Matergeddon by 2025

Growing West · December 2, 2015

A few new pieces of information recently have made it into my overly analytical brain-pan, and I now find myself morally responsible to sound the alarm. The good folks at Cornell really deserve any credit there is to give, though. You see, they have identified 35,000 tomato genes. This doesn't seem like such a sinister minister sort of event until you do the math and realize that about 1.225 billion unique combinations, or potential varieties, are then possible. The actual number could vary some. There might be some mandatory gene combinations that would lessen the possibilites. There could also be factors that greatly increase this such as; chromosomes that carry multiple genes for a single trait, genetic engineering, and inter-specific crosses. I don't know the fine details of tomato genetics as I deal mostly with fish.

Mixed with several other dynamics we see in the tomato world, the results of this near endless genetic variability just can't end well. We now see accidental crosses, most we still consider as lucky, spawning twelve f6 or greater siblings in just two grow-list seasons. We all know we each have to trial half of them every year. As this happens, the gaps we have to fill in our grow lists expand faster than the popultion of alien creatures in 80's horror movies. Each time we fill in one gap with a new variety, we actually make two new gaps. Well meaning people (but, many we never heard of six or seven years ago) now have 50 plus original varieties to taunt us to "add to cart". Each will have approximately 750 additional ones in two years if we simply extend recent trends. Each of these then spawns a sibling in every shape/color/size/leaf combination and we easily break the billion variety barrier in less then a decade.

We also see that more people are joining our loonie ranks. Within a decade, we have a real chance of being spent into a cold war-easque type of economc collapse. This explains why Putin became so interested in the rich tomato breeding grounds of the Ukraine. It wasn't the sun drenched beaches that Russia otherwise lacks. He also appears to have agents in places like California, Missouri, and Pennsylvania who bring these varieties to us under the description of gifts from subsistence farmers they continually meet through snail mail. We then pay up to five dollars a seed to be the first to forget about these varieties in three years time.

But, with this level of trialing tomatoes in our urban gardens, rural gardens, greenhouses, and upside-down planter thingys, our culture will more likely be suffocated by feral tomato vines before we succomb economically to the second cold war. Check out that picture of Joseph on page six of the "tentative 2016 grow list" thread if you doubt that we aren't on the leading edge of this nightshade disaster. Sure, tomatoes grow much slower than zombies are depicted to move, but they reproduce at many thousands of times the rate. We are quite simply done. I am going to grow all the new varieties I can since time is running out anyway.

Labradors2 · December 2, 2015

That was a well-written piece!

Thanks for sharing

.

Linda

Worth1 · December 2, 2015

And all this time I thought he wanted the Ukraine for the sunflowers and beautiful women.

Worth

BackyardFarm · December 2, 2015

That was a clever read!

Tormato · December 2, 2015

If you come up with a new variety of your own, I suggest you name it...

"Trouble With Tribbles".

BigVanVader · December 2, 2015

Star Trek references are always welcomed. I always imagined it like Little shop of horrors. Wrong genes spliced together and bam! They start making sauce out of us

**carolyn137** · December 2, 2015

Being a Cornell grad myself, I can share with you that it's not based at Cornell U in Ithaca, NY.

It's become more than just the SOL gene project since it's now become and International consortium of scientists from many countries as well as many here in the US participating and is now known as the International Solanaceae study.

I know,I know, most of you are not that interested in the details, but here's just ONE Google search that will give you an idea of what's going on.

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q...JCAi8QgQMIGzAA

Tomatoes have become a serious economic source of money as to countries such as china who make and sell tomato powder, countries that supply fresh fruits to many other countries in Europe, such as Spain and Italy, as well as importations of fruits from Mexico to the US and also within the US Florida to give just a few examples.

And it's the professional breeders who are especially interested in the SOL project in terms of breeding mostly hybrid varieties and two countries that are well known for the number of companies with breeders doing that are the Netherlands and Israel.

Carolyn

SharonRossy · December 2, 2015

Loved it! Frightening but loved it! It's so true about throwing out the lists to make room for new ones!

gardenmermaid · December 2, 2015

AAHHH I am going to have to try growing all 1.225 billion different tomato varieties to see which are my favorites!

bower · December 3, 2015

I guess I really dodged the bullet since none of the "late" varieties can be grown up here, I have only to fear maybe a third of all possible tomatoes and their creeping vines, siblings, and random crossings.

Of course I'm working hard to make sure the place is as tomatageddonned as possible by the time you folks start fleeing north.

ginger2778 · December 3, 2015

Growing West- you should work as a writer for The Onion.

**carolyn137** · December 3, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by ginger2778

Growing West- you should work as a writer for The Onion.

Or the Daily Beast, or some others I can think of.

My problem was that I saw the reference to Cornell, and took that to heart and didn't finish reading the whole post, which I will do tomorrow.

Carolyn

Growing West · December 8, 2015

I am sorry for taking so long to get back to this thread. Tomato tribbles is a fun idea. I don't think I could ever be prolific enough to write for a publication. I do write a lot with my job. Much of it can be lifeless technical writing that is meant to withstand being taken apart by lawyers wanting to feed at the public trough. Sometime's it is nice to write just for fun.

Cornell published the article I saw, but the work is being conducted by a collaborative group. I am a graduate of a sister land grant university in that great system. Here is to Lincoln's land grant colleges and what they have meant to the world for more than 150 years.

