Rutgers

[Redbaron]

I know, I know. Rutgers is boring compared to all the fancy heirlooms and legacy types. But I am looking for a particular strain of Rutgers. The last in a long line of Rutgers dominance that for some reason got lost in the shuffle as Rutgers fell from grace with commercial growers.

However, for me Rutgers will always be the tomato by which all others are judged. It is the standard. A big tomato is bigger than a Rutgers, a small tomato is smaller than a Rutgers. An acidic tomato is more acidic than a Rutgers, a sweet tomato is sweeter than a Rutgers. Tomatoes are Rutgers red. Any other color is a blue tomato, a black tomato, a pink tomato, a yellow tomato etc... ad infinatum. Even the foliage! Whatever the adjective you apply to a tomato variety...that adjective describes the difference between it and a Rutgers.

This brings me to my problem. Does anyone have any of the real commercial grade Improved Rutgers semi-determinate Indiana strain seeds developed by Purdue University in the late 1970's?

It is called "semi-determinate" but technically it was a determinant that just happened to grow 6 feet + because it was so vigorous. Without staking they always were almost chest high and bushy. This particular strain was never offered in any seed catalogue as far as I know. My Dad got them in bare root bundles of 50 or 100 (can't remember) wrapped with brown paper and a rubber band. We would throw them in the refrigerator for a week or more until the weather cooperated for us to set them in the ground.

At the time it actually used to kinda tick me off. Because no matter what fancy hybrid tomato I grew from seed or bought plants, those abused bare root bundles Dad brought home for $5 ALWAYS did better.

I have found the really old indeterminate original strain. I have found the later released 1943 strain. I have also found the Indiana strain developed by Purdue in the late 1950's. But I have not found that last and best strain anywhere. If it helps. My Dad found them back then at the Hamilton County, Indiana farm coop extension agency and that's the only place I ever knew them to be found at. But surely they were obtainable by other commercial growers back then?

If anyone has even a rumor of where this strain might be found PLEASE message me. For me it is more than just a tomato. It represents memories from my youth.