Cherokee Lime

[amideutch]

Bill Jeffers (PapaVic) grew Golden Cherokee in 09 and ended up with fruit that had a clear epidermis which he attributed to a mutation. He named it Cherokee Lemon per the color of the fruit.
He sent me seeds from Cherokee Lemon to grow this year and the fruit I got were green with also a clear epidermis. I was expecting the lemon color and when I did a squeeze test to my surprise the green fruits were ripe! Taste was excellent being sweet and fruity with enough tomato taste to remind you it was a tomato.
I sent pictures of the fruits I harvested to Bill who said out of the two plants he grew this year one grew true to the mutation he had originally and the other turned out green the same as mine. So he is calling the green "Cherokee Lime". Here are pictures of my harvested fruit. The first 3 pictures is the first fruit to ripen which was the size of a pool ball and totally green. The next 4 pics are from a beefsteak size with stripes . The last 3 are of what was a double bloom again with the stripes but not as pronounced as the beefsteak. Ami

[Tania]

Another wonderful discovery!

[travis]

Are all the green tomatoes you show in the pictures from the same plant or do you have 2 or 3 plants?

[amideutch]

Travis, they are all from the same plant. Ami

[Wi-sunflower]

Uh, since Golden Cherokee was originally from Cherokee Green, isn't it possible that these green fruit are just the Cherokee Green?

Or is there something else different like different skin color or ??

I'm not sure what I'm missing.

Carol

[nctomatoman]

Agreed, Carol - at this point, we could see effects of an unexpected cross, not a mutation....leading to....goodness knows what!

[lurley]

I grew Cherokee green this year and got a brown tomato.

Sent from my X10a using Tapatalk

[travis]

Carol and Craig:

The "Cherokee Lime" has clear epidermis as was said earlier in the other thread about "Cherokee" tomatoes started today: http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=21290 So, it would seem it is not the same tomato as Cherokee Green which has a yellow epidermis.

Carol: You ask, "since Golden Cherokee was originally from Cherokee Green, isn't it possible that these green fruit are just the Cherokee Green?"

Since Craig has said in the earlier thread, "...beyond that (C. Purple, C. Chocolate, C. Green), any others were the results of crosses and selections, I believe," then obviously he would discount Cherokee Lime as being "just the Cherokee Green" not withstanding the clear epidermis vs. yellow epidermis, I would think.

Craig: Is it possible that Cherokee Chocolate and Cherokee Green also are the results of crosses rather than the much more rare "mutations?" I ask because it would seem possible there was instability beyond the 1:10,000+or- expectation of a spontaneous mutation in such a limited population of plants in such a short time span as what occurred.

Ami: It seems unlikely also that Cherokee Lime is a spontaneous mutation considering two people each got the same green-when-ripe expression in 2 out of 3 plants from the same seed batch in the same year.

Other things to consider: In my limited experience, I have not seen a green-when-ripe further devolve by segregation into anything other than green-when-ripe, although I have seen them develop more pronounced blossom end blushes, yellow > clear epidermis, and bicolored interior flesh as seasons went on and segregation continued.

My opinion? The original Cherokee Purple sourced seed may have experienced a small bit of stray pollen, although I will not venture a guess as to where it happened.

[Wi-sunflower]

That's what I wasn't sure about -- the clear vs yellow skin. So those 2 greens are different, but I would also suspect a stray cross rather than mutation. The changes happened too rapidly.

Carol

[GunnarSK]

Originally Posted by Wi-sunflower

That's what I wasn't sure about -- the clear vs yellow skin. So those 2 greens are different, but I would also suspect a stray cross rather than mutation. The changes happened too rapidly.
Carol

You're probably right, Carol, but a taste comparison of Cherokee Green and Cherokee Lime will show what's most important.

[nctomatoman]

Good points, Travis - I guess that in my experience, I've gotten nothing but chocolate colored fruit from my Cherokee Chocolate - and I've grown it many times, from various starting points in the genealogy.

I've not grown Cherokee Green nearly as much, and it seems like a much more rare event - but I've seen consistently greens with that with my own sourced/saved seed over many years.

[amideutch]

Here is what Reinhard had to say about Golden Cherokee. Ami

As I tried out Cherokee Green, some plants with yellow fruits appeared. I saved seeds and in the following years, they remained stable. So, I named them Golden Cherokee. Manfred Hahm got them from me, and he surely is the source of www.tomatenmitgeschmack.de.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by lurley

I grew Cherokee green this year and got a brown tomato.

Sent from my X10a using Tapatalk

That's exactly what mine did too.
Marsha

[carolyn137]

Ami, in the current thread about green when ripes Bill said that his fave one was Cherokee Lime. And since I didn't think that many folks knew about it I fetched this thread and linked to it in the GWRipe thread as well.

But I suppose many folks didn't bother to even open the link I gave to this thread.

So whatever, it's all in support of GWRipes, but you might want to take a look at the other thread where I asked Bill if seeds were available, noted where I had searched and what I found and if you have more information about that, that would help . So you might want to read in the GWRipe thread what I did find.

Bill hasn't yet answered the question about seed availability that I asked, so I guess we now have two threads going.

Carolyn

[greyghost]

Carolyn,

Don't know, just guessing, but I suspect Bill might not want to mention
specific vendor(s). I know you know how bashful he is!

If one is interested in purchasing seeds, Cherokee Lime Stripes (as well
as Cherokee Yellow) are available commercially--one may google
Cherokee Lime Stripes. I haven't purchased them but they sure do
look appealing.

I love the GWR's too but they sure aren't popular around here. I took a
bunch of mixed heirlooms to the marina a couple of years ago on a Friday
afternoon for people who stay the weekend on their boats, included
several Cherokee Green (told everyone how great they were).
Went back on Monday and there was a pile of CG on the dock picnic table.
Also in the pile were all the Wessel's Purple Pride. All pink, reds, orange
were gone.

Hope this helps anyone who is intrigued by these varieties. Darlene