my mystery tomato

themarta · July 31, 2012

This is this years mystery here. The seed was supposed to be Bella Rosa. RL plant, globe shaped fruit. Those tomatoes are from a huge, thick stemmed PL plant. The leafs on that thing are bigger than my head. What in the world is it? Oh and I gave my mom a plant grown from the same seed pack and it is RL but the fruit looks the same.
Can please the knowledgeable folk at TV help me solve this riddle.

Baizanator · July 31, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by themarta

This is this years mystery here. The seed was supposed to be Bella Rosa. RL plant, globe shaped fruit. Those tomatoes are from a huge, thick stemmed PL plant. The leafs on that thing are bigger than my head. What in the world is it? Oh and I gave my mom a plant grown from the same seed pack and it is RL but the fruit looks the same.
Can please the knowledgeable folk at TV help me solve this riddle.

I'm confused. Your plant is RL or PL?

I ask because those tomatoes sure look like Costoluto Genovese to me, which is RL.

themarta · July 31, 2012

Hi.
Thank you for your reply. Sorry, this is a bit confusing. Those tomatoes are from a PL plant. Another RL plant from the same seed pack has identical fruit though. They both were supposed to be Bella Rosa but I knew something was up when one of the plants turned out to be a massive PL.

amideutch · August 1, 2012

There have been RL varieties throw out PL variants and as you have described, a PL with the same fruit and taste but sometimes the PL may be more productive, may have slightly larger fruit and being PL may have better disease resistance to it's RL brother.

You might want to save the seed from the PL plant and grow again next year to see if it repeats.

Kellogs Breakfast RL (KBX, PL version) Cherokee Purple RL (Spudakee Purple, PL version) and Akers West Virginia RL (Linda's Faux, PL version) are a few RL/PL variants that come to mind and I have grown all three original RL's and also their PL variants. For me the PL variants were superior to the RL originals. Ami

themarta · August 1, 2012

Thank you very much for your reply. I didn't realize that PL variants can be superior to RL. In this case it makes sense since the PL is 4 times the size of the RL and also has many many more fruit. I will be saving seed for sure to grow out more plants next season and see what happens

I still have no idea though what kind of tomato this is. Had a taste yesterday and it was delicious. Few seeds, thick walled and meaty with lots of flavour. It also is very early for me for such large tomatoes.

FILMNET · August 1, 2012

Sure does look like any Italian tomato with RL though

August 1, 2012	#4
amideutch Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Germany 49°26"N 07°36"E Posts: 5,041	There have been RL varieties throw out PL variants and as you have described, a PL with the same fruit and taste but sometimes the PL may be more productive, may have slightly larger fruit and being PL may have better disease resistance to it's RL brother. You might want to save the seed from the PL plant and grow again next year to see if it repeats. Kellogs Breakfast RL (KBX, PL version) Cherokee Purple RL (Spudakee Purple, PL version) and Akers West Virginia RL (Linda's Faux, PL version) are a few RL/PL variants that come to mind and I have grown all three original RL's and also their PL variants. For me the PL variants were superior to the RL originals. Ami __________________ Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting ‘...Holy Crap .....What a ride!'

July 31, 2012	#3
themarta Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Ontario Posts: 24	Hi. Thank you for your reply. Sorry, this is a bit confusing. Those tomatoes are from a PL plant. Another RL plant from the same seed pack has identical fruit though. They both were supposed to be Bella Rosa but I knew something was up when one of the plants turned out to be a massive PL.

August 1, 2012	#6
FILMNET Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: North Charleston,South Carolina, USA Posts: 1,803	Sure does look like any Italian tomato with RL though