Blue streaks/stripes?!?

RobinB · September 29, 2012

One of my Shadow Boxing plants is now producing fruits with blue zig zag streaks or stripes. It didn't start out this way. Early in the season, the fruit were red with green stripes with just a dusting of blue on the shoulders. Then the blue started "creeping down" the tomatoes as the season progressed. Now, like other blue tomatoes I've grown and seen, the red color is pure only at the tip. I don't have a lot of experience with blue tomatoes, but is this kind of a progression withing a season normal? All I know is that now, in the last week or so, I have some blue stripes. I swear, a couple of weeks ago, the stripes were GREEN.

Oh yeah, they taste AMAZING!

Boutique Tomatoes · September 29, 2012

It does seem to be somewhat weather dependant how intense the blue is. Great find!

I'm thinking this line must also have been something no more that F3. I know I've seen at least 6 different lines described from it. Mark at Frogsleap found a dwarf version that he really liked and someone posted pictures of a small dark blue oblate fruit so there was a lot of variation.

maf · September 29, 2012

I think cooler weather enhances the anthocyanin expression. Not sure of the exact temperatures for optimal expression, but if you are having cooler weather now this will likely be the reason.

(BTW they look very nice)

RobinB · September 29, 2012

I was wondering if the fact that things cooled off a bit was a contributing factor. The weather HAS cooled down from the highs of Summer, but we are still in the mid to low 80s during the day and the mid-40s at night. I think the end of my garden is coming by next weekend though. THIS weekend? Near 90! Crazy stuff. This is not normal.

bughunter99 · September 29, 2012

In my plants the amount of blue has been completely dependent on the amount of sun exposure. In this picture the ripe tomatoes were pulled from various different parts of the plant interior, the more sun the more blue. You can see the unripe fruit growing on the top of the plant is already blue. In all my fruits the unripe fruit are green with light green stripes. The light green stripes turn metallic and the blue seems to come to the other areas, appearing before the orange in all cases.

This is an F3 of Seattle's Woolly Blue Mammoth .

zeroma · January 18, 2013

Do any TVer's know if this is F3 or not?

RobinB · January 18, 2013

The seed packet doesn't say anything except the name of the tomato. When I got these last year, I was not aware that seeds purchased from the New World Seeds and Tubers site weren't stable, as Tom's website didn't (doesn't?) say anything.... Someone in another thread suggested that Tom sometimes starts out sending later releases and then if he runs out sometimes sends earlier stuff too. I don't know if this is true. If it is, I don't know how stable the seeds I got are. Ok. That said, this particular "selection" turned out to be one of the best tasting and best looking in my 2012 garden. I plan to plant my saved seeds and grow out multiple plants this Summer. I started calling it "Shadow Boxing Wavy Blue".

If anybody wants some of my saved seed from this one, send me a PM, I'm happy to share.

Robin

zeroma · January 20, 2013

Thanks for the update on your seeds of Wavy Blue...you did send some of that seed to me and I can't wait to grow and EAT them. I'll let you know how the 'selection' you sent turns out.

September 29, 2012	#5
bughunter99 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: zone 5 Posts: 821	In my plants the amount of blue has been completely dependent on the amount of sun exposure. In this picture the ripe tomatoes were pulled from various different parts of the plant interior, the more sun the more blue. You can see the unripe fruit growing on the top of the plant is already blue. In all my fruits the unripe fruit are green with light green stripes. The light green stripes turn metallic and the blue seems to come to the other areas, appearing before the orange in all cases. This is an F3 of Seattle's Woolly Blue Mammoth . Last edited by bughunter99; September 29, 2012 at 05:24 PM.

September 29, 2012	#2
Boutique Tomatoes Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Northeast Wisconsin, Zone 5a Posts: 1,109	It does seem to be somewhat weather dependant how intense the blue is. Great find! I'm thinking this line must also have been something no more that F3. I know I've seen at least 6 different lines described from it. Mark at Frogsleap found a dwarf version that he really liked and someone posted pictures of a small dark blue oblate fruit so there was a lot of variation.

September 29, 2012	#3
maf Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: England Posts: 512	I think cooler weather enhances the anthocyanin expression. Not sure of the exact temperatures for optimal expression, but if you are having cooler weather now this will likely be the reason. (BTW they look very nice)

September 29, 2012	#4
RobinB Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Near Reno, NV Posts: 1,621	I was wondering if the fact that things cooled off a bit was a contributing factor. The weather HAS cooled down from the highs of Summer, but we are still in the mid to low 80s during the day and the mid-40s at night. I think the end of my garden is coming by next weekend though. THIS weekend? Near 90! Crazy stuff. This is not normal.

January 18, 2013	#6
zeroma Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: SW Ohio Posts: 637	Do any TVer's know if this is F3 or not?

January 20, 2013	#8
zeroma Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: SW Ohio Posts: 637	Thanks for the update on your seeds of Wavy Blue...you did send some of that seed to me and I can't wait to grow and EAT them. I'll let you know how the 'selection' you sent turns out.