December 2, 2015	#1
Growing West Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2015 Location: Montana Posts: 21	Matergeddon by 2025 A few new pieces of information recently have made it into my overly analytical brain-pan, and I now find myself morally responsible to sound the alarm. The good folks at Cornell really deserve any credit there is to give, though. You see, they have identified 35,000 tomato genes. This doesn't seem like such a sinister minister sort of event until you do the math and realize that about 1.225 billion unique combinations, or potential varieties, are then possible. The actual number could vary some. There might be some mandatory gene combinations that would lessen the possibilites. There could also be factors that greatly increase this such as; chromosomes that carry multiple genes for a single trait, genetic engineering, and inter-specific crosses. I don't know the fine details of tomato genetics as I deal mostly with fish. Mixed with several other dynamics we see in the tomato world, the results of this near endless genetic variability just can't end well. We now see accidental crosses, most we still consider as lucky, spawning twelve f6 or greater siblings in just two grow-list seasons. We all know we each have to trial half of them every year. As this happens, the gaps we have to fill in our grow lists expand faster than the popultion of alien creatures in 80's horror movies. Each time we fill in one gap with a new variety, we actually make two new gaps. Well meaning people (but, many we never heard of six or seven years ago) now have 50 plus original varieties to taunt us to "add to cart". Each will have approximately 750 additional ones in two years if we simply extend recent trends. Each of these then spawns a sibling in every shape/color/size/leaf combination and we easily break the billion variety barrier in less then a decade. We also see that more people are joining our loonie ranks. Within a decade, we have a real chance of being spent into a cold war-easque type of economc collapse. This explains why Putin became so interested in the rich tomato breeding grounds of the Ukraine. It wasn't the sun drenched beaches that Russia otherwise lacks. He also appears to have agents in places like California, Missouri, and Pennsylvania who bring these varieties to us under the description of gifts from subsistence farmers they continually meet through snail mail. We then pay up to five dollars a seed to be the first to forget about these varieties in three years time. But, with this level of trialing tomatoes in our urban gardens, rural gardens, greenhouses, and upside-down planter thingys, our culture will more likely be suffocated by feral tomato vines before we succomb economically to the second cold war. Check out that picture of Joseph on page six of the "tentative 2016 grow list" thread if you doubt that we aren't on the leading edge of this nightshade disaster. Sure, tomatoes grow much slower than zombies are depicted to move, but they reproduce at many thousands of times the rate. We are quite simply done. I am going to grow all the new varieties I can since time is running out anyway. Last edited by Growing West; December 2, 2015 at 01:51 AM.

December 2, 2015	#7
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	Being a Cornell grad myself, I can share with you that it's not based at Cornell U in Ithaca, NY. It's become more than just the SOL gene project since it's now become and International consortium of scientists from many countries as well as many here in the US participating and is now known as the International Solanaceae study. I know,I know, most of you are not that interested in the details, but here's just ONE Google search that will give you an idea of what's going on. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q...JCAi8QgQMIGzAA Tomatoes have become a serious economic source of money as to countries such as china who make and sell tomato powder, countries that supply fresh fruits to many other countries in Europe, such as Spain and Italy, as well as importations of fruits from Mexico to the US and also within the US Florida to give just a few examples. And it's the professional breeders who are especially interested in the SOL project in terms of breeding mostly hybrid varieties and two countries that are well known for the number of companies with breeders doing that are the Netherlands and Israel. Carolyn __________________ Carolyn

December 2, 2015	#2
Labradors2 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Ontario Posts: 3,893	That was a well-written piece! Thanks for sharing . Linda

December 2, 2015	#3
Worth1 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Den of Drunken Fools Posts: 38,539	And all this time I thought he wanted the Ukraine for the sunflowers and beautiful women. Worth

December 2, 2015	#4
BackyardFarm Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Wisconsin, zone 4b Posts: 360	That was a clever read!

December 2, 2015	#5
Tormato Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: MA Posts: 4,971	If you come up with a new variety of your own, I suggest you name it... "Trouble With Tribbles".

December 2, 2015	#6
BigVanVader Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Greenville, South Carolina Posts: 3,099	Star Trek references are always welcomed. I always imagined it like Little shop of horrors. Wrong genes spliced together and bam! They start making sauce out of us

December 2, 2015	#8
SharonRossy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Montreal Posts: 1,140	Loved it! Frightening but loved it! It's so true about throwing out the lists to make room for new ones!

December 2, 2015	#9
gardenmermaid Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: In the snowy desert of SE Idaho Posts: 111	AAHHH I am going to have to try growing all 1.225 billion different tomato varieties to see which are my favorites!

December 3, 2015	#10
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	I guess I really dodged the bullet since none of the "late" varieties can be grown up here, I have only to fear maybe a third of all possible tomatoes and their creeping vines, siblings, and random crossings. Of course I'm working hard to make sure the place is as tomatageddonned as possible by the time you folks start fleeing north.

December 3, 2015	#11
ginger2778 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Plantation, Florida zone 10 Posts: 9,283	Growing West- you should work as a writer for The Onion.

December 8, 2015	#13
Growing West Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2015 Location: Montana Posts: 21	I am sorry for taking so long to get back to this thread. Tomato tribbles is a fun idea. I don't think I could ever be prolific enough to write for a publication. I do write a lot with my job. Much of it can be lifeless technical writing that is meant to withstand being taken apart by lawyers wanting to feed at the public trough. Sometime's it is nice to write just for fun. Cornell published the article I saw, but the work is being conducted by a collaborative group. I am a graduate of a sister land grant university in that great system. Here is to Lincoln's land grant colleges and what they have meant to the world for more than 150 years.