Sara Galapagos- 2 Different Fruits?

[dokutaaguriin]

I grew out Sara's Galapagos this year and found two different fruits. One looks like the real deal correct colour. The other fruit developed a much darker shade to them and seem slightly smaller than the real deal. Can I chalk this up to environmental conditions? Both plants looked identical in terms of leaf type, height, and production



Imposter?


The Real deal?


Jeff

[carolyn137]

Jeff, until this year I've grown Sara's Galapagos every year since I was sent the original fruits brought back from the Galapagos IS and I haven't seen any difference in either fruit size or color. I didn't grow it this year b'c I didn't have room.

I can't get a feel for fruit size from your picture and I'm not willing to say that you have a for real and an imposter at this point but it seems to me that invoking environmental influences to explain two different sized fruits and one plant having darker fruits is a bit of a stretch.

Just curious, but were the seeds from some that I distributed here in a seed offer, if indeed I did for I didn't check that out, or did you get them from elsewhere?

[dokutaaguriin]

HI Carolyn,
Here is another pic (not the best lighting). I checked my seed source and it was Michaeline in Chicago who I believe received the seeds from you. It was quite a few years ago that I received the seeds while I was at the other place.

[carolyn137]

The size looks about right and now I can see that the fruits in the bottom row do look much darker, almost as though there had been some crossing going on.

I'm sorry but I have no memory of a person by that name in Chicago getting seeds from me. As you probably know I've been listing it in the SSE Yearbook for several years now and she could have requested seeds from me that way.

She wouldn't have sent you original seeds from me, I don't think, so I wonder if some crossing did occur when she grew it out herself. But it's also hard for me to consider crossing to get just a deeper color and all else remains the same. Is a mutation possible to change color? It is, but if so it's one that I don't recognize.

Could it be a reversion to something else? When I spoke with Dr. Chatelet at UC Davis, and being able to tell him which island it came from, he said that it was no doubt a stable interspecies cross between a currant and a cerasiforme or whatever, but any possibilities are all typical reds. So I don't think a genetic reversion makes sense and I haven't heard from anyone else that they were getting plants with slightly different colored fruits.

Be sure to save seeds from the two different fruits separately and see what happens next year.

At this point if I were you I'd keep the off form out of circulation and distribute only that form that is right for the variety as originally described.

[dokutaaguriin]

Hi Carolyn,
Thanks so much for your answer. I will grow out the odd coloured version next year and see what happens.

Jeff

[dokutaaguriin]

Here is a picture of the cut fruit. The red one had a sweeter taste to it whereas the darker coloured fruit was more tomatoey.

[Medbury Gardens]

Such a large seed for a small tomato,gee they look nice.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Medbury Gardens

Such a large seed for a small tomato,gee they look nice.

The seeds should be tiny tiny. I just pop open the wee fruits and throw them into my fermentation container squeezing them as I throw them and then add a bit of water and let them ferment. The fruits bob up and down at the top but soon sink a bit but the seeds come out nicely.

And it doesn't take too many fruits to get hundreds upon hundreds of seeds.

This afternoon I was inventorying what I have to delete from the varieties I've been listing in the SSE YEarbook b'c the seed was 5 yo this year and I won';t offer seeds over 5 yo. I deleted an envelope full of Sara's Galapagos from 2003 altho I still had some from I think 2006.

And that 2003 seed is just fine b'c seeds of species, in my experience, tend to last much longer re germination.

I'll probably list those seeds and the seeds of others that I'm deleting here at TV sometime in the future as part of a seed offer similar to what I've done here before.

I looked at those pictures again Jeff and I'm beginning to wonder about whether you have true Sara's Galapagos b'c of the fruit size and the seed size.

Not a general offer yet folks, but Jeff, I'd be glad to send you some SG seed so you can compare it with what you have. If you think you might be participating in my next seed offer we can let it go until then, considering the postage cost to Canada now.