Sugardrop F1 tomato

[frogsleap farm]

A new supersweet cherry, w/ fruit marketed only in Europe I believe. Any of our trans-Atlantic friends with F2 saved seed? I don't think F1 seed is available to home gardeners.

[DanishGardener]

I just read a bit about it, and it seems that it was developed for Tesco (UK supermarked chain) and is only being sold in their stores.
When do you need the seeds? I am going to London in February, so I can look for some there.

Or you can find someone who lives in the UK, there are Tesco stores everywhere there, so chances are that you will find someone who lives close to one.

There is also this option http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresh_%26_Easy
They have stores in California, Nevada and Arizona.

[frogsleap farm]

I don't usually seed until late February, so that would be fine. Thanks. I didn't realize it was a UK only product.

[DanishGardener]

Tesco have stores in several European countries (not in Denmark), but from the text I have read it sound like it is only being sold in the UK stores.

This text is from last winter:

Described by the retailer as being as sweet as a peach, the new variety has gone on sale in the UK this week
Tesco has revealed that a new, extra-sweet tomato variety has hit the shelves this week, following two years of trials involving some 3,000 different types of tomato.
The UK retailer said that the new Sugardrop variety is "as sweet as a peach", and is the hybrid of two different, yet-to-be-revealed varieties, designed to appeal to consumers who find traditional varieties slightly sharp.
"A few years ago we sat down with our suppliers and asked them to find us a high-quality tomato that would appeal to gourmets with a sweet tooth," said Tesco tomato buyer Ashleigh McWilliams. "It was the beginning of major research that involved our growers contacting all the major seed houses in the world in order to find varieties that they could cross pollinate to find a tomato with higher than normal sugar levels.
"The result is the Sugardrop which is the sweetest tomato there has ever been, and now this week UK shoppers will be the first to try it."
Grown on the Costa Calida in Murcia, south-west Spain, the Sugardrop has been bred by Tesco grower Paloma, the retailer said.
"As tomatoes are so healthy we're hoping that the added sweetness of the Sugardrop will also appeal to Children who might otherwise turn their noses up at them," McWilliams added.
Another tomato variety, Moruno, has been launched alongside Sugardrop at Tesco, described as having a complex, aromatic flavour with very few seeds but a thick, juicy flesh.

[frogsleap farm]

TomaTech is the breeder. Here is a page from their website comparing a few of their mini-plums. http://www.toma-tech.com/products/Sweet_baby_plum.html

[maf]

I was looking at these tomatoes in Tesco last night, the shape is very distinctive; they look as if they would taste nice, if that makes sense. The background info makes them sound more interesting. Next time I am shopping there I will pick some up and taste test, can also save some seed for you frogsleap, if you like.

[frogsleap farm]

Wow, great. If Moruno is there also, I'd like to try F2 seed of that too. Moruno is also from TomaTech. Both of these varieties have reported long shelf life, which is a trait I'm interested in. Thanks a million!

[maf]

No problem. That Moruno sounds very interesting too, I have been looking for a high lycopene tomato to grow in 2011. Some early reports of people growing out the F2 seed from UK supermarket fruit seem to suggest it grows out more or less true to type. See the comments section at this blog: http://tomatolover.com/new-tomatoes/

[Jayc]

I've not seen Sugardrop in my local Tesco store but I tried Moruno last year. For a supermarket tom it was tasty and sweet, but my notes include "lacks some depth of flavour"

Another Tesco tom I tried is Perino, I rated these above Moruno for flavour and sweetness (though they may not have the qualities you are looking for). I have some spare seed of both if you are interested.

[frogsleap farm]

maf - I have seed of a high lycopene cherry I could send you.

[cottonpicker]

How does it compare in taste / sweetness with Sun Sugar or Sun Gold????

LarryD

[frogsleap farm]

I bought Kumatos in Minnesota this winter. Pretty good taste, but great shelf life. It's the extended shelf life parents that I'm looking for to cross with my best tasting breeding lines. I have Kumato, and am excited about getting the few others talked about on this post.

[carolyn137]

I think many of us have tried Kumatos in the past. I didn't like them at all and the hype that Syngenta put out about them was over the top. They were first introduced by Syngenta in England and Australia and they introduced them here in the US as Rosso Bruno a couple of years ago.

Not that I have any strong negative feelings about them, but well, given the many alternatives, I do.

[Jayc]

Frogsleap, I'll send them in the next couple of days, but the mail here seems pretty much on standstill the last few days due to snowy weather.

Gill, pm me your addie and I'll send some over, yes a few Kumato seeds in exchange would be great as I only have 2 and would love a couple more

Cottonpicker, I'm hoping I come across Sugardrop sometime, as I'm interested to see how they compare with sungold too.

[maf]

It's the extended shelf life parents that I'm looking for to cross with my best tasting breeding lines.

Frogsleap, you might also find Piccolo to be an interesting tomato for your needs. The F1 is a good tasting red cherry tomato and is one of the most popular (if not the most popular) premium cherry tomatoes in supermarkets here. Don't know if it has been introduced in the US. I grew out F2 seed from supermarket fruit two years ago and a percentage of the plants produced ghostly pale orange fruits that seemed to take forever to fully ripen. I couldn't work out what to do with them and ended up drying most of them in the oven. I didn't realise it at the time but these fruits have been reported to keep for five months or more without rotting. See this thread for one person's account: http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=3762

Might be an interesting one for your breeding work? I can send you some seed from supermarket fruit when I send the others if you like. (Will probably be at Tesco later today and will look to see if they have Sugardrop or Moreno in stock.)

Anyone else have experience of growing out Piccolo?

The F1 seeds used to be available to buy in the UK but were expensive and have now been withdrawn from the home gardening market. Grafted F1 plants are sometimes available for sale still.