Can You Save Green Zebra Seeds?

[jcr1709]

I bought a single specimen of Green Zebra at my local Whole Foods....not bad, 3.99 lb for a mix of varieties of New York State "Heirloom" tomatoes. I bought the tomato with mostly the purpose of saving the seeds, but is this a hybrid type that is not a good idea to save seeds from? Thanks in advance for advice.

[GunnarSK]

Originally Posted by jcr1709

I bought a single specimen of Green Zebra at my local Whole Foods....not bad, 3.99 lb for a mix of varieties of New York State "Heirloom" tomatoes. I bought the tomato with mostly the purpose of saving the seeds, but is this a hybrid type that is not a good idea to save seeds from? Thanks in advance for advice.

If this is the "real" deal, you should be safe to save seeds, as the tomato is OP. I have Green Zebra from 3 packets/sources, and sowed some of the seeds. But maybe it is best to ask Tom Wagner, as he developed this variety.

[heirloomdaddy]

I don't know of any hybrid Green Zebras...I think it's safe to save seed

[carolyn137]

Green Zebra is OP so you can save seeds. As mentioed above Tom Wagner bred this variety way back in the 80's, but it's still OP.

But how confident are you that what you bought is Green Zebra?

NY Heirlooms? I live here and there aren't many. Maybe they were selling fruits from some who grows them in NYS?

[Tom Wagner]

I don't see any reason why a person couldn't save seed from a Green Zebra. I would bet that just about all of the Green Zebra tomatoes are near exactly the same. It is such a instantly recognized variety of tomato that one does not confuse it with another tomato.

I posted a rather lengthy write-up on a hybrid Green Zebra on the CrossTalk sub forum here on TVille.

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=15581

Tom Wagner

The Green Zebra is a name
For a tomato of some acclaim
Saving seed is never a crap game
As the plants are one and the same
Unless some stray pollen took aim
And made the flower defamed
Creating seed of total shame
So different from the grand old dame
That the new kids are of rename
Wow! What fun is the breeding game
Years from now one will surely claim
Such a new tomato you've became

[tam91]

The green zebras are so pretty - what do they taste like?

[pinakbet]

how would you know when the green zebra is ripe and ready for harvest?

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by pinakbet

how would you know when the green zebra is ripe and ready for harvest?

It develops and amber blush and the fruits have turned soft to the touch.

When in doubt what any variety should look like when ripe one suggestion is to go to Google, select IMAGES at the top left and enter the name of the variety.

Here's that link for Green Zebra:

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&s...l=&oq=&gs_rfai=

or go to Tania's tomato data base and pull up the pictures:

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Green_Zebra

....an especially good picture at Tania's site. And over 3000 different varieties shown at this site.

Or go to any tomato seed place online that has good pictures such as Tomato Growers Supply.

[jcr1709]

Wow....what an amazing wealth of information, just fabulous indeed. Thanks so much to all for enthusiastic advice and guidance. Time to extract and ferment some seeds for 2011!

[pinakbet]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

It develops and amber blush and the fruits have turned soft to the touch.

When in doubt what any variety should look like when ripe one suggestion is to go to Google, select IMAGES at the top left and enter the name of the variety.

Here's that link for Green Zebra:

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&s...l=&oq=&gs_rfai=

or go to Tania's tomato data base and pull up the pictures:

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Green_Zebra

....an especially good picture at Tania's site. And over 3000 different varieties shown at this site.

Or go to any tomato seed place online that has good pictures such as Tomato Growers Supply.

wow thanks for the links carolyn.