Texas Wild tomatoes?

[Rfdillon]

Is anyone acquainted with this tomato? Does anyone know if it is tge same as the Mexican midget?

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Rfdillon

Is anyone acquainted with this tomato? Does anyone know if it is tge same as the Mexican midget?

For me it's difficiult to answer that question for the following reason.

Tomatoes originated in the high plateaus of Chile and Peru, originally, and made their way north to Mexico, Texas and along the Gulf Coast all the way over to FL.

Some were spread by Spanish missionaries and most so called wild ones, S. Pimpinellifolium, reseed easily and are spread by birds.

First Texas Wild:

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Texas_Wild

And if I look in my SSE YEarbooks I can see other wild ones listed from both TX and Mexico.

Now Matt's Wild.

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Matt%27s_Wild_Cherry

Finally MExico Midget

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Mexico_Midget

Without DNA testing I don't know how anyone could say how different the above are from one another. I've grown Matt's Wild, but not the other two.

And my own personal fave when it comes to currant varieties is:

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Sara%27s_Galapagos

There are several islands in the Galapagos and all of them have wild tomatoes and others growing there and where did they come from? Best evidence is that they came from western S America where tomatoes were first discovered and made their way West, via air or birds or whatever to the Galapagos Islands.

probably more than you want to know but if you compare the taste comments of the above three you'll find that Sara's Galapagos gets the best comments. And the reason I grow tomatoes is for taste.

Carolyn

[AZGardener]

Carolyn - You just turned me on to a new cherry! Sara's Galapagos look so neat! I have grown Matt's Wild Cherry in the past... They were ok. Do you know how this tomato does with heat? As in Phx 100+? Lol I was reading another post about heart shaped cherry's that you mentioned too... Those look pretty amazing! My kids love tomatoes (they literally eat them like apples!) and I love growing them so the more cherry's I can grow, the better

I have been thinking about joining SSE so I could have access to some of these neat varieties... Do you think an average gardener should?

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by AZGardener

Carolyn - You just turned me on to a new cherry! Sara's Galapagos look so neat! I have grown Matt's Wild Cherry in the past... They were ok. Do you know how this tomato does with heat? As in Phx 100+? Lol I was reading another post about heart shaped cherry's that you mentioned too... Those look pretty amazing! My kids love tomatoes (they literally eat them like apples!) and I love growing them so the more cherry's I can grow, the better

I have been thinking about joining SSE so I could have access to some of these neat varieties... Do you think an average gardener should?

As far as I know ALL of the currant varieties do well in the heat and also elsewhere.

If you looked at the three links I put up for you and clicked on seed availability you could see the several vendors who offer seeds for them, including Tania herself. She hasn't had time to update for 2015 but most of the vendors from 2014 should still be listing them

No, I don't think joining SSE to get the Yearbook with the listings is the best way to go since it's always a possibility that you may receive crossed seeds and you should know how to rogue out those and the only way to do that is to grow LOTS of well known varieties before even thinking about SSE, at least IMO.

Most who get their seeds via the SSE paper or online offerings are experienced growers looking for newly listed varieties.

So right now, if I were you, I'd go to the WANTED sub seed Forum here at Tville and ask if anyone has some seeds to spare.

If my Sara's Galapagos seeds weren't so old I'd offer to send you some, but I do not send out really old seeds except when someome like Remy or Tania are not getting varieties that are true to the variety, then I will do that since I've never thrown out ONE saved seed since about 1990.

Carolyn

[AZGardener]

Thank you Carolyn! That's very kind info... I've grown for at least 15 years but I'm only a backyard gardener I appreciate all of your info very much! I still might join SSE just to get my hands on all that beauty. Then again, I have been eyeing kokpelli in Fr. for a while too... I will check out the seed forum and see what's up for grabs. I have held onto my seed for a while too, but mine is only 5 years ish old. Wouldn't be cool if everyone listed what they had under their profile? I know for some (like you) it would be crazy but for some with 100 + varieties it would be neat. Just a thought? Fun for trade anyways...

