Magic Trick?

[jennifer28]

I grew out some seeds of Magic Trick from New World Seeds and Tubers. They look like this - see attached... Does anyone know if it is supposed to be striped like this?

It's a keeper at any rate, because these ripened up super early and the taste is outstanding!

It's also a huge plant that is resistant to late blight... so it's a keeper regardless, I am just curious about it.

[jennifer28]

Anyone? bump.

[guruofgardens]

Haven't found out any info about Magic Trick. It looks like an interesting tomato, maybe it was re-named?

[jennifer28]

No. It was not renamed. It is from Tom Wagner at new world seeds. I just don't know if it was intended to be striped or solid or what.

[Tom Wagner]

I just stumbled onto this topic by accident looking for the Blush topic.

Magic Trick? That sounds familiar...hmm...Oh, Yes......I named it!

I put the seed up for sale/distribution for the 2012 season probably just to get a feeling about how folks would respond to it. Late blight resistance is just not a biggie for most people but it is just about everything for me. My description was obviously a Wah Wah Wahhh... and I can't even find a copy of my description!

This is the noise of a sad trombone, usually lowering in pitch after each 'wah,' that sounds off when someone whines or something bad happens. The last 'wah' sometimes is spelled with extra Hs or capitalizations, in order to drag out the last and saddest sounding 'wah.'

I was excited about it back in 2011 when a start of it was transplanted in July and matured in October. All of the other types of tomatoes were deader than all get out with LB but it was thriving and blooming. The transplanting of tomato clones late in the season makes it barely able to ripen just before frost and late blight kills just about every tomato plant except for those that has homozygous for blight resistance based on the Ph-2 and Ph-3 genes combined. I wrote about it on my tatermater forum October of 2011, but I only got one response. Like I said...late blight resistance doesn't get a wah wah wah response.

Yesterday I came across a package of seed of one of the Magic Trick single plant seed extraction. I was going to send some seed to Hawaii for increase but my associate there doesn't need LB resistance either.

JENNIFER, I am glad you found the Magic Trick appealing. I will have to check my records to see what seed batch you received. I have different filial levels and it could be that your line is one that is still segregating for stripes. Now that I am recalling detail....seems like I remember looking at the fruit in the 34 degree weather and wondering if I could see a faint stripe on the red cherry fruits. Striping is recessive and if you don't look closely you may never see it. Sometimes one will see it on the unripe fruits better than on the ripe fruits.

I almost forgot what the pedigree was until I inexplicably looked at the seed packet yesterday and was reminded about the history. I used Texas Wild as the maternal line...has some big vines with some PH-2 resistance. That is not enough for withstanding the blight here in Western Washington. Texas Wild was crossed with pollen from my New Green Zebra and the ensuing generations produced a large vine, red and yellow striped cherry tomato with the PH-2 gene homozygous. Somewhere in the filial level I crossed this with some selfed lines that had both PH-2 and -3 genes. I brought along the this hybrid two or three generations until I found one or more plants with the obvious homozygousity. I can't keep a tomato alive long enough with only one parent having the resistance.

That Jennifer's plant has red and yellow striped fruits is a plus. And if she follows the plant clear til frost and no blight occurs...I might be interested in single a seed or two back just to compare with my other lines...which I think are red only. I could send one seed to Hawaii to bring it up to a more stable OP.

When I introduce new varieties....I may only list them for one time...I try to mix it up and offer new kinds or even limit the selections. Maybe this is one I should re-list due to a single customer's response.

[jennifer28]

Tom,

Thank you for the info and quick response. I grew magic trick with my students at some of our urban farms and I grew one at my home. I will let you know in this thread how it responds to late blight. If you decide you want seeds back I can definitely accommodate you. We will see how it holds up.

We love your tomatoes and potatoes for our school gardens. I took the idea you gave me for a multi colored potato flower garden this year and the children LOVE it! Thank you.

Ps I do think you should bring magic trick back

[Tom Wagner]

Yes, let me know about the LB resistance but then again you may not get LB for an accurate test. I believe Magic Trick is in a LB inoculation trial in Wales. It did well before there against the blue 13 strain. If it does well again I will try to get it out again. Your striped version may be a sub strain eventually.

I am really glad to see someone appreciating the color and diversity of potato flowers. It has been ignored for so long. Glad to be able to help get kids interested in potatoes other than just eating them!

[zipcode]

How big is that tomato? I'd love a tomato with late blight resistance that isn't pea sized.
For years late blight has decimated my garden, and this year I see signs of it again, earlier than usual.

[Tom Wagner]

The Magic Trick is just a cherry tomato...and was put through the wringer to get earliness and LB resistance together. Large tomatoes in my major plot in Skagit Country just don't do well. I have better luck with the larger tomatoes in the King County area and in Portland OR.

