Introducing the Mountaineer Delight & Mountaineer Pride Tomatoes from SESE –Their Generous Offer & Helpful Tips!
Gardeners and farmers rejoice! The Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (SESE) has released their 2019 catalog, featuring two new varieties of tomato bred by West Virginia University. Mountaineer Delight and Mountaineer Pride are both derived from the West Virginia 63 variety and have been made commercially available for the first time.
Unfortunately, due to a mix-up in descriptions, there was some confusion about which is which. Mountaineer Delight is larger and sweeter than its counterpart, while Mountaineer Pride is smaller and firmer. SESE staff are working hard to correct this mistake on their website listings and include a sticker with any new catalogs they mail out noting the error.
It's easy to understand why this happened; similar names, non-specific names, and poorly translated names can all lead to confusion. In this case, it was compounded by the fact that both varieties were named after the school mascot. To avoid further confusion, gardeners may want to call them Mountaineer Sweet Delight and Mountaineer Firm Pride instead.
Fortunately, SESE has come up with a great solution - if anyone orders just one of these varieties via mail order, they will receive a free packet of the other variety along with a note about the error. This kind gesture is sure to put smiles on many faces!
In addition to tomatoes, SESE also offers hot peppers in their catalog. Some older varieties have been removed, but an explanation as to why is included in the catalog. For those who don't want to wait for seeds or need help germinating them, local exchanges are a great option. One gardener found themselves in such a situation when their original plan fell through - they ended up having someone else buy plants for them and gave extras away to their USPS delivery person!
Overall, despite the initial mix-up between Mountaineer Delight and Mountaineer Pride tomatoes, SESE has done an admirable job at resolving the issue. With their generous offer of free seed packets and helpful tips for getting started with gardening, we can be sure that many more gardeners will enjoy success with these new varieties!
What happened with the 2019 Southern Exposure Seed Exchange catalog?
The descriptions for Mountaineer Delight tomato and Mountaineer Pride tomato got mixed up. Mountaineer Delight is the larger/sweeter/more tender, while Mountaineer Pride is the smaller/firmer. The website has been corrected, and any new catalogs mailed out from the office will have a sticker noting the error.
What are the differences between Mountaineer Delight and Mountaineer Pride?
Mountaineer Delight is the larger/sweeter/more tender variety, while Mountaineer Pride is the smaller/firmer variety.
What will happen if someone orders one of these varieties without seeing the corrected website descriptions?
They will receive a free packet of the other variety if they only order one of them, and it will include a note about the error.
Why was there confusion between these two varieties?
Both varieties were bred by West Virginia U. folks using West Virginia 63 tomato, and were named to honor a school mascot. The names were non-descriptive or overly generic, making it difficult to distinguish between them.
What happened to two hot peppers that were sent to SESE many years ago?
They were no longer listed in the hot pepper section of the catalog, likely due to someone else having to grow out those tomatoes now.
What happened when someone was supposed to take care of Bonnie plants?
The person never showed up, so someone else had to buy some and plant 10 Bonnie plants for them. They ended up giving extras to their USPS delivery person, who ended up providing all of their tomatoes.