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by AZGardener

Thank you Carolyn! That's very kind info... I've grown for at least 15 years but I'm only a backyard gardener I appreciate all of your info very much! I still might join SSE just to get my hands on all that beauty. Then again, I have been eyeing kokpelli in Fr. for a while too... I will check out the seed forum and see what's up for grabs. I have held onto my seed for a while too, but mine is only 5 years ish old. Wouldn't be cool if everyone listed what they had under their profile? I know for some (like you) it would be crazy but for some with 100 + varieties it would be neat. Just a thought? Fun for trade anyways...

I was suggesting that you post in the WANTED Forum but of course you can scan the seed offers to see how many are still accepting folks and if they have anything left that appeals to you.

I know Dominique who started Kokopelli but I didn't know that Terre de Semences was out of business.

If it were me, the current Kokopelli site is all about selling his book,, you need to be a member to do so, and if you look at the bottom of that page you can see it was last updated in 2003.So I'd be a bit wary of what Kokopelli is today.

I see no need to go to Europe to buy seeds when there's a huge number of varieties from there already being sold here in N America.

To find what you might want just go to Tania's site and look at the places that sell those seeds, including her. Glenn at Sandhill also has a huge variety and also Remy at the Sample Seed Shop and Terry at the Secret Seed Cartel has many unique varieties including ones from France where she has contacts

And in my annual seed offer here I've offeredones from France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Macedonia, Turkey, Slovenia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Belarus, Russia , Ghana, and on and on.

All of those seed vendors I just mentioned are in the Seed source Forum here or you can Google them, and heaven knows I've forgotten to mention some other seed sites, for which I apologize, but then again, there are some that are not at the top of my list for several reasons.

Again, I can't encourage you enough to grow as many well known ones before you look for the more rare ones b'c I do think it does help to build up experience.

Carolyn

[AZGardener]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

I was suggesting that you post in the WANTED Forum but of course you can scan the seed offers to see how many are still accepting folks and if they have anything left that appeals to you.

I know Dominique who started Kokopelli but I didn't know that Terre de Semences was out of business.

If it were me, the current Kokopelli site is all about selling his book,, you need to be a member to do so, and if you look at the bottom of that page you can see it was last updated in 2003.So I'd be a bit wary of what Kokopelli is today.

I see no need to go to Europe to buy seeds when there's a huge number of varieties from there already being sold here in N America.

To find what you might want just go to Tania's site and look at the places that sell those seeds, including her. Glenn at Sandhill also has a huge variety and also Remy at the Sample Seed Shop and Terry at the Secret Seed Cartel has many unique varieties including ones from France where she has contacts

And in my annual seed offer here I've offeredones from France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Macedonia, Turkey, Slovenia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Belarus, Russia , Ghana, and on and on.

All of those seed vendors I just mentioned are in the Seed source Forum here or you can Google them, and heaven knows I've forgotten to mention some other seed sites, for which I apologize, but then again, there are some that are not at the top of my list for several reasons.

Again, I can't encourage you enough to grow as many well known ones before you look for the more rare ones b'c I do think it does help to build up experience.

Carolyn

Hi Carolyn-
I totally agree with you. In regards to Kokopelli, a good friend of mine who grows nearly 700+ tomatoes a year, is a member of their group (from the sounds of it, it sounds similar to SSE) and she gets a yearbook time communication that offers some very unique seeds. She just turned me on to it, which is why I was considering it. I haven't tried searching for a certain seed, rather just perusing their boutique of what is actually published without being a member. I will send you a link to what I found, in case you haven't seen it. If you have-- then sorry! I agree with you, it seems like every time I get on this site, I find another resource for seeds in the US... Will search for the site again and post it... Thanks Carolyn!

[Rfdillon]

Has anyone grown the Texas Wild, along with the Mexican midget, or Matt's wild, and care to share their observations?

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Rfdillon

Has anyone grown the Texas Wild, along with the Mexican midget, or Matt's wild, and care to share their observations?

Not at the same time in the same season which is the only way that direct comparisons can be made IMO.

Carolyn

[Dutch]

Originally Posted by Rfdillon

Has anyone grown the Texas Wild, along with the Mexican midget, or Matt's wild, and care to share their observations?

Because of this thread I will be sewing some Mexican Midget, and Matt's Wild Cherry seeds this evening. I intend to grow them out next to each other. My Mexican Midget seeds are from Chuck Wyatt.
Dutch