Pike County

[gkcole]

Hi all,

I'm growing the tomato "Pike County" for the first time this year. (I picked up my plant at Thieneman's, for those who are interested.) It's listed as a pink tomato, approximately 8 to 12 ounces, if I recall correctly. But I have also seen Pike County listed on some sites (such as SESE) as a yellow to orange beefsteak. Any idea on which one is the "real" Pike County. Any history on where the tomato or tomatoes originated would also be appreciated. (I have kinda figured out that it came from Pike County, KY already.)

Thanks,

Gary

[nctomatoman]

Howdy - I got Pike County Heirloom from Don Sparks long ago (thinking late 1980s/early 1990s) and grew it out once - it was a medium sized, regular pink tomato. Don was from Kentucky. I don't know the history of the variety beyond that.

[patty_b]

hum......I am growing Pike County Yellow as
Pike County Yellow I85RL obs

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by nctomatoman

Howdy - I got Pike County Heirloom from Don Sparks long ago (thinking late 1980s/early 1990s) and grew it out once - it was a medium sized, regular pink tomato. Don was from Kentucky. I don't know the history of the variety beyond that.

Craig, I found your listing and you noted you got the seed from Sparks in 1992 so I just riffled through my back SSE YEarbooks for the 1992 and yes he did list it in 1992 as Pike County Kentucky Heirloom

He described it as 80 days, det, pink fruits, grown over 40 years in same family in Pike County,KY, 1989 seed.

Craig, I don't remember if you listed it as ind or det, but I'm not in the mood right now to go back and find the specific Yearbook where you listed it.

Patti, I didn't do a complete search, far from it, but haven't run across
anything nzmed Pike County Yellow. What was the source of your seeds? I ask b/c a mutation from pink to Yellow isn't that common and actually off hand I can't think of one, so maybe the Pike County Yellow is the result of some kind of natural cross pollination with selection tosomething yellow which would then not be actually the same as the original Pike County Kentucky Heirloom of a different color. What do you think?

I just did a Google search and see that some places are selling seed for what they call Pike COunty Yellow.

Gary Millwood is an expert on KY varieties and one of the links took me to a list he did at a message site which said:

(Pike County Kentucky Heirloom - Pink/Pike County)

So he has the correct name as did Sparks when he SSE listed it and Gary also has the right color, which is pink.

I have no idea where the yellow variant comes from and at the several sites I checked there was no information about that other than the variety being from Pike County, KY.

I just looked in the current 2010 SSE Yearbook and see that SSE itself is listing it as Pike County Kentucky Heirloom, citing Sparks and the color is pink.

There is no listing for Pike County Yellow. So I don't know where that really came from.

[nctomatoman]

Carolyn, it was indeterminate for me.

[patty_b]

Kygregg shared seeds with me from Baker's Creek...
Pike County Yellow Tomato

An heirloom from Pike County Kentucky. Its tall vines produce loads of pretty orange fruit that weigh 12-16 ounces and have a delicious flavor! A good producer over a long season, and a favorite of master seed saver Merlyn Neidens.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by patty_b

Kygregg shared seeds with me from Baker's Creek...
Pike County Yellow Tomato

An heirloom from Pike County Kentucky. Its tall vines produce loads of pretty orange fruit that weigh 12-16 ounces and have a delicious flavor! A good producer over a long season, and a favorite of master seed saver Merlyn Neidens.

Yes, I saw that one and what I did was to Google Pike COunty Yellow Tomato and there were several places offering it as I recall, but when I checked the blurbs none of them gave a source or origin, just pretty much what you qouted above.

If they're going to source it to Pike County and the original lister for the variety, Sparks, said it was pink as did Gary Millwood, I do have to wonder about this one.

And unless I can find it listed in the SSE YEarbooks, and I did look at several of them but certainly not all of them that I have, I guess I still think it's not the original PIke County Kentucky Heirloom, for sure b'c of color, but I still wonder about its origin and still wonder if it's not a stabilized cross.