Orange Santa F1 (?)

[ChrisK]

I grow Orange Santa pretty regularly and several people ask me for plants every year. I'm down to my last few seeds from T&M purchased years ago.

I see Tania has it listed but doesn't designate it as a hybrid. Pretty sure it was being sold as an F1. Is it? Was it stabilized?

I seem to remember that another Santa is pretty stable in the F2 and beyond. I saved a "Santa Sweet" a few weeks ago for seed, in fact.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by ChrisK

I grow Orange Santa pretty regularly and several people ask me for plants every year. I'm down to my last few seeds from T&M purchased years ago.

I see Tania has it listed but doesn't designate it as a hybrid. Pretty sure it was being sold as an F1. Is it? Was it stabilized?

I seem to remember that another Santa is pretty stable in the F2 and beyond. I saved a "Santa Sweet" a few weeks ago for seed, in fact.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...334327488.html

The above link might help. I knew Andrew Chu personally and the original was Santa F1, the source indicated above, and all these years it has remained red.

So I have no idea what an orange one might be nor know of any place that sold it and as I posted in the above thread, the offtype from Santa F1 is red as well.

Maybe an orange popped up somewhere if some Santa F1 or OP's crossed with something.

Yes, one can save seeds from Santa Sweets, again from the above link, but thousands of folks ahead of you have done so and so now it's a nice red grape tomato no doubt at the F10-12 ,meaning for the original Santa F1, which Santa Sweets really is.

What the Procacci Bros from Philly did to Andrew Chu was just terrible IMO.

Carolyn

[ChrisK]

Thanks, Carolyn. T&M definitely sold Orange Santa F1 5 maybe 6 years ago but dont list it now. Others currently carry it.

Here's a description:

http://www.backyardgardener.com/seeds/product08/87.html

http://www.simpsonsseeds.co.uk/shop/...-S_TOM218.html


Tania doesn't list it as a hybrid so I was wondering if it was as easy to stabilize as the red Santa.

[patty_b]

I have grown out the Orange Santa for several years now as an OP. Mine originially came from T&M.

[ChrisK]

How much segregation did you get and how close is it to the original?

Originally Posted by patty_b

I have grown out the Orange Santa for several years now as an OP. Mine originially came from T&M.

[patty_b]

I could not see much difference between them.

[Wi-sunflower]

About 3 or 4 years ago I found an orange grape tomato at a local grocery store in the winter. At the time I had never seen an ORANGE grape in any seed catalogs. Yellows and golds, yes, orange, no.

So I saved the seeds and grew them out. I'm on F-4 I think.

Up til right now I had never heard of "Orange Santa" but from looking at the 2 links, what I have and what they are selling look a lot alike. Nothing else in seed catalogs looks quite like that orange.

Yes they are nice and they do grow out quite well from saved seeds. If you let them get quite orange they taste closer to a Sun Gold than anything else I've grown of the Sun Gold grow-outs. They will sometimes have cracking issues, but usually not nearly as much as the Sun Golds do. They are what some people would call "tougher" skin than Sun Gold, but to me it is just that they have a thicker wall with a bit less juice as a first impression.

At least the stuff I've grown which may or may not be the same thing.

JMO,
Carol

[Tania]

Originally Posted by patty_b

I could not see much difference between them.

I also grew it from Patty's seeds and no segregations were observed. All plants and fruits were identical.

So the one I have listed at TOMATObase is OP.

I should probably create a page for Orange Santa F1.

[carolyn137]

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=...w=1035&bih=376

As I said above, I've never heard of an Orange Santa F1, but now I have.

What I see above are seed sources but I don't think I've ever seen anyone at the message sites where I often go say that they grew it and what they thought of it.

Pattyb, what was your original source for the F1 and when, just curious.

If it was bred by the same company as Santa F1 was, how come I don't see more folks/companies growing it and offering it?

Procacci Brothers, where are you now?

Carolyn

[patty_b]

I purchased the Orange Santa seed from Thompson and Morgan Seeds.. they have a very distinct taste but I happen to like them very much.

[ChrisK]

Agree. They are very firm, almost crunchy! I am almost positive that T&M said they were an F1 in the catalog (not carrying them anymore) but my packet does not indicate they are. Just says Orange Santa.

I'll give away some presumably F2s (of course, with full disclosure that they might be genetic crap) to see how they do.

I also made some crosses with it last year.

Originally Posted by patty_b

I purchased the Orange Santa seed from Thompson and Morgan Seeds.. they have a very distinct taste but I happen to like them very much.

[roper2008]

Someone sent me some Op Orange Santa seed 3 years ago. I have
wanted to grow a couple, but never did because I knew it was a hybrid.
I still have the seed. I may grow one. If you want to try a few of these
seeds chris, let me know.

[bitterwort]

Chris, I have a 2009 T&M catalog and they definitely list Orange Santa as an F1 hybrid.

[ChrisK]

Thanks! Good to know my memory isn't completely gone!

Originally Posted by bitterwort

Chris, I have a 2009 T&M catalog and they definitely list Orange Santa as an F1 hybrid.

[ChrisK]

Thanks! I'll give my saved seeds a try first to see what I get but might take you up on it in the future. If you grow one let's compare notes though.

Originally Posted by roper2008

Someone sent me some Op Orange Santa seed 3 years ago. I have
wanted to grow a couple, but never did because I knew it was a hybrid.
I still have the seed. I may grow one. If you want to try a few of these
seeds chris, let me know.