allow anyone to message me," is still checked, so I unchecked it and re checked it. I checked messages and there are none. I don't even know how to message you. I used to get too many messages so I unchecked all of those things. It was driving me nuts. Now, I'm lost.

To save the seeds I need to up my paper towel game. IF I can find good ones at the store. Last time I bought any, with all the shortages, they are so bad, they fall apart when water hits them. Hopefully the store will have brawny now!

Susan - Coffee filters work very well.

So i picked a ML this evening. Its a little under ripe, but that is because the rodents are eating my tomatoes the night before i pick them. Lost two Roma that way, so i started picking my tomatoes this year around 50% ripe to make sure they don't get eaten. It's a shame i can't get the full ripeness, but it's better than loosing it i suppose. I may end up embracing the spirit of Elmer Fud here shortly if the rabbits won't stop.

Any ways. It wasn't a bad size. I was actually surprised. It's the largest ML i have so far, many more green ones a little smaller. However; i have a family heirloom from my grandfather with a ton of backstory that is much bigger than this. I'm looking forward to harvesting it very soon.

Here is the ML

@cindy-6b/7a VA No paper coffee filters here. I have a couple gold filters for my coffee maker, so I'll try those. @Robert Zone 6A it will be fun to see your heirloom from your grandfather! Rodents are the bane of my existence here! My beautiful Amaranth have now been surrounded with very tall tubes of hardware cloth with chicken wire lids. AND yes, sometimes you have to pick those tomatoes green. Done it many times. Our critters vary. We live on the edge of the wilderness so they all think we are here for their sole pleasure! From possums, coons, rabbits and squirrels down to gophers, voles and rats! Cheers to the spirit of Elmer Fudd!!

So, i couldn't wait any longer and i went and picked a bunch of tomatoes with the kids this morning, coffee in hand. I've been waking up each morning dreading that my garden would be ransacked before i could harvest. These are also the last plants from the few remaining seeds my grandfather had saved back in 2017. He can't physically garden anymore so he gave me the seeds, wrapped in a paper towel in a used medicine bottle. Stored in the kitchen drawer for 3 years, lol!

He received them from a Polishman back during World War II, whom got it from Italy. Its been in my grandfather's garden for the past several decades.

I'm proud to bring them back and start building a seed stash of this beauty. (PS i think i can get it bigger 😉)

PSS

Sorry to have hijacked your post Susan. I've loved sharing our garden adventure this year and this seemed like the best place to post.

Here it is mid August and I went out to check the tomatoes and I was surprised to see at least 10 new little Mortgage Lifters! I just hope they have time to grow and get ripe. It stays hot here through most of October, but I do love fried green tomatoes!

I've been saving seeds for you guys. Patiently drying them on paper towels. I guess hubby didn't notice, so on trash night he threw them all out. Shit hit the fan that day. He will NEVER do that again! Besides, I have a new method using no paper towels. I remembered this drying thing for fruit, and there is a lightweight screen that the seeds won't fall through, so once I strain them through the gold coffee filter, they get spread on there, and when dry, down to the last tray that has a gold filter sheet on it. He can't miss that!

Sounds like something my husband would do :-)) My first EML is almost ripe. It's not very big but I am going to save seeds anyway just in case something happens to the large green one still on the vine. All of a sudden we have lots of baby tomatoes popping out on ours as well. Yep, Fried Green Tomatoes are a true end-of-season treat!

Exciting! Sounds like you'll have tomatoes for a couple months! Lucky, I'm a bit jealous lol.

Growing them for the first time this year. They are a riot! Mine are not ripe yet, but prolific at this point. I've had to devise all kinds of slings to keep them from breaking the plant or sitting on the ground. Never a dull moment with these tomatoes! So far they have been my best producers, which was not what I was expecting. I planted Golden Jubilee, Great White, and a cherry type. I haven't previously grown any beefsteaks for the reasons outlined here, but someone gifted me the seeds and I needed them last minute since my bedding plant source dried up this year, so have been growing a lot of types I'm not familiar with. Homegrown heirloom tomatoes are indeed a labor of love!

@I pm, how exciting! You'll have to post a picture when you get a ripe ML. We used to grow Golden Jubilee in Ohio and always had good luck with them. Unfortunately, they don't seem to appreciate Alabama's heat/sauna climate. If you decide to grow them again, I can send you the rest of the seed packet I bought last year. Tomato seeds seem to stay pretty viable for quite a while (some of my ML's growing this year are from seeds saved in 2011!) So just let me know. I can also send you some ML seeds I have already saved this year if you'd like.

Well, that is why I went very last minute with an heirloom garden. I decided I needed to get serious about saving seeds. Prior to the pandemic I worked as a horticulturalist for a place with a greenhouse and we grew heirloom tomatoes for our annual plant sale fundraiser. But this year I'm no longer working there, and seed sources dried up and I didn't know what was going to happen with the bedding plant stock, so I cobbled together whatever heirloom seeds I could find. I got them from a friend. THEN, I finally received the order I got of my tomato seeds from the company out in OR. Great company but too late for this year, NOT their fault! So now not only do I have options for saving seeds from this year, I have about five varieties for next year. I posted on Veg. Garden forum about the mini greenhouse we rigged up in our large handicap accessible shower room at home this year, so I will probably set it up again next year, only better with more plants. The big problem is I don't have sunny garden space in my yard. I'm wondering if I could find a nearby friend who would let me garden or maybe I should think big and start a community garden. I have access to a lot of farms for produce, but I'm liking more and more the idea of being self sufficient to some extent. Particularly with tomatoes since the are so easy to preserve!

Finally starting to get Estler's Mortgage Lifters ripening. Yay! We've one or 2 sporadically but finally they are multiplying! I will be putting some up in the freezer this week!!