Anyone growing any mystery varieties for Spring 2013?

[checkerkitty]

Originally Posted by Doug9345

I don't know if they count as mysteries but I'm growing 4 F2 level selections from the dwarf project, 2 experimental crosses from Carolyns offers. That should give me quite a variety.

I think those would count as mysteries. I'm sure you'll have some variation at the F2 level plus those experimental crosses should be fun.

[checkerkitty]

Originally Posted by b54red

I'm also growing one that came from my Indian Stripe seed. This will be my third year growing it and it has proven the last two years to be very vigorous. I don't know what it will do this year but will find out. I'm trying a bunch of them as rootstock in my grafting experiments. Hoping the fusarium resistance it showed the last two years is a genetic trait that is in the seed otherwise I'll have a bunch of grafted plants with no hope of survival. Oh well I'm having fun with the grafting and maybe I'll learn a thing or two.

I hope your rootstock experiment works! It would be great to grow your rootstock from saved seed. I was going to graft this year and didn't get around to actually doing the grafting. Any practice is good.

Originally Posted by janezee

I'm trying an F3 Sweet Million, and an OP Tumbler that is pink, I think. I'm not growing the tumbling pink I got otherwise unlabeled in a round robin, so I won't confuse the two this year. Hope to be growing F7 of Rebel Yell, too.

Planting is in 2 weeks for tomatoes, next week for peppers. Yippee!

j

I think you'll have fun with those! Did you save the seed from Sweet Million and Rebel Yell to dehybridize?

Originally Posted by FreyaFL

I have one! I received quite a variety of seeds from a fellow Tomatovillian (Gardenboy, who is wonderful to have shared so many!!!) and the first of them is beginning to produce. It is supposed to be a Purple Passion RL but it's not. I contacted him and he said the original plant was next to a Black Cherry. I'm so excited! The fruit is REALLY delicious. I'll include a picture to show what it looks like (I've never grown either Black Cherry or Purple Passion before, but from pictures, it doesn't look like either to me.) It's golf ball sized and I picked the first ripe fruit 50 days from transplanting. Not even the Black Cherry I have has ripe fruit yet.

That is too cool. I hope you have great luck with that plant and it turns out to be stable. Early and delicious is a wonderful combination. I can think of a few people who will be hoping for seeds of that particular tomato.

[checkerkitty]

Originally Posted by lakelady

I thought I was growing Ingegnoli Gigante Liscio last summer, and then realized the fruits were not turning color. Closer inspection and I realized they were white, not red tomatoes. I saved seed to see if this was a cross or what, and sent some to Tania too since i got my original seed from her. Should be interesting to see if they offspring are white also, or red as they should have been. They were milder than reds, but I thought pretty tasty for a white tomato (I am no expert by any means on white tomatoes though).

Too cool! Is the plant and fruit identical except the color? Maybe you can stick "Bianco" at the end of the name if it is.

Originally Posted by Moshou

My plans for 2014 include to grow old Romanian tomato varieties. So I spread the word all around.

As a result I received a lot of seeds from varieties I never heard about. A friend living in our main city Bucharest, sent me some seeds of a variety people grow in Corbeanca, a place situated not far away from Bucharest. They call it 'Corbeanca Orange'

What I know in this moment is this variety produces very tasty orange tomatoes. I asked for more info. If I'll receive, I will let you know. Until then it is a mystery tomato.

You'll have a neat garden this year with all of those Romanian varieties. I hope they do well for you and you tell everyone on Tomatoville about your results. Good luck!

Originally Posted by habitat_gardener

I got some TPS seedlings at a plant exchange, grown from a custom cross, so what I get may be a new potato variety. Or varieties.

How many seedlings are you trying from that cross? I guess the more the merrier, right?

I grew Fred Limbaughs Potato top last year which was highly productive of large and tasty fruit late in the year.


I also grew Fourth Of July F1 near the Limbaughs. It was highly productive of golf ball sized tomatoes very early in the season.


I harvested a lot of the Limbaughs seed in the late summer and germinated 6 seed to test germination. Five of the six seed produced PL seedlings like Limbaughs. One produced RL like FOJ.

