Red Isis Candy?

[MarieV]

I'm currently growing Isis Candy from seed, and the fruit is just now ripening. However, instead of the red-orange-gold marbling, it's just plain red. The first several fruit ripening are about 1.5" in diameter, and the first one weighs 1 oz. All the other fruit are about 1" in diameter or smaller, like more typical cherry tomatoes.

What do most people get when they grow Isis Candy? I know it's not common to get the striking colorful marbling shown on most photos for Isis Candy, but I was expecting a bicolor or at least the sunburst pattern on the bottom, not just a plain red cherry tomato (as shown in the photos below). I'm also getting soft, almost rotten bottoms on a handful of the fruit, like blossom end rot (see brownish blossom end on tomato directly below the red one in the first photo below). I didn't think that happened with cherry tomatoes.

Almost ripe fruit on Isis Candy


One fruit blushing on a truss of Isis Candy


The red Isis Candy tomato with Sun Golds for comparison

[Farmette]

My Isis Candy look much like those on Tatiana's site. They're orange/red with a starburst at the bottom and taste is pretty sweet.

[k3vin]

Definitely not Isis Candy you have there. Isis Candy is my wife's favorite, and is on my short list of must grow every year tomatoes. There is really nothing I would change about this tomato. Production is phenomenal, it will produce literally 100's of golf ball size fruits in a season. It produces through the heat and right up to frost. Fruit holds well on the vine. Plants are healthy and vigorous. And the flavor is truly outstanding, especially if you are in to intense sun gold type sweet. I particularly like the ones that are just a touch on the over ripe side, they develop a subtle labrusca type, musky pumpkin pie spice flavor that is surprising but pleasant. Isis Candy tastes like no other tomato I have grown.

So how is the taste on these?

[carolyn137]

Marie, how many plants do you have out of Isis Candy and are all plants except one giving you what you might expect for this variety?

Or is it just one plant that has ALL red fruits or is it one plant that has ONE red fruit.

It really does make a difference in terms of the genetics that might be going on with respect to the questions I just asked.

Lastly, what was your seed source if you care to share?

Isis Candy is not an heirloom; it was bred by Joe Bratka.

[lakelady]

My Isis Candy is also like Tania's website, with the marbling and star on the bottom.

[MarieV]

Carolyn, I only have the one Isis Candy plant. (I wanted to try as many varieties as possible in my limited space.) The fruit just started breaking, and only one fruit has totally turned red. It started off orange then turned red, just like the photo of an Isis Candy truss on this page. The others breaking are still orange, but they'll probably turn red like the first one. It's not quite ripe, so I haven't tasted it yet.

I got my seeds from Trudi at WinterSown, and I've seen several Isis Candy photos for seed companies (e.g. TomatoFest and Henry Fields) that show some plain red tomatoes among the bicolored fruit with starbursts. I wasn't sure if I just had bad luck and grew out the one seedling from a stray seed or if some Isis Candy fruit is plain red depending on the climate and/or growing conditions.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by MarieV

Carolyn, I only have the one Isis Candy plant. (I wanted to try as many varieties as possible in my limited space.) The fruit just started breaking, and only one fruit has totally turned red. It started off orange then turned red, just like the photo of an Isis Candy truss on this page. The others breaking are still orange, but they'll probably turn red like the first one. It's not quite ripe, so I haven't tasted it yet.

I got my seeds from Trudi at WinterSown, and I've seen several Isis Candy photos for seed companies (e.g. TomatoFest and Henry Fields) that show some plain red tomatoes among the bicolored fruit with starbursts. I wasn't sure if I just had bad luck and grew out the one seedling from a stray seed or if some Isis Candy fruit is plain red depending on the climate and/or growing conditions.

Marie, I checked all of your links and I'm sure the problem is one of photography.

http://www.google.com/search?num=10&....1.CWzKXZf2FX0

The above link is to Google IMAGES, put your mouse pointer over a picture and it ID's the variety as well as where the pic came from and you can see LOTS of pictures of red ones, photography problems, but I'd be glad to ID for you which ones Isis Candy should look like.

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Isis_Candy

Above is a link to Tania's page for it which also shows what it should be.

As you pointed out , with just one plant you don't know if it was a stray seed or indeed a crossed seed that gave you what you have if indeed all fruits on the plant are crossed. And I have to wonder a bit b'c your red one seems too big, at least to me, to be Isis Candy according to your picture as well as the 1.5 inches you mentioned.

If it were just ONE fruit on a plant and all others were typical of Isis Candy I could understand that b'c that would be due to what's called a somatic mutation.

Please keep us updated when you see what color the other fruits are on that plant.

Thanks,

[MarieV]

Thanks, Carolyn. I was expecting my Isis Candy fruit to look like the ones on Tania's TOMATObase page since Seattle's climate is similar to hers in BC. That's why I was so disappointed when the first tomato turned completely red. The rest of the fruit on the first truss are almost as large as that red one in my photo, about 1.5" in diameter or just a bit smaller. The rest of the 80+ fruit are closer to 1" in diameter, like typical cherry tomatoes. I will definitely post an update when more fruit start to ripen.