First Hybrid in History ? / "Ever since Eden", Heinz film, 1942

[Jean-Baptiste]

Hello everybody,
I try to know when was invented the first hybrid of tomato... And information about it. Does anyone know this information and could tell me the source of this information? I can not find information "reliable", documented in a book. I know that Heinz had a sophisticated research laboratory in 1930, and the Company has worked on tomato but I do not know if it was Heinz who invented the first tomato hybrids.

If you don't know the movie "Ever Since Eden" by the Heinz Company in 1942 I invite you to look at it, it's really fun. The film is full of historical errors but the images are interesting. You will see nottament the Heinz research centers of the time and geneticists who invent tomatoes. Is this hybrid was? If anyone has the answer, I'm interested ...
The Heinz propaganda film : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG7nl88GfVQ

(Sorry for my mistakes in English!)

[kurt]

Since all/most of maters originated in South America and were brought to Europe and elsewheres by the Spanish Conquistador Sailors,Portuguese etc.,then upbred/crossed/landraced and who knows what not,for me most of the maters nowadays would be considered Hybrids.

[nctomatoman]

Burpee was probably the first to actually sell hybrid seed - they had one just before Big Boy was released (1949) - but lots of early variety development was to start with a hybrid then select and stabilize to sell an open pollinated variety. Heinz, Campbell, many universities made crosses as starting points - especially to breed in disease resistance and tolerances.

[Jean-Baptiste]

Thank you so much ! On the Burpee website we can find this :
"Although hybridizing had always been one technique for seeking improvement in Burpee seeds, selective breeding rather than hybridization was emphasized by Burpee and all horticulturists until the late 1930s." They are talking about the Big Boy.

http://www.burpee.com/gardenadvicece...ee/legacy.html

But in this book, we can read Heinz introduce an hybrid tomato for the Heinz growers in 1936... So, the 30' are the booming for hybrid, the begining of the real diffusion, but maybe Heinz was first... The investigation continues !

https://books.google.fr/books?id=i8M...inz%22&f=false

[nicollas]

First hybrid is Single Cross, in 1946

[garyjr]

It is not real clear. Burpee had what would seem to be the first in development, simply referred to as the "Burpee Hybrid" in 1945, then there was Single Cross in 1946 but the first to be readily available and credited with launching the hybrid tomato would have been Big Boy in 1949.

[Jean-Baptiste]

So, maybe Heinz was the first in 1936 with the non-commercial seeds for the Heinz growers... Heinz started to planify the Heinz Tomato very early in the history

[sjamesNorway]

Burpee had "Turner Hybrid", which may be the same as "Mikado" (Henderson Seed Co.) in the 1880s. They were large, pink, and potato-leafed. There's speculation that these were the origin of Brandywine.