I grew the RL seedling in my fall garden and it produced a heavy crop of medium sized tomatoes before any of my other fall plants. They tasted very good.

I planted six more seed from the Limbaughs batch this spring and again got five PL seedlings and one RL seedling. I will grow it again and save seed this time if it seems like a good tomato. The ratio of five PL to one RL seems about right since I saved seed from probably six large Limbaughs tomatoes. I guess one was crossed and five were not crossed from the same plant.

My problem is the fact that I have no idea what the genetic stability of a cross between a hybrid and an OP variety will be. I suppose I can grow it twice per year for a few years and find out. I am concerned that the rapid growth rate of the plant and the excessive early production was simply a symptom of hybrid vigor and will decrease if it can be stabilized.

If it is good and can be stabilized, I will call it Limbaughs Firecracker.

Ted

[ContainerTed]

I've been growing out a Sungold volunteer that showed up in the main garden and will be planting F4 seed this year. The mystery will be whether or not the flavor is there. The size, shape, and color are certainly there.

Also, there are four almost complete growouts that I'm working on. If they are stable, I may look at releasing two this fall. Again, everything depends on whether or not the flavor will be there.

From the dwarf project, I have five F3 indeterminates that I'll be looking at. One, from the Loopy family, had excellent taste and averages about 10 oz. This year, the fruit produced will be generation F4.

[bower]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Anna Russian is RL, it's just that the leaves are narrow, very indented along the margins and thus wispy and droopy as are many but not all ehart v arieties are,. but still RL.

Carolyn

Right, the wispy trait is a little extra gene besides the RL, I reckon.... I'm assuming that 'wispy' leaf is a recessive trait. I know it is linked to heart shape pretty strongly (at least, I haven't heard of hearts that don't have wispy leaves...?).

[Stvrob]

I had some kind of brassica volunteer last november that was growing in an area where I had grown pacman hybrid broccoli 2 years previous. The area was unplanted since then, had some weeds but I think I would have noticed a broccoli in there going to seed?
I transplanted it to keep an eye on it and it does look like some kind of broccoli parent. I"m not really sure what it is.

[nancyruhl]

How about
GREEN LATERN LIGHTS
LOOKING FOR PURPLE ZEBRA
STRIPED STUDENTS
all from Heather's seed exchange. Than I have Granny Cantrells and Purple Dog Creek that came out potato leaf last year. I also saved seed from the heart shaped tomatoes I got from an Indian Stripe plant last season and want to see if they will replicate. Casino sent some seeds for a variety he is working on. Also, a couple for the dwarf project. Should be an interesting year.

[checkerkitty]

Originally Posted by z_willus_d

My Dad gave me a bag of mystery "Orange or Yellow" seeds that must have been 10+ years old. I wasn't able to germinate one in time for last season, but this year I managed to get one seedling up out of the remaining seven or so seeds. It's a potato leaf. It will be fun to see if I can ID it. He sure spoke highly of it. I hope it's not a hybrid of some sort. I think he said he thought it was an HAIR-LOOM.

I also had a potato leaf seedling pop-up in my seeding tray, and I have no idea how it got there. It's probably from one of the 40 or so varieties I was planting. I like all the stuff I was going for this year, so I figure why not try and graft the mystery PL plant and see what comes. It can't be too bad.

--naysen

"Hair-loom"! Love it! That does give me a very unpleasant mental picture, though. I'm seeing a red tomato with Cousin It hair. Yummy.

[checkerkitty]

Originally Posted by tedln

I grew Fred Limbaughs Potato top last year which was highly productive of large and tasty fruit late in the year.


I also grew Fourth Of July F1 near the Limbaughs. It was highly productive of golf ball sized tomatoes very early in the season.


I harvested a lot of the Limbaughs seed in the late summer and germinated 6 seed to test germination. Five of the six seed produced PL seedlings like Limbaughs. One produced RL like FOJ.

I grew the RL seedling in my fall garden and it produced a heavy crop of medium sized tomatoes before any of my other fall plants. They tasted very good.

I planted six more seed from the Limbaughs batch this spring and again got five PL seedlings and one RL seedling. I will grow it again and save seed this time if it seems like a good tomato. The ratio of five PL to one RL seems about right since I saved seed from probably six large Limbaughs tomatoes. I guess one was crossed and five were not crossed from the same plant.

