Texas Wild

[Grub]

Hi,

Getting mixed messages when I google this one. I'm getting the feeling it's an indeterminate crossed currrant.

Anyone grown it? And what do you think? If it's a small sucker instead I'll put in a pot by the backdoor.

Thanks.
Grub.

[feldon30]

Deleted inaccurate post about Texas Wild being the same as Matt's Wild Cherry

Thank God for the edit feature.

[Grub]

Eeeeek!!! I grew two Matts Wild last year —★a seedy red ball like you picture and not really that great on my tongue at all — and was looking for a new currant type.

My Saras Galapogas courtesy of Carolyn refuse to germinate for a second year running. I tried shallow sowing and all. Sad but true. One of only a few varieties that hasn't reared it's head from the trays.

Don't feel like more Matts whatsover.
But thanks for your prompt reply.

[carolyn137]

(Texas Wild Cherry is just a renaming of Matt's Wild Cherry, of which there is a ton of information available on the web. It was found growing wild in Mexico and brought to the U.S.)

Nope, Texas Wild is NOT the same as Matt's Wild Cherry.

Texas Wild was one of the first varieties entered at SSE and is SSE # 653 which means it entered SSE in the late 70's whereas Matt's was only introduced by Johnny's a few years ago.

And yes, Texas Wild is a currant and it was originally found growing wild on a homestead in southern Texas. Matt's Wild Cherry, OTOH is NOT a currant, it's L.lycopersicon var cerasiforme which means it does not have an exerted stigma and is just one step above being a true wild currant.

Grub, you want I should send you more Sara's Galapagos seeds? I don't know why they aren't germinating for you b'c what I sent you is what I've been growing and what I'm offering at SSE and they seem to be germinating just fine. I sent seeds to Martha ( gardenmama) who provided me with plants this year. She had all that I wanted except for Sara, Virginia Sweets and Mama Leone so I sent her the seeds for those three/

I think I've got some fresh fruits that Karen, my cleaning lady, brought in on Sunday b'c frost was a possibility. I could set up a miniature fermentation JUST FOR YOU.

[Grub]

Thanks Carolyn.

I really would like to try Sara's G. It's been more than a year now. I still have a few seeds left from your original batch and will sow them again, however, I'm starting to think that occasionally seeds get zapped by Customs.

I have tried my very best trying to get SG to germinate. I really have. There are a couple of other recalcitrant ones too.

Do you care for Texas Wild? It came from Mark Korney and most of his stuff is really very good. And often different.

Matts, otoh, just wasn't up to my usual standards. And I don't want to have to resort to Sweet 100 to silence the visiting nieces and nephews and keep Grub in tomato candy as he works the patch.

But at the end of the day don't go out of your way, coz you have already done more than your share of seed sharing.

[carolyn137]

(But at the end of the day don't go out of your way, coz you have already done more than your share of seed sharing.)

it wouldn't be going out of my way at all and it occurred to me that I could do a mini fermentation with the wee cups that my Crystal Light Peach tea comes in.

Please PM me with your address so I don't have to go riffling around for that although I know I have it somewhere, and in that PM mention what other ones are being "recalcitrant" for you and if I have some of them I'll send them along as well.

I'm one of those folks who just does NOT like the taste of Matt's Wild Cherry.

And I personally haven't grown Texas Wild.

But Sara's Galapagos I do love.

[Grub]

Thanks Carolyn,

I trust you got my email from last night, sent mid-way through eating two punnets of beautifully sweet strawberries. Mmmm. I lerv strawberries.

[carolyn137]

I trust you got my email from last night

I did, but before I can respond to you via PM I need to check some of those other varieties to be sure I have relatively fresh seed, as in post 2002, and I didn't get a chance to do that today.

How late can you sow seeds since I'll set up the Sara tomorrow but it will be probably about two weeks before the fermentation is done and seeds dried and then it's about a week from me to you.

I could send things separately, but.......

[feldon30]

I think there is a need for one comprehensive website that contains as much historical information about each tomato variety as possible.

