Sun Gold

[maryinoregon]

I grew a start of Sun Gold in 2005. It was delicious and everything I expected it to be. Late last summer or early fall, I found a couple of tiny plants in the area I planted Sun Gold in 2005. I let them grow and they produced tiny orange tomatoes. The plants were also tiny. The tomatoes tasted exactly like Sun Gold to me, except they were a little tart. I presume because they were ripening in mid-September and into October. Usually that's the end of the season for tomatoes here. Plants did not get more than a foot high, maybe a bit more. Am assuming they did not get bigger because there was not enough heat left to grow them bigger.

Anyway, I saved some seeds and started them, wondering if I would get anything interesting. Disabuse me of any of my assumptions if you want. I did not put this in Crosstalk because I had no plans to cross them. Would appreciate any suggestions as to what to look for. I should also remember what to call these, but I don't. Are these F2 or F3?

Thanks for putting up with such elemetary questions.

maryinpnw

[feldon30]

As you know, Sun Gold is a hybrid, so you can get wildly unpredictable results. Several people have tried to dehybridize Sun Gold to an O.P. variety with identical productivity, flavor, and size. The fruits of those labors have been Sungold Select, Sungold Select II, Sun Cherry, etc.

If you want a Sun Gold type tomato that you can save seeds from every year, try to acquire one of those varieties.

[Lee]

Mary,

You now have an F3 version of your SunGold experiment. If you're interested
in stabalizing this, grow out a few (4+) plants and select the one that most closely resembles the one from last year.
You could also plant Sun Gold to have something to directly compare to as you are
stabalizing your variety.

Good luck!

Lee

[maryinoregon]

Thanks guys. I have grown Sun Gold Select II. Good, but didn't love it. My plants from last year were as close to Sun Gold as you could get, at least, that's what my tastebuds perceived. Lee, I think I will go with at least four plants and maybe a Sun Gold and see how it goes. The seed I started several days ago popped out of the pro mix. Guess I will have to throw a few on the compost pile. I can't use 20 or more Sun Gold experiments!

[carolyn137]

Sun Cherry, etc.

*****

Morgan, I don't know that variety so I didn't know that it too was a child of Sungold F1.

Would you please tell me about it as in who dehybridized it, where it is available, etc.? When folks ask about an OP Sungold I've always just mentioned Sungold Select, and Sungold Select II.

[Suze]

Sun Cherry is a hybrid. It sometimes gets touted as a "sister to Sungold" and such, occasionally w/o specifically mentioning it as F1. It is one of the better hybrid red cherries, imo, and I would grow it again. It's not quite up there with Sungold tastewise, though.

My source for it a few years back was Johnny's (not sure if they still carry it); here's the description at TGS:

Sun Cherry FT Hybrid #5713 (30 seeds) $2.15
Red-fruited sister to the popular orange Sun Gold, this sweet red cherry has the same qualities of extra sweet flavor, prolific yields, and early maturity. It grows in long, full cascades of round, small, bright red fruit that are wonderful in salads, pasta dishes, or for just eating out of hand. This extra-sweet flavor is delightful, not sugary but just delicious. If you like Sun Gold, you're going to love this one, too. Indeterminate. 58 days.

[maryinoregon]

Could Sun Cherry be a relative to Red Sun Gold Select? Pretty sure I have seeds for a Red Sun Gold Select. Grew it once and thought it was OK. I'll have to go back and look through my seeds. I think I got it from Harry in Canada. Haven't heard from him in a long time. Does anyone still email with him?

maryinpnw

[feldon30]

Oops.

(adding extra spaces, etc. so it will let me post)