My problem is the fact that I have no idea what the genetic stability of a cross between a hybrid and an OP variety will be. I suppose I can grow it twice per year for a few years and find out. I am concerned that the rapid growth rate of the plant and the excessive early production was simply a symptom of hybrid vigor and will decrease if it can be stabilized.

If it is good and can be stabilized, I will call it Limbaughs Firecracker.

Ted

I think I'm going to add Fred Limbaugh and Fourth of July to my "need to find seeds" list. Love the productivity of both, especially considering our growing conditions are similar.

I like the Limbaughs Firecracker, too! That will be a fun project for you. Maybe Fusion or Carolyn will chime in on the genetic stability question. Any vigorous, early producing, delicious tomato is a winner in my book!

Christy

[checkerkitty]

Originally Posted by ContainerTed

I've been growing out a Sungold volunteer that showed up in the main garden and will be planting F4 seed this year. The mystery will be whether or not the flavor is there. The size, shape, and color are certainly there.

Also, there are four almost complete growouts that I'm working on. If they are stable, I may look at releasing two this fall. Again, everything depends on whether or not the flavor will be there.

From the dwarf project, I have five F3 indeterminates that I'll be looking at. One, from the Loopy family, had excellent taste and averages about 10 oz. This year, the fruit produced will be generation F4.

An OP version of Sungold with the same flavor will have people knocking down your door for seeds. I hope the rest of the selections go as planned for you. I love putting time and effort into a project and getting the results you hoped for. Especially when you get to eat the results!

[patty_b]

This is a mystery to me in that I can find no information pertaining to this name. The person I rec'd it from said they got it from a CHOPTAG event or trade but so far no one has claimed it. Someone thought it might be Lennie and Gracie' Ky Heirloom yellow but no way yet of knowing that either.........Patty

also will my Russian Mini Yellow be the same as Robin's ebay mini yellow???

looking for information on Cynthia's BlackHeart also
looking forward to seeing what RobTwoHawks cross Winsall x Old German will be..

[Redbaron]

I have a few "Mysteries to solve"

1 is the 20 foot cherry plant I saved seeds from last year. I will also be growing 2 other mystery cherries I got in trade. I will be comparing at least 5 or 6 strains of Rutgers, searching for a long lost mystery strain (at least to me). I will also be growing "snickers" side by side with black pepper to see if snickers really is black pepper or not. And of course I am also helping with 2 growouts for the dwarf project as many others here. Last but not least I will try to resurrect the old Red Baron strain from old seeds for Carolyn. That should be fun considering my nickname here.

"I think I'm going to add Fred Limbaugh and Fourth of July to my "need to find seeds" list. Love the productivity of both, especially considering our growing conditions are similar."

Christy,

PM me. I have enough Limbaughs to last a life time. It will probably have a few bonus RL Limbaughs Firecracker f1 in the mix as well. I think I have enough FoJ to send a few also. It seems a little late in the season to germinate the Limbaughs since they are a late season producer. While the Firecracker grew and produced well in the fall, I don't think the Limbaughs will. I did plant some fall FoJ's a couple of years ago and they grew and produced so well until frost, I grew to hate them as fall tomatoes. I was working constantly to improve my support to keep them from crashing to the ground.

Ted

[checkerkitty]

Originally Posted by Redbaron

I have a few "Mysteries to solve"

1 is the 20 foot cherry plant I saved seeds from last year. I will also be growing 2 other mystery cherries I got in trade. I will be comparing at least 5 or 6 strains of Rutgers, searching for a long lost mystery strain (at least to me). I will also be growing "snickers" side by side with black pepper to see if snickers really is black pepper or not. And of course I am also helping with 2 growouts for the dwarf project as many others here. Last but not least I will try to resurrect the old Red Baron strain from old seeds for Carolyn. That should be fun considering my nickname here.

20 feet! Wow! I'll bet you were eating tomatoes from that plant nonstop. I don't think I've ever heard of a tomato plant getting that big. Also, Red Baron grown by Redbaron sounds pretty cool!

Christy