Why are my Sun Gold shaped weird/bizarre

[SpookyShoe]

I've been picking ripe Sun Gold for about 6 weeks. They were a round shape. Now, on the new trusses, some of the fruit is like this:

[Father'sDaughter]

Curious! Are you growing from F1 seeds or saved (F2) seeds?

[Labradors2]

Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter

Curious! Are you growing from F1 seeds or saved (F2) seeds?

I wondered that too, but this is more than just the "wrong seed" as they grew true for a while and then morphed into different shapes.

It might be worth saving seed from the odd-shaped ones (assuming that they taste great).

Linda

[carolyn137]

Donna,let's assume you are growing the F1 since I've never seen you delve into saving seeds from off typs, etc

The shape is not the only thing wrong with what you show, it's the way the fruits are growing on that truss you showed.

How many NEW trusses are showing that and what is their position on the plant?

I ask since what I think has happened is that a somatic mutation has occurred.

If you wanted to you could save seeds from ones with different shapes,singly, since somatic mutations are permanent and heritable, but I don't see you doing that either.

Sheesh,how many years have we known each other?Let me check.

Tania didn't have the info I wanted so I had to google it and found that I first grew the seeds you sent me for Indian Stripe in about 2003. Someone said I shared the seeds with Craig,I did but only so he could compare it with Cherokee Purple,which he did, and agreed with what I was thinking all that time.

So that takes us back 14 years,but there's more. Remember we had that group of folks when we all at the AOL tomato Forum, we called ourselves something I can 't remember what it was.

So that takes us back to shortly after I moved back East from Denver in 1982 and and got my first own computer in the apt I was then living at.

So that means we've known each other for about 35 years which is way before I knew anyone at the original GW or the several other places where I used to post.

Sorry for the diversion folks,but sometimes it's a memory thing for me, and Donna N is one of the best memories I know of.

Carolyn

[SpookyShoe]

Carolyn, I'll check the plant tomorrow and see what I can observe about the position of the trusses, etc. You're right about me not saving seeds, LOL. However, if you think this might be a mutation, saving the seeds might be worthwhile. I'll let you all know.

[SpookyShoe]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

I wondered that too, but this is more than just the "wrong seed" as they grew true for a while and then morphed into different shapes.

It might be worth saving seed from the odd-shaped ones (assuming that they taste great).

Linda

Yes. The fruit were perfectly standard Sun Gold for weeks and then POOF! the elongated shapes started showing up on the new trusses. Not all the new trusses, but many of them.

Donna

[SpookyShoe]

I think you all can see what's going on.

[SpookyShoe]

Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter

Curious! Are you growing from F1 seeds or saved (F2) seeds?

I bought the Sun Gold plant.

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by SpookyShoe

I bought the Sun Gold plant.

That may explains that it is likely what you bought was/is not true F! SG plant.
It could be a case of switched tag or the grower got a stray seed ?
But it seems more complicated than that, i.e. w/ more than one shape of fruit growing from one seed.

[Fusion_power]

That looks like one of the parental lines of Sungold. They cross an elongated tomato X a small round cherry that has the B^og gene. You may have one of the parents of sungold!

[Cole_Robbie]

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

You may have one of the parents of sungold!

I think I understand the exclamation point. Having a parent would be very valuable in re-creating the mythical and evasive Sungold OP, right?

[SpookyShoe]

Ok. For Carolyn: This is another truss. The affected trusses seem to be mostly on one
"side" of the plant, but I found a few trusses on the other "side" too. It's hard to tell where "sides" are on such a vining plant. The thing is, on most of the affected trusses, you can find normal looking fruit and the elongated fruit.

I thought about how long we have known each other. I pinned it down to around 24 years. It happened on the gardening boards on AOL.

Since we are talking about mutations:

How do you tell a male chromosome from a female chromosome?
You pull down their genes.

[Worth1]

Don't be surprised if a Japanese woman shows up at your house in a black van with a tranquilizer dart gun.
Just go peacefully and tell her where the plant is.

Worth

[heirloomtomaguy]

Save seed!!!!!!!!!!! You may just be on to something amazing. Perhaps a somatic mutation that tastes like sungold witb a different shape.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by heirloomtomaguy

Save seed!!!!!!!!!!! You may just be on to something amazing. Perhaps a somatic mutation that tastes like sungold witb a different shape.

I thought about that as well, but there shouldn't be such a delay in different fruits showing up,since the info for somatic mutations,if involved,is there from the get go in a plant cell.What is affected is exactly where that one cell is, so it could be one fruit,one branch with different colored ones or shapes,etc.

On page 122 in my tomato book I show a picture and discuss the variety Green Gage and note that one branch had all red fruits on a plant that had all yellow fruits and I note that in doing some background research that the variety was known as one to exist in two colors, the original yellow as well as a red. It's a pre-1800 variety, which is why I was growing it.


At least that's been my experience with the somatic mutations I've seen in grow outs.

A good one to cite,which was seen by someone else is this one

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=37039

Post #10

Tania credits Robert for finding the ONE yellow fruit on a plant with all red ones,but Robert knows that isn't true.

The yellow one I've grown as have others and the fruits are identical in all ways with the red fruits.

At one time I knew who it was who made that discovery but some Googling and checking didn't give me that name.

Carolyn