Post by Day on Feb 9, 2018 22:00:16 GMT -5
This is a post I've been meaning to make for ages -- I'm hoping you all can help me and a blog friend Dave @ Our Happy Acres solve a fun tomato mystery.
Last year, Dave grew Marzano Fire, a paste tomato from Artisan seeds. He grew them the year previous and enjoyed them, so in 2017 he set out two plants, using the same (not saved) seed from the previous year. One produced true to type fruit (left) while the other put out blocky, not true to type fruit (right).
For scale -- left bowl, Juliet -- right bowl, Rutgers 250 and the Rogue intermingling
I offered to attempt to grow out some of the seeds from the blocky offtype in 2017, since I have a long season. I started seeds but had no garden space left, so two plants ended up in 5gallon buckets. Unfortunately they were just putting out flowers when I had to leave town for 5 weeks, and the person who promised to water the garden bailed. Somehow they survived, but they're a mess. A month later one is doing sorta ok, and putting out flowers again. The other, which somehow manages to set two bug eaten fruit during my absence, has just started to ripen them. Here are some photos of those plants:
doing 'ok' plant
Wispy foliage, and some of the stigmas are curl, which is something I haven't seen before.
dying plant
Originally, I attributed the tiny fruit and thin, ferny foliage to their cramped, water and nutrient deprived conditions. I cannot remember if the seedlings had frilly foliage also. It was a busy summer, and this was a last minute addition to the garden. However, I've since planted more seeds from the original blocky fruit at the top of the post. Here is what the seedlings look like:
Asking Dave about the foliage on the original plant, he said:
The only fruit I have are the two shown above. If any seeds are viable, I'll plant them next month. So I have not been able to taste the fruit or give on comments on its eating quality. It's possible some of the flowers from the doing 'ok' plant will set. Time will tell.
The main questions I have are as follows:
1. Is this even a cross? I've recently read of some paste plants making different shapes of fruit as the season goes on, from paste shape turning into oxheart.
2. Is it possible is crossed with something smaller, like a cherry (or even cross species to a currant?). I still assume the small fruit size is due to the bad conditions the plant was grown in, but I'm keeping an open mind. And the curled stigma's seem very odd to me.
3. Have any of you grown this same variety from Artisan Seeds and also encountered off types, or wispy foliage?
4. Does anyone know how this wispy 'carrot top' style foliage works in terms of genes?
Thanks in advance for any insights and observations
Last year, Dave grew Marzano Fire, a paste tomato from Artisan seeds. He grew them the year previous and enjoyed them, so in 2017 he set out two plants, using the same (not saved) seed from the previous year. One produced true to type fruit (left) while the other put out blocky, not true to type fruit (right).
For scale -- left bowl, Juliet -- right bowl, Rutgers 250 and the Rogue intermingling
I offered to attempt to grow out some of the seeds from the blocky offtype in 2017, since I have a long season. I started seeds but had no garden space left, so two plants ended up in 5gallon buckets. Unfortunately they were just putting out flowers when I had to leave town for 5 weeks, and the person who promised to water the garden bailed. Somehow they survived, but they're a mess. A month later one is doing sorta ok, and putting out flowers again. The other, which somehow manages to set two bug eaten fruit during my absence, has just started to ripen them. Here are some photos of those plants:
doing 'ok' plant
Wispy foliage, and some of the stigmas are curl, which is something I haven't seen before.
dying plant
Originally, I attributed the tiny fruit and thin, ferny foliage to their cramped, water and nutrient deprived conditions. I cannot remember if the seedlings had frilly foliage also. It was a busy summer, and this was a last minute addition to the garden. However, I've since planted more seeds from the original blocky fruit at the top of the post. Here is what the seedlings look like:
Asking Dave about the foliage on the original plant, he said:
I checked back in my photo folders to see if I had any pics with the foliage in them, but no luck. I do know that Spike tomato from Artisan Seeds has wispy foliage. And breeder Fred Hemple thinks the plants were crossed by bees, so if he had Spike and Marzano Fire growing that could be the source of the foliage. I found a pic of the Spike foliage here: www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=37095&page=4 (about halfway down the page)
[...]
Lucinda is another one he grows and sells at Artisan which has wispy foliage. From the listing: "Lucinda is a "green zebra"-type beefsteak tomato. Fruits are tangy-sweet, and best picked before surface turns from yellow to golden. Lucinda has a bright, sweet-tangy flavor, and it is a productive semi-determinate variety with lacy leaves.
[...]
Lucinda is another one he grows and sells at Artisan which has wispy foliage. From the listing: "Lucinda is a "green zebra"-type beefsteak tomato. Fruits are tangy-sweet, and best picked before surface turns from yellow to golden. Lucinda has a bright, sweet-tangy flavor, and it is a productive semi-determinate variety with lacy leaves.
The only fruit I have are the two shown above. If any seeds are viable, I'll plant them next month. So I have not been able to taste the fruit or give on comments on its eating quality. It's possible some of the flowers from the doing 'ok' plant will set. Time will tell.
The main questions I have are as follows:
1. Is this even a cross? I've recently read of some paste plants making different shapes of fruit as the season goes on, from paste shape turning into oxheart.
2. Is it possible is crossed with something smaller, like a cherry (or even cross species to a currant?). I still assume the small fruit size is due to the bad conditions the plant was grown in, but I'm keeping an open mind. And the curled stigma's seem very odd to me.
3. Have any of you grown this same variety from Artisan Seeds and also encountered off types, or wispy foliage?
4. Does anyone know how this wispy 'carrot top' style foliage works in terms of genes?
Thanks in advance for any insights and observations
