strange toms

venus_lolly · August 26, 2011

hi im new here, hi everyone.
i live in the UK and this is my first year growing tomatoes. i need help im a bit confused. i seem to have tomatoes on one plant growing lemon shaped. they are very pointed like spinning tops
i planted 3 types, alicante, marmande.and cherry toms. i planted 120 seeds and they got mixed up. i didn't label them but a storm came and they all got mixed up no labels on them. i disposed of lots of plants. from my crop i know i have cherry and marmande. they grew in the right shape but now i have these strange lemon shape tomatoes. i think i might have cross pollinated my plants and have got this strange shape ones growing. any advice pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee. i have been pollinating them by hand and just took pollen from any flower added it to another plant.

delltraveller · August 26, 2011

Venus Lolly,

Any cross pollination you've done would show up in the next generation, those grown from the seeds in these tomatoes, not these tomatoes. The genetics are already set in the plant. You may have received some seed that was already crossed or mislabelled. It's also possible that environmental conditions are effecting the shape of the tomatoes.

**carolyn137** · August 26, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by venus_lolly

hi im new here, hi everyone.
i live in the UK and this is my first year growing tomatoes. i need help im a bit confused. i seem to have tomatoes on one plant growing lemon shaped. they are very pointed like spinning tops
i planted 3 types, alicante, marmande.and cherry toms. i planted 120 seeds and they got mixed up. i didn't label them but a storm came and they all got mixed up no labels on them. i disposed of lots of plants. from my crop i know i have cherry and marmande. they grew in the right shape but now i have these strange lemon shape tomatoes. i think i might have cross pollinated my plants and have got this strange shape ones growing. any advice pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee. i have been pollinating them by hand and just took pollen from any flower added it to another plant.

Since you know Maramande and your cherry are OK and since Alicante is also red, and if this the first time growing all of the them this season then the yellow one is due to stray seed or more in the pack of one of them.

Can you ID Alicante from Marmande?

If this is the first time you're growing them if there's any cross pollination you wouldn't know that unless you save seeds this season and grow them out next year. Any cross pollinations that happen in one season are not seen until the next season from saved seeds.

It depends if you're growing your tomatoes outside or in a glasshouse, but there's really no need to manually pollinate blossoms b's they self pollenize almost all of the time.

If in a glasshouse you may have to shake the plants a bit to get the pollen to fall down to the stigma b/c that's usually done just by wind outside, but no wind in a glasshouse. So insects are not really needed for pollination of tomato blossoms.

What was the source of your seed, if you feel comfortable sharing that with others, b/c, as I sad above, that lemon one could not be from X pollination this season.

Hope that helps.

Jeannine Anne · August 27, 2011

I read this as lemon shaped, not a yellow tomato..is this right/wrong XX Jeannine

**carolyn137** · August 27, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeannine Anne

I read this as lemon shaped, not a yellow tomato..is this right/wrong XX Jeannine

Youre right. I just went back and looked.

But since Marmande and Alicante are not lemon-shaped and the cherry tomato seems to be Ok, as noted, it still seems to me that there's a seed problem with the initial seeds used.

vegomatic · August 28, 2011

I think I have one like that this season. One fruit has a pointy end and another does not on the same plant. You'll see that often on cukes and squash when temps are variably cold and warm one day or so to the next few. Growth and size of the fruit paces itself with the temp changes. So if you have normal fruit on that same plant once temps stabilize, there's a possible explanation. Cold when pollinated, but warming up dramatically soon after might produce fruit such as this.

If all the fruits are all pointy and it does not resemble anything you planted this year or last, there's a small chance of a rare mutation, but an accidental cross or seed mixup is much more likely.

Some of my Sungold dehybrdizing experiments produced pointy fruit that also was yellow and had a hint of lemon flavor, so a cross or bit of parental genetic variability might be showing up. In this case all fruits on that plant had that trait and it did not look or taste like the original Sungold, but may have shown some traits of the original lineage that produced the Sungold line.

When I had a major seed mixup, later in the season I was able to tell them apart by leaf habit, fruit or other visible clues.

Just enjoy your Mystery Guest! If you like the fruit, save some seeds and see what it produces next year.

-Ed

August 26, 2011	#1
venus_lolly Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: uk Posts: 1	strange toms hi im new here, hi everyone. i live in the UK and this is my first year growing tomatoes. i need help im a bit confused. i seem to have tomatoes on one plant growing lemon shaped. they are very pointed like spinning tops i planted 3 types, alicante, marmande.and cherry toms. i planted 120 seeds and they got mixed up. i didn't label them but a storm came and they all got mixed up no labels on them. i disposed of lots of plants. from my crop i know i have cherry and marmande. they grew in the right shape but now i have these strange lemon shape tomatoes. i think i might have cross pollinated my plants and have got this strange shape ones growing. any advice pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee. i have been pollinating them by hand and just took pollen from any flower added it to another plant.

August 26, 2011	#2
delltraveller Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Iowa Posts: 481	Venus Lolly, Any cross pollination you've done would show up in the next generation, those grown from the seeds in these tomatoes, not these tomatoes. The genetics are already set in the plant. You may have received some seed that was already crossed or mislabelled. It's also possible that environmental conditions are effecting the shape of the tomatoes.

August 27, 2011	#4
Jeannine Anne Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Canada Posts: 1,553	I read this as lemon shaped, not a yellow tomato..is this right/wrong XX Jeannine

August 28, 2011	#6
vegomatic Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Black Hills SD Z4 Posts: 89	I think I have one like that this season. One fruit has a pointy end and another does not on the same plant. You'll see that often on cukes and squash when temps are variably cold and warm one day or so to the next few. Growth and size of the fruit paces itself with the temp changes. So if you have normal fruit on that same plant once temps stabilize, there's a possible explanation. Cold when pollinated, but warming up dramatically soon after might produce fruit such as this. If all the fruits are all pointy and it does not resemble anything you planted this year or last, there's a small chance of a rare mutation, but an accidental cross or seed mixup is much more likely. Some of my Sungold dehybrdizing experiments produced pointy fruit that also was yellow and had a hint of lemon flavor, so a cross or bit of parental genetic variability might be showing up. In this case all fruits on that plant had that trait and it did not look or taste like the original Sungold, but may have shown some traits of the original lineage that produced the Sungold line. When I had a major seed mixup, later in the season I was able to tell them apart by leaf habit, fruit or other visible clues. Just enjoy your Mystery Guest! If you like the fruit, save some seeds and see what it produces next year. -Ed