[Grub]

I did well sowing late last season, so the abovementioned time frame is just fine and dandy, especially as I have a new bed that I intend to use as my late bed that ended up producing into Autumn or fall last year. So everything sounds great. I'm only about to start my first transplants.

[psa]

Originally Posted by feldon27

I think there is a need for one comprehensive website that contains as much historical information about each tomato variety as possible.

DG's PlantFiles is an excellent resource, but shallow in this area, and too limited in its design to cover expansive histories.

Everything which has been written on the subjects already is tied up in copyright (Carolyn's excellent book, for example), so compiling such a body of information would be difficult for any single person, who would have to contact all of the sources for permission.

There are those on this board who are, in themselves, veritable encyclopedias of tomato history, with the knowledge and means to gather information they didn't have, but they could spend years on such a project, with little pay off.

Perhaps a compromise would be a wikipedia-style approach, with a strong, flexible template that can be filled in by anyone with the needed knowledge and edited by those in the know. Wikipedia itself has entries on tomato varieties, but they are pretty empty at the moment. Some allowance would have to be made for differences in recollection and experience, but if wikipedia can cover politics and current events, surely a bunch of tomato enthusiasts could cover tomatos.

Hmmm. (Pondering...)

[mdvpc]

Matts is a very small, for me, good tasting cherry-problem with it is that it is rampant and very, very prolific. Hard to keep up with. Have not grown SG.

[kimpossible]

Deleted inaccurate post about Texas Wild being the same as Matt's Wild Cherry

Thank God for the edit feature.

I think there is a need for one comprehensive website that contains as much historical information about each tomato variety as possible.

With all due respect, Feldon, where did you get that erroneous info re: renaming of the variety?

There is so much info, esp. on the web, some right, lots of it wrong, that unless I confirmed the source, or could give info based on first hand experience, I would be wary to repeat some unknown sources' info.

[carolyn137]

IN order to develop a place where histories can be given for "each" tomato variety, whatever that means, it seems to me that you're placing the major burden pretty much on me, and I can't accept.

Craig and I are the only ones that have ALL the SSE Yearbooks where such info is found and prior to 1986 finding that info is horrible b'c prior to 1986 listers are listed according to the state where they live, and within a state, alphabetically, as opposed to the current listings re tomato color.

Yes, there is history on many of the older commercial heirlooms online, but those comprise a small percentage of the total. And there's an abundance of wrong info re non-commercial heirlooms already online.

I haven't taken the time to check all the entries at the DG data base but several times now a variety has been referred to with info from there and it['s been wrong. I have not offered to scan the Plant Data base. And as Kim said, the info given re history, where given, is sparse indeed.

Craig is too darn busy to spend the hours upon hours necessary to reserach OP family heirloom histories in his SSE Yearbooks and quite frankly, I don't want to.

When someone asks a question about a specific variety I try to help, but to do more is just beyond what I would ask anyone to do.

I do hope you understand where I'm coming from. I have a lot of it in my head and so does Craig, mainlythough with commercial heirlooms, but to make a list of varieties and then do the research is just too much. Ask Mark Korney about my responses to him when he used to send me long lists of varieties and ask me the backgrounds. LOL

I would prefer to see any histories/backgrounds handled on an individual basis as they come up in various threads.

[travis]

Originally Posted by kimpossible

There is so much info, esp. on the web, some right, lots of it wrong, that unless I confirmed the source, or could give info based on first hand experience, I would be wary to repeat some unknown sources' info.

Kim makes a great point. There definitely is a risk when representing undocumented information as fact.

If someone says, for example, "Indian Stripe is the same tomato as Cherokee Purple," then at least a hyperlink or reference to substantiation is appropriate to lend some credence to such a claim. (Please, understand the example is just an example and not a gauntlet thrown.)

In a world of 10-second sound bites and instant experts, too much information seems to be presented as fact when, in fact, much of that information is nothing more that supposition, rumor or pipe dreams.

Yes, it's too bad there's no huge compendium of heritage cultivar geneology ... the NCSU Cultivar List is a wonderful start ... but until there is, one could post source references when offering authoritative-sounding advice or answers ... unless, of course, it's first hand stuff.

PV