Seed purity

[gdaddybill]

I'm becoming suspicious that some growers are producing plants from OP seed that is supposed to be hybrid. It could be the fault of their seed supplier and the grower doesn't even know it. I first became suspicious last year when I found a Viva Italia plant for sale even though I hadn't had any luck finding seed. This has been a good tasting processing type hybrid in the past but the shape was a bit off and the flavor was even more off. I've got two plants this year and they look the same-plus grainy and not much flavor. A Big Beef I bought and bumped up to get out early tastes good and it has the right shape but it doesn't have typical vigor.

I expect variability in heirlooms and amateur breeder varieties but I also suspect there is more bogus seed/transplants being circulated than we have come to expect. Have you had similar experiences?

[clkeiper]

not positive but Yummy peppers? all sold as hybrid variety but is actually an open pollinated pepper. I think they are marketing it as a hybrid because of the few seeds it actually produces. rips me to see such a blatant falsehood. several years ago they were sold as OP now all HY.

[AlittleSalt]

Years ago, I bought some Celebrity transplants that grew monster sized plants with stems as big around as your thumb. They were INDET, prolific, and had a lot of tomatoes that were up to a pound. It is possible the whole tray was mismarked, but I can't be sure of that.

[clkeiper]

I bought a cheap packet of globe basil this year... everything but globe in it. lettuce leaf, genovese, a narrow leaf one... nothing globe.

[gdaddybill]

The first photo is of Viva Italia from the "old days" and the second is a current harvest from one suspect source. Notice the 2017 tomatoes have square shoulders and ridges in the fruit. Obviously they are not as ripe but the shape doesn't change. The 2017 fruit also doesn't have much flavor and it is grainy compared to the older Viva Italia.

[clkeiper]

That 2nd one looks like a roma.
Celebrity had several different shapes the last time I grew them.

[gdaddybill]

Originally Posted by clkeiper

That 2nd one looks like a roma.
Celebrity had several different shapes the last time I grew them.

Or a San Marzano

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by gdaddybill

Or a San Marzano

Not long enough nor does it have a point tip like the marzano's have. But none the less some one could certainly call it an Italian variety tomato huh?

[Cole_Robbie]

Under the rule that damages must be foreseeable, the only sum you could ever sue a plant or seed vendor for is the purchase price of the plant or seed. If you pay $3 for a packet of seed, and then spend $300 over the course of the summer growing out what turns out to be the wrong variety, you have the right to sue for $3, not $300. So there ends up being virtually no consequences to the seller, at least through the legal system.

[carolyn137]

The only seed vendors I would trust,for both seeds and plants, are those who grow their own varieties themselves, know what they should be, and save seeds/plants to sell only from those that are true to their original descriptions.

There are several commercial sites where seeds can be bought in bulk by mostly family owned operations.

This is the best one I know of, wholesale only,that has made lots of errors

https://www.seedsbydesign.com/

Another one is

https://www.google.com/search?q=A+P+...&bih=788&dpr=1

and that one I trust.

It's Aaron Whaley, the son of Kent Whealy,who left SSE and relocated his family to WI. And yes,their names are spelled differently,that was Aaron's choice based on the heritage of the last name.

He does custom seed production for many, and if you look you'll see many of those names you'll recognize ASAP as in Fred Hempel, for instance and Linda at TGS now also deals with Aaron for some of her seeds, others,especially have to be bought,usually the hybrids,from the places that bred them. Smaller amounts are also available to the home gardener.

Carolyn