Skykomish is the LB resistant tomato I have been offering the most. Sky Reacher, derived from Skykomish is yet to be determined for the complete package. I have several dozen LB resistant lines that I have not promoted. Maybe someday, someone will help me test them all out.

[Simone]

Jennifer

I have 4 Magic Trick plants in my garden.
It seems to me that 2 of the plants (still have just green tomatoes) will have some stripes at the end too.
One is suffering under a disease but one plant isso vigorous, building up many suckers.

I will post my pics, when they start to ripen, here if you like.

Simone

[jennifer28]

Simone,

I would love to see the pics. Thank you!
Tschuss,
Jennifer

[travis]

So, is Magic Trick a variety? Or is it another group of seeds representing more than one line of filials with more than one set of plant and fruit expressions?

[Tom Wagner]

So, is Magic Trick a variety? Or is it another group of seeds representing more than one line of filials with more than one set of plant and fruit expressions?

Travis, this has got to be a trick question! If I answer yes and yes it sounds like a contradiction. If I answer yes and no...it would sound like I am under some contraindication. If I answer no and yes one might doubt my veracity on what constitutes a variety. So should I answer yes and no in no particular order?

Perhaps the very word/noun VARIETY has some uniquely antonymic translation problems. With two very different meanings for variety.....one meaning diversity and the other meaning sameness....how do you get from variety to variety?

VARIETY

1. The quality or state of being different or diverse; the absence of uniformity, sameness, or monotony.
2. A number or range of things of the same general class that are different or distinct in character or quality.

Don't you just love the English language???....it hits me with stupefying clearheadedness.

So let me get this straight.....one can't have it both ways? You can't have a variety if there is any variety?

The segregating line was observed with several traits found appealing...early, complete blight resistant (I have a picture) red cherry....and having a tad of frost resistance. OK...enough already...name it something that sticks; thus MAGIC TRICK.

Somewhere along the way in the ontogeny of a varietal speciation...you might just want to shut down the variation thing by doing an extreme bottlenecking procedure....save seed from only one plant...the one that deserves a moniker. Sending seed out to customers expands the population opening up the possibility of more variation....making customers of the so-called variety review the "variety" in far flung places as Wales, Germany, Connecticut, Hawaii, and Washington.

Here is the rub.....I could ask each of those locations to send me seed of their best plant or I could make that decision from my own plant(s). thus making a renewed bottleneck function to make the variety descend from a single seed. I like the idea that the original breeder has some say in what becomes the 'kosher' seed for that variety and is re-listed as such. The Welsh plot of inoculated MAGIC TRICK tomatoes is one that gives me hope of getting seed from a single plant there that (will?) be resistant to LB. They did not save any seed of the resistant plants last year.

Creating a variety is often one of contracting and expansion grow outs....recurrent selection...if you want to be a name on it.

So, is Magic Trick a variety? Or is it another group of seeds representing more than one line of filials with more than one set of plant and fruit expressions?

I put the question up again. Is Magic Trick a variety? Yes, in the making and allowing others to have a hand in helping me. If I should die before re-listing it from a preferred selection...shoudl or could someone else carry the banner for the variety?
And yes, to the last question...I have all of the original lines....as pure breeding materials...and each cross cycle
Texas Wild...got it.
New Green Zebra....got it.
Homozygous PH-2 and PH-3....got it
The F-3 of Texas Wild x New Green Zebra....got it.
The F-1 of (Texas Wild x New Green Zebra) x Ph-2/PH-3...got it
The F-2 of (ditto)...got it
The ensuing filials...got it.

If I need to go back to the drawing board, I can at any time.

If I want to test out a potential commercial hybrid of Magic Trick and some other LB res. line......I can do that.

more than one line of filials with more than one set of plant and fruit expressions?

Yes, but to use a infamous quote..."What difference at this point does it make?"

[travis]

Originally Posted by Tom Wagner

Yes, but to use a infamous quote..."What difference at this point does it make?"

A most excellent answer! No disrespect intended, but all the rest was gobble-dee-gook.

To quote a famous muse, "... and in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."

[jennifer28]

I can definitely expose the magic trick to late blight. My friend Maria has a farm less than 5 mins from my house, see web site

http://rivercrestfarm.com/

And she almost always gets hit with the blight.... And I do too... So then I'll get someone from this office down here

http://www.ladybug.uconn.edu/gardening/lateblight.html

To test and then we will see if the magic trick is resistant or not, and of so, which LB it's resisting.

There you go. And I've already saved seeds from the beautiful early earlies.

More photos attached.


Ps - Travis, simmer down there, or I'm gonna start calling you leeroy