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#1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: virginia
Posts: 742
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Sometimes I come across some tomato varieties while looking on EBAY that I have never heard of.So I thought I would post some of these here to see if anyone else has heard of them or grown them or maybe just something interesting to look at.This one looks interesting from Croatia, a Bulgarian tomato.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Tomato-...0bdpPRe2H5-27Q |
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#2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Dallas, TX
Posts: 3,825
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seaeagle, buying any seed on eBay is a major crapshoot.
There is no effective site protection for seeds purchased on eBay. Once you receive seeds eBay considers the transaction complete and in any case buyer protection expires after 45 days. Unless you're growing magic beans, that is not nearly enough time to determine that what you got is what was advertised. The seller could have picked some old toms out of the supermarket trash, dried the seeds, and sold them as some exotic Bulgarian variety. You won't know until it's too late, and there isn't a darn thing you can do about it. Stick to well known and respected sources. To be fair, there are good seed sellers on eBay. I did it once myself. But unless the price is really attractive, I'd steer clear.
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Stupidity got us into this mess. Why can't it get us out? - Will Rogers |
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#3 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Mojave Desert - California
Posts: 368
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One of the members here called papdennis, or MrTomatohead still sells on eBay I believe. His website is very nice. I have purchased seed from him but that was through his website.
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#4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: virginia
Posts: 742
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I really wouldn't hesitate to buy seeds from EBAY if the seller had an excellent rating.This seller has 99.9% approval rating out of over 4000 reviews. That's good enough for me, but i know what you are saying.You do have to be careful.I have had positive experiences with EBAY.
This seller is in Croatia so I probably wouldn't order.But the tomato does look interesting ![]() |
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#5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Dallas, TX
Posts: 3,825
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Don't be fooled by a good rating. After 45 days a buyer cannot leave feedback. If half his buyers didn't like what they got, it would never show up in his feedback.
That said, it's an intriguing listing. The price is low (maybe) and the shipping is reasonable IF he's charging $1.69 for a packet of seeds, not just one seed. That seems a mite steep on a per-seed basis (plus the extra shipping per item). Worth asking the question, I suppose. Impressive looking picture, too.
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Stupidity got us into this mess. Why can't it get us out? - Will Rogers |
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#6 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: virginia
Posts: 742
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I read some of the reviews, shipping to California from Croatia in 7 days, that's faster than some in the U.S. I have ordered from. ![]() His store is really interesting also, many varieties of peppers I have never heard of. But really the main reason I posted was I thought that tomato was really tasty looking ![]() |
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#7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: virginia
Posts: 742
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Too late this year, but I am seriously considering ordering this tomato next year.Great prices from this seller with very reasonable shipping and lots of great vegetables to chose from.
Mr Bruno looks like my kind of tomato, maybe some competition for Eva Purple Ball, maybe not.Seller has a 99.9% approval rating and I think some will recognize him from Tomatovile. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mr-Bruno-Tom...-/171502023961 |
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#8 | |
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a
Posts: 21,169
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Mr. Bruno is quite well known and the seller is Mike of Ohio Heirloom Seeds and I didn't check to see if he's still offering it but his seeds are great. I suggest you go to the Plant and Seed Forum here at ville,and look for his company,which is listed there. http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/w...b=General_Info Then above click on seed availability. Hope that helps, and if you do a search here at Tville I'm pretty sure you'll find others who have grown it since when Adam Gleckler took over from his father many of us sent seeds to Adam, and I know Mr.Bruno was one of them. Hope that helps and I do suggest staying away from e-bay. ![]() Carolyn
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Carolyn |
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#9 |
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a
Posts: 21,169
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For what it's worth I went to e-bay to take a look and ended up looking at all this person is offering..
Everything is listed as rare or super rare,and that includes some Dwarf varieties from the Tville project as well as common eggplants that have been around forever and well,I was not impressed at all. A rare bulgarian tomato?I think not. Bulgarian tomatoes are one of my fave kinds,haven't met one yet that I don 't love. Google doesn't bring up the name of the one being offered,nor does Tania,nor do other places I checked. From Croatia also is a problem for me since I do know someone in Croatia who does change the names of some varieties,and some of the pictures shown are not what they should be. So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. ![]() Carolyn
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Carolyn |
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#10 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Florida
Posts: 8
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Buying seeds on eBay maybe not the smartest way to go. to many dishonest sellers, just look at the latest "blue watermelon!!! among many others, we have reputable seeds sources at home to go to.
