Perhaps Kumato is Hybrid After All...

[Solanum315]

So I saved some seed from a well isolated F2 plant and this year the small green fruit are shaping up to be oxhearts. I hope they continue in that direction as there are too few black oxhearts. And here I thought all the hybrid business was just hype from Syngenta.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Solanum315

So I saved some seed from a well isolated F2 plant and this year the small green fruit are shaping up to be oxhearts. I hope they continue in that direction as there are too few black oxhearts. And here I thought all the hybrid business was just hype from Syngenta.

All the stupid history was hype but not the fact that it's an F1 hybrid. I don't know at which message sites you do read/post but ever since it was introduced there are many who have grown it out and found gene segregation and shown pictures of same.

I don't recall anyone describing/showing heart shaped fruits from it, but then Brad's Black Heart was found in a field of Black Krim plants, so who knows for sure what the parental background of Kumato F1, aka Rosso Bruno F1, really is except a certain few at Syngenta who aren't talking.

[kurt]

I got my first Kumato seeds in 2007 saved from store bought Canadian packages(not the cherry types).Grown each year since so this year(season over)would be f5 I guess.No real change in size,some color(shine/cloudy)change from dark mahohgany to more chocolate.Some green streaks on shoulders some not.This would be on same plant(meaning different characteristics) than each plant being different from each other.I love the plant for here in S Florida.The other blacks I tried were OK(tulas,b princes,chocolates)but not as prolific as the much "hated"Kumato.I think everyone hates Sygenta for the "hype" they created and the fact that no one likes the big conglomerates (me either).But for all the naysayers please leave the poor Kumato alone it is a good mater.Don't spank the kid spank the parent?If all maters came from S America so can you say all maters are hybrids?I truly respect the name "heirloom"but for me all it did was give the high end supermarkets license to charge more.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by kurt

I got my first Kumato seeds in 2007 saved from store bought Canadian packages(not the cherry types).Grown each year since so this year(season over)would be f5 I guess.No real change in size,some color(shine/cloudy)change from dark mahohgany to more chocolate.Some green streaks on shoulders some not.This would be on same plant(meaning different characteristics) than each plant being different from each other.I love the plant for here in S Florida.The other blacks I tried were OK(tulas,b princes,chocolates)but not as prolific as the much "hated"Kumato.I think everyone hates Sygenta for the "hype" they created and the fact that no one likes the big conglomerates (me either).But for all the naysayers please leave the poor Kumato alone it is a good mater.Don't spank the kid spank the parent?If all maters came from S America so can you say all maters are hybrids?I truly respect the name "heirloom"but for me all it did was give the high end supermarkets license to charge more.

Kurt.

First I think it's wrong to say the "hated" Kumato b'c I know many who do like it

Second, I don't think that everyone hates Syngenta, I'm one that doesn't and I feel the same way about Monsanto. Just b'c Monsanto bought Seminis there are many who boycott seeds produced by Petoseed and sold at various commercial sites as well as some seeds that other partners of Seminis, now owned by Monsanto, are boycotted.

My only criticism of Syngenta was indeed the ridicuolous history they gave for Kumato including mentioning the Galapagos turtles, etc., and so called black tomatoes being indigenous to the Galapagos Islands. Not.

So there you go.

[Solanum315]

Hard to see in the photo but the bottom comes to a sort of point. I wouldn't think much of it since the first one or two fruit often look different than what follows, however, I have another plant I planted for my parents and it has four out of four shaped like tiny oxhearts. It also looks PL in the picture but is definitely RL.

[kurt]

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/140370/I do not have pictures nor any plants now but the K's that I grow had a real serrated leaf and the berrys are all uniformly dark green.Also there should be 4 plus berry per.The dark color of foliage looks consistent.

[camochef]

I have to agree with Carolyn as far as Kumato not being hated. I had my first few the beginning of February of this year, and compared to other supermarket tomatoes in February, they were delicious. I saved some seed from them as I had found online that they weren't hybrids and thought I'd give them a try this season. I also sent some to Joyce in Colorado to try.

So I have one Kumato growing in the garden. It was a runt plant from seed, and didn't get planted out at the same time as my favorites but did get planted with my Grafted DDR from Dana.
It is now about 41/2 ft high, looking quite healthy and having about a dozen or more little green tomatoes on it. Right now they look more like cherry tomatoes than anything else. Also full of blossoms. Will let you know when things get ripe what I get.
Enjoy!
Camo