Here is a tough one
 

I was at a local nursrey today and noticed they had a variety I had never heard of..."taps".
I did what I always do when I want to learn about a variety, Find it on Daves garden and see if anyone sells it commercially.

This one is rather confusing.
Tomatofest has it as a pink RL. Daves has it as a pink PL. Pepper joe doesn't say anything about the leaf and gives mixed info about color.

So, What's the deal?

Aaron

A quick check on Tatiana's Tomatobase says it's a pink RL beefsteak.

[quote=kath;170966]A quick check on Tatiana's Tomatobase says it's a pink RL beefsteak.[/quote]
Hmm. The plants at the nursery were potato leafed.

Does anyone have the history on this variety?

Carolyn Male was listed as the source for the variety, so you can check out Tatiana's site or hopefully Carolyn will respond to your post.

[quote=kath;170973]Carolyn Male was listed as the source for the variety, so you can check out Tatiana's site or hopefully Carolyn will respond to your post.[/quote]

Well yes, I was the first to list it in the 1997 SSE YEarbook and I've spent the last 45 min trying to find that 1997 Yearbook in the two piles to my left on the floor.

I looked to see what Tania had to say about it which was what I had said about it back in 1997 and I wrote then:

HAS, 80 days. Jim has been improving this potato leaf variety, large pink smooth fruit with lucious taste, from Pepper Joe's via Jim Garvey 96

For the life of me I can't even remember who Jim Garvey is, nor Pepper Joe's although a commercial seed place I suspect where Jim bought the seeds, but I remember this variety very well b'c it flip flopped back and forth between PL and RL leaf forms, which I hadn't seen before.

Save seeds from a PL plant and both PL and RL seedlings appear. Save seeds from an RL plant and both PL and RL seedlings appear.

The two plants I grew initially from Jim's seeds were both PL , which is why I listed it as PL, but in saving seeds I ran into this problem which drove me crazy, to be honest.

The fruits were the same, the only difference was the leaf form. A good friend of mine said he had it genetically stabilized, but I wonder, and although we're close firends, HI Craig, I have no idea what happened to it and the fact that others( DG and TF) are flip flopping between leaf forms doesn't surprise me but I can't see any confusion about fruit color as is suggested above, b'c it was always pink for me as received and for Craig as well and also at TF and also at DG.

I didn't check out DG to see who listed it there, it wouldn't have been me, and I didn't check out TF to see who they credited with the variety, and I didn't check out Pepper Joes, and I didn't do a zaba search on Jim Garvey but I think I just got a glimmer of memory that. wait, I've got it b/c I remembered that there was a variety called Garvey's________, found it, it's called Garvey's Plum and the source was Craig ( nctomatoman) in 1993.

So he knows who Jim Garvey is, not that that's going to help with a variety that I found flipped leaf forms as is also seen with TF as well as the DG site with different leaf forms.

No doubt Craig will come along and tell me that he still has it genetically stabilized, to which leaf form I can't remember, but will I believe him?;)

And yes, back then I lived in Latham, NY, ( which Tania referred to) from which I moved in 1999 when I retired.

Wow. Thanks Carolyn.
Very interesting. Anotheronebitesthedust.

Aaron

[quote=Close enuf;170989]Wow. Thanks Carolyn.
Very interesting. Anotheronebitesthedust.

Aaron[/quote]

Aaron, why do you say it bites the dust?

Aside from the leaf flopping I remember it as a darn good variety, and so does Neil L who lists it in the 2010 SSE YEarbook, as RL, seeds from me in 1997.

I suppose it wouldn't be the best variety to trade with b'c few would understand why they might get both RL and PL plants. But then since I don't trade seeds, for several reasons, I didn't have that issue to deal with.;)

Ah, Taps. Jim Garvey is a Pennsylvania tomato enthusiast - I met him while at a few heirloom tomato demos I did at the Phila. Hort. Society Harvest shows in the late 1980s. Jim and I traded seeds over the years - he also did some crossing/selecting, so he released one called Plumsteak, Garvey's Beefsteak, and Garvey's Plum. He also gave me a variety that he called Tap or Taps - it was a mix of PL and RL large pink fruited, with good flavor. I actually spent a few years saving seed from just RL and just PL, and I got it to be consistent. So in my mind, it is not a variety that flips leaf shapes, but is one that was probably not fully stabilized or pure. It is a good variety, actually!

[quote=nctomatoman;170998]Ah, Taps. Jim Garvey is a Pennsylvania tomato enthusiast - I met him while at a few heirloom tomato demos I did at the Phila. Hort. Society Harvest shows in the late 1980s. Jim and I traded seeds over the years - he also did some crossing/selecting, so he released one called Plumsteak, Garvey's Beefsteak, and Garvey's Plum. He also gave me a variety that he called Tap or Taps - it was a mix of PL and RL large pink fruited, with good flavor. I actually spent a few years saving seed from just RL and just PL, and I got it to be consistent. So in my mind, it is not a variety that flips leaf shapes, but is one that was probably not fully stabilized or pure. It is a good variety, actually![/quote]

You were doing those Hort shows in the early 90's too my friend b'c well I remember that one year you were signed up to participate and didn't have good fruits to exhibit b/c yours were over the hill, so I ended up sending you about 80 pounds of fruits.

And you're telling me you can't remember that?:lol:

They were sent in those large heavy yellow boxes that I used to get citrus from, from that place in TX.

I'm saying that I now understand why there is so much confussion.
I'm not throwing this variety under the bus at all.

Thanks for your help

Aaron
[quote=carolyn137;170993]Aaron, why do you say it bites the dust?

Aside from the leaf flopping I remember it as a darn good variety, and so does Neil L who lists it in the 2010 SSE YEarbook, as RL, seeds from me in 1997.

I suppose it wouldn't be the best variety to trade with b'c few would understand why they might get both RL and PL plants. But then since I don't trade seeds, for several reasons, I didn't have that issue to deal with.;)[/quote]

Taps is a beautiful fruit
 

The only 3 varieties that produced for me tihs year in the Deep South were Black from Tula, Green Zebra, and Taps. Here is the Taps, by far the largest and most beautiful of the three. In this blush, it seems to be faintly striped. Is that usual?