"Illegal" propagation

travis · July 5, 2011

I have seen huge fields of tomatoes claimed to be Santa Sweets growing in central Florida in the Peace River area. You can examine hundreds of boxes of these so-called Santa Sweets at the produce markets down there in season. There are very distinct variations in shapes and sizes of the fruit, as well as some variation in skin tone. I'm talking grape shapes, olive shapes, pear shapes, plum shapes, and both red/orange and crimson skin tones, some with yellow shoulders and some with uniform ripening.

My guess is there are a bunch of commercial growers who don't bother starting with F1 seeds, and are growing whatever they've saved over the years. My point is I don't really think you'd get 100% consistent results growing out seeds saved from F1 Santa Sweets, if in fact you're buying F1 Santa Sweets to begin with. Close, but not 100% consistent.

July 5, 2011	#17
travis Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Evansville, IN Posts: 2,984	I have seen huge fields of tomatoes claimed to be Santa Sweets growing in central Florida in the Peace River area. You can examine hundreds of boxes of these so-called Santa Sweets at the produce markets down there in season. There are very distinct variations in shapes and sizes of the fruit, as well as some variation in skin tone. I'm talking grape shapes, olive shapes, pear shapes, plum shapes, and both red/orange and crimson skin tones, some with yellow shoulders and some with uniform ripening. My guess is there are a bunch of commercial growers who don't bother starting with F1 seeds, and are growing whatever they've saved over the years. My point is I don't really think you'd get 100% consistent results growing out seeds saved from F1 Santa Sweets, if in fact you're buying F1 Santa Sweets to begin with. Close, but not 100% consistent.