Rare Tomatoes

[timcunningham]

I already have this years growing list set. But next year I would like to try my hand at growing some truly rare varieties and sharing them.

Trouble is, I don't which varieties are rare, probably because . . . well . . . they are so rare!

Does any one have some suggestions? Names of rare varieties? Ways to find out rare varieties? (Short of going to Mexico and find some wild native tomato plant?)

Thanks,

Tim

[Dunkel]

I have always considered a variety rare if seeds or plants are not available for purchase. Others may have a different view on this but if you can't buy them to me that's makes them somewhat rare. Also if Craig or Carolyn asks you for background information on a variety that would make them rare too!

[GreenThumbGal_07]

I think the Seeds of Diversity Web site

http://www.seeds.ca

has a listing (somewhere in there) of seeds, with designations such as "Rare" "Endangered" "Secure" etc.

GTG

[mms]

If I am thinking of the same list I am a little skeptical about how accurate it is. Some of the seeds that are designated as rare seem very common to me.

But then again, maybe that just means that everyone is doing a good job of getting rare seeds into circulation.

Myself I consider the family heirlooms from remote areas that are just now showing up on the radar to be the rare ones. Of course these are also the varieties that should be put into circulation to make sure they do not disappear.

MMS

[clay199]

I believe that the SODC list is very old, and it was made prior to the advent of the internet and transfered after. Not much in there seems correct, and one of the criteria for rareness was not being commercially available.

[michael johnson]

Tomatoes are only as rare as the very first time you manage to locate any seed.

From then on -if you manage to germinate the seed and grow them out- from one plant you can then have thousand of seeds at you disposal.

A lot of the so called rare varieties are only rare because the owners of the seed at the time tend to sit on them for years and not distribute them, and /or do not advertise the fact that they have them.

This can of course be from any country in the world- I am willing to bet that there are a lot of very good tomatoes in China and Taiwan if only you know where to get them from.

[carolyn137]

Dunkle, You gave me a great big needed laugh when you said that if Craig or I asked about a variety it was rare.

Clay, I couldn't agree with you more with the the SODC designations of rare/endangered b/c they are wayyyyy out of date.

To me a rare variety is one that isn't yet known to others, as in still grown by persons within a family when speaking of family heirlooms.

Once seeds are available and known, either thru listings in the SSE Yearbook, or shared with someone who then takes it upon themself to share with others, it isn't rare any more.

The listings in the SSE Yearbook are wide and deep and each year there are new varieties being listed for the first time, and until they become relisted by others I do consider them close to being rare.

What bothers me a lot is the renaming of varieties by certain individuals to make varieties appear to be rare/exclusive, etc. or the blurbs they might write about already known varieties to MAKE them to appear as being rare/exclusive.

And many varieties have taken on a new life when they are known as variety X in one language and then translated to another language in which case some folks, not knowing this, consider them as rare.

For instance, most in the US known the variety Matina, a German OP that was grown commercially years ago, but in Europe in many areas it's known as Tamina. I don't know why.

There are double listings of some European varieties, both western Europe as well as the larger former area known as Russia, in the SSE Yearbooks b'c some will list them in their native language and someone else will translate them and list them in English.

[cdntomato]

Clay, the SODC database was deliberately created as the online equivalent to SSE's Garden Seed Inventory because Bob Wildfong, now Executive Director of SODC, claimed to have computer expertise. SODC used government funding to hire a summer student to do the actual work.

The database is quite simply a straightforward, completely unedited data entry of all varieties listed in the USDA and PGRC (only!), SODC annuals, and select North American (only!) print catalogues easily available at that static point in time. Any mistakes in those references were copied directly, unqualified.

The criteria for classification as 'rare', endangered', etc. was flawed from the get-go and made worse because those class designations for each variety were made by the student who was, unfortunately, as unfamiliar with gardening as research techniques beyond the very basics.

Jennifer, backing away from the keyboard now...

[PaulF]

When I first started to converse with folks on the internet about tomatoes, I lived in an area where ther were lots of Mennonite and Amish families who tended to raise their own vegetables and many times the excess would be sold at roadside stands. I was hot to make an impression on my fellow tomato growers by "finding" a new old variety that an Amish family had been handing down for generations. I bought several different varieties and was prepared to save the seeds to see what was what. Most of the vendors had no idea about the history of their produce. One day I stopped at the stand while a young lad was minding the store and I asked the question again. He finally told me that his Dad hitches a ride every Spring into town and buys all his tomatoe seedlings from Wal-Mart. The fermenting seeds were immediately dumped.

[bcday]

If there are any family-owned nurseries in your area that sell started plants, look there. At one such nursery here, amongst the hybrids with fancy pre-printed labels were two varieties with much simpler labels bearing names I never heard of.

I tried to research them and found no info via websites or email, so I went back to the nursery and bought the plants. It turned out that they are apparently bona fide family heirlooms that were unknown except to this nursery's employees and customers. Needless to say, they aren't unknown any more.

After that experience, I tried another local family-owned greenhouse. The owner of that one said scornfully that his customers only wanted round red tomatoes and he only sold hybrids. Oh, well. There are still lots of other places where I haven't looked yet.

[travis]

There are many tomatoes listed in SSE Yearbook by only one or two persons. I have no idea whether that makes them "rare" ... maybe only "underlisted."

PV

[lycoperleprechaun]

You might want to explore this site www.amishlandseeds.com
They proclaim to have some rare seeds; some of which they suggest, they are the " ONLY USA SEED SOURCE" or exclusive. They claim stump of the world is "very rare” though. So I don't know. Check it out and decide for yourself.

[timcunningham]

I believe amishland is one of the places that takes "not so rare" seeds, renames them and calls them rare, if that is the case then....

I have a very rare "Garden Buddy" Variety of Tomato

It looks much like the Paul Robeson, but this very rare as it is the only Black Tomato germinated in Macon, Georgia by a very handsome 2 year old.

[carolyn137]

C'mon Keith, you know darn well we aren't talking about F2's and beyond from dehybridizing.

Purify out your selections, name the stable ones and THEN you've got something rare.

And to the person who talked about Amishland, let me be nice here, if I can, but there have been major problems with Lisa and her website and what she claims.

Let's just take her info about Orange Russian #117 which she says is from a Russian seedbank, when in fact Orange Russian #117 was bred by Jeff Dawson in CA between Georgia Streak and the well known Russian #117.

And the Orange-1 from Andrey on the lead page? I listed it in the SSE Yearbook two years ago.

I still remember her Eeenie Weenie Greenie, or similar, that turned out to be Green Grape.

OK, I'll stop now.

[travis]

My favorite "rare" Amishland Seed variety is Lancaster County Pink, supposedly a potato leaf mystery that popped up from Lisa's planting of assumed Amish Paste seeds from a trade.

Every LCP seedling I've got up right now looks regular leaf to me. Time will tell if they are pink, red, or some other shade of tomato!

I do have a couple of Andrey's Russian Chocolates up and growing. I wonder which of Lisa's rare tomatoes are in fact Andrey's RCs with a new name

PV