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#11 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Ohio
Posts: 457
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I bought some seeds off EBay from a seller whose EBay handle is el_diablo 84. I think he is also a member here on Tomatoville, though I don't recall his name here.
He sells sample packs of dozens of varieties, each for $.99 with free shipping. I got the seeds earlier this year, and so far all have sprouted and the ones that are supposed to be PL are PL, the dwarfs are dwarfs, the Fish Lake Oxheart is wispy, etc. He was very helpful in answering questions and also sent bonus seeds for a couple varieties with my order. He is located in TN, and I can vouch for the viability of his seed offers. Can tell you more once they fruit, but so far everything is growing as expected. Check out his listings. He has over 100 varieties, including dwarfs and some harder-to-find ones (like Margaret Curtain, Fish Lake Oxheart, etc.) It's not an expensive gamble. I'm happy with my sprouts! ![]() |
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#12 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Ohio
Posts: 457
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Carolyn, that EBay listing for Mr. Bruno seeds IS by Ohio Heirloom Seeds.
I know J&L Gardens also sells many of their seed varieties on EBay, as well as from their own website. I think part of it is either knowing who the seller is, or taking the gamble if the price of admission is reasonable. There are many merchants who sell on EBay that run legitimate retail businesses as well. It just gives an alternate outlet with great exposure. That said, I did get stiffed from a couple of vendors two years ago who were selling peony roots which they claimed to have raised themselves and also claimed to be the more expensive intersectional varieties. Well, ha ha on me. By the time they bloomed six months later, they turned out to be very inexpensive, generic, common varieties. Too late to file a complaint or change the feedback. (I should have suspected something weird when the packages carried a Brooklyn apt. address on the return label.) Those peonies were big $$. ![]() |
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#13 | |
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a
Posts: 21,169
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Carolyn
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Carolyn |
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#14 | |
Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a
Posts: 21,169
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Carolyn
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Carolyn |
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#15 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: virginia
Posts: 742
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I really have never heard of this one and I would have remembered it.The tomatobase site was basically a blank page with Mr Bruno's name on it, but i did google and found this.
Posted by drhuey 9/10Australia (My Page) on Fri, Feb 23, 07 at 21:48 This summer I'm growing a mix of 20 hybrid and Heirloom American tomatoes. It's been my most productive season to date (fourth year) thanks to the terrific advice and tips gleaned from this forum over the years. I have one 'ring-in' in the plot. This is the story. In the winter I was given a few seeds of a tomato which is very popular among home gardeners in the Geelong district in Victoria. During WW11 an Italian prisoner of war was assigned to a farmer in the Geelong district to provide labor. He proved such a good worker that the farmer made contact with his 'employee' in Italy and sponsored his return to Australia as a migrant. He arrived in the early '50's and settled in the Geelong area. Like many European immigrants he brought with him vegetable seeds including some favorite family tomato seeds. By the late '50's he was keeping the seeds of his most productive tomato and continued to grow this variety until 3-4 years ago. For many years he helped the local hospital by selling tomato seedlings at the hospital's annual Spring Fair.Apparently the word spread among the local gardeners and 'Mr Bruno's tomatoes' were eagerly sought after. Mr Bruno is still alive and now resides in a Senior Citizen's home. He can no longer grow his tomatoes.I spoke with him recently and he is happy to have the distribution of the seeds widened. His tomato has done brilliantly for me this season. It is a heavy producer of 7-8 oz slicing tomatoes (see photo).It is a ribbed tomato with a balanced flavor leaning perhaps towards sweet rather than acid.I've already picked 15 lbs from this one bush and it's still producing. The bush ia a strong regular-leafed grower but not tall ( say 31/2- 4 feet) the shortest of all my bushes this year. It needs supporting.A feature has been the even size of the fruit. I'm saving seeds and happy to share with anyone interested. Brenton It sounds like a true family heirloom story that can actually be verified, now that may be RARE. ![]() And it sounds like that most who tried it loved it, I wonder why it is not more popular?Hmmmm http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussi...about-mr-bruno |
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