Interesting volunteer pear tomato

[oakley]

Rare to get any volunteer tomato in the NEast. Especially in a deck container that always
has herbs...basil, dill, celery, chives, thyme, etc.
It was clearly a tomato early Spring so I let it go and grow.
Disappointing that it looked like a pear at first.
A deck container 15ft above the ground so does get very cold temps.

It is a fat pear, and the ripening color is off. Molten confused I usually attribute to bad
growing conditions. Yet all others, dwarf project, micros, show no signs of distress.

Interesting what it might be. Or where it came from. Nice big plant I've had to tie up
on the deck railing going both directions like trellising apples.

Gardening/growing is never not interesting.

[ibraash]

It looks like Japanese Black Trifele

http://www.rareseeds.com/japanese-black-trifele-t/

[clkeiper]

is it cherry sized or larger like the JBT? it looks like cherry sized? does it taste like a winner?

[AlittleSalt]

The color and shape looks really good.

[oakley]

Back in the day, before even internet, I grew red and yellow pear. Made a nice early
harvest salad of toms. Lots of fruit. Waiting for other bigger fruit harvest. Anna Russian
etc,...hearts always do well in the NEast.

Like mentioned I never have 'volunteer' tomatoes. No neighbors grow anything or even
compost. Just north of NYC and forest.
I'll save seeds and plant in the Catskill Farm garden next year and see whats up.

I'm still convinced it is a troubled climate result of mix-uped cross....not something new
found unless a bit of 'land-race' survival due to cold temp survival.

Having never had a seed or tom survive a cold temp or have ever had a 'volunteer'.
Interesting non the less.

And no splits!

It is exactly the size of a red or yellow pear, but chubby, making it 20% bigger.

[imp]

There is a variety, cannot recall the name right now, of a black pear tomato that is a cherry, maybe more than one. I have a particular interest in cherry pear tomatoes, so if you save seed and have enough, could I beg a few from you?

How does it taste?

[oakley]

Originally Posted by imp

There is a variety, cannot recall the name right now, of a black pear tomato that is a cherry, maybe more than one. I have a particular interest in cherry pear tomatoes, so if you save seed and have enough, could I beg a few from you?

How does it taste?

I recall running across a blk or choc pear somewhere.

I wasn't paying much attention.

I've been tossing them in the snack cherry bowl with all others I gather every morning.
I scan and pick any blushing to keep up with harvest as all cherries can get away from
me if I slack on harvesting.
I just assumed they were ripening red.
The cherry bowl has hands in it all day....everyone picks out their favorites, and pick
just they way they like them, firm or slightly soft, then the rest go into a freezer zip-lock
for soups, etc. Repeating daily this time of year.

I've just been carefully labeling the dwarf project toms.

So I'll pay more attention to the next trusses. Taste is right up there with all my favorite
cherry toms.
I have a couple new ones this year I'm not that fond of so I do have comparisons.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by oakley

Rare to get any volunteer tomato in the NEast. Especially in a deck container that always
has herbs...basil, dill, celery, chives, thyme, etc.
It was clearly a tomato early Spring so I let it go and grow.
Disappointing that it looked like a pear at first.
A deck container 15ft above the ground so does get very cold temps.

It is a fat pear, and the ripening color is off. Molten confused I usually attribute to bad
growing conditions. Yet all others, dwarf project, micros, show no signs of distress.

Interesting what it might be. Or where it came from. Nice big plant I've had to tie up
on the deck railing going both directions like trellising apples.

Gardening/growing is never not interesting.

OK, growing 15 ft above the ground in a deck container, no other tomatoes ever grown there, nothing like it that you have grown lately,right? And all of your other varieties grown this summer are correct for the variety?So where did it come from?

Got any birds there that peck at tomato fruits in your regular garden to get after the seeds and then fly up to that deck container to munch on them.? How far from you are others also growing tomatoes and no way to know what they might be growing either, possibly the seed came from one of their gardens. Birds can fly long distances,that is known.

Glad to hear that that you like it so far, and if it turns out to be a true winner when regrown to be sure it isn't a cross, save lots of seeds as others have said,and if it doesn't resemble anything, when grown the second time that others can't recognize ,then you get to name it.

And just noting that yes, in my zone 5 area a couple of hundred miles above where you are I almost always have seen seeds that made it through the winter. From fruits that drop and then get dried out before the cold temps of the winter start.I used to dig up about 10 of those volunteers each year and move them to a side garden.I had a plot plan of where the tomatoes were growing.

Charlie used to plow up my tomato field in the fall and sow winter rye, he'd come back in the Spring and plow that under and plow again and harrow,etc,to prepare the field for me.

Sometimes I could ID some of my volunteers, sometimes not,but it was fun to at least try to do so.

Carolyn

[Labradors2]

Do you use any compost in your containers? How about the potting mix?

We ordered some "organic" soil for a new garden which consisted of bark fines, compost and duck droppings. A LOT of tomatoes grew in that soil and I let some of them grow just to see what they were, but nothing interesting or tasty came up - perfectly round, probably store-bought tomatoes, processed by the ducks no doubt {LOL}.

Good luck with your unusual pear. I hope that they will come true for you next year and you'll be able to name your own tomato

Linda

[Solanum315]

I actually get volunteers fairly consistently in Syracuse. I don't think cold temps necessarily kill seeds. Usually have at least one Mexico Midget pop up in the plots around mid summer. Cool looking plant. So what is the size of the mature fruits? It does look like Japanese Black Trifele but probably impossible to know...

[oakley]

All good questions posted. I've gone through the list of ?'s myself and many more.
I went through the cherry 'snack' bowl and pulled a few more out. And a few from the
plant this morning. All are ripening the same inconsistent 'tie dye' coloring of green,
red/orange/yellow/gold.

They are also, every one of them, slightly flattened. Not completely round like the pears
I've grown in the past.
If the NEast gets many volunteers I've missed them. Always get tomatillos re-seeding and have to cull them or I'd have a jungle.

This home is in the forest, a stones throw from Harriman Park. In the late 50's, a Dutch
Architect built a 100 or so houses tucked in the hills. Tiny efficient 'tree houses', post
and beam. Pretty impossible to have gardens. Ten yrs ago I noticed and watched a
slender bacon strip of good sun near the house in the driveway. North side, and has
worked well for a few containers I tested the past few years if I move them following
the suns path. Last year SunGold, CubanYellowGrape and a bland red pear.
(my last year for the pears). Not worth the garden space with so many new ones.

In the ten years here the herbs have done well on the deck. So I decided this year to
grow some micros and dwarf project grow outs. Only 6-7 hours sun but so far it has gone well.

One neighbor a mile away has cleared lots of trees and has a garden now but just this
year I noticed. (at great expense). We had a few trees taken out a few yrs ago, wow$$.

I do grow Black Trifle, second year, but that is 100 miles away in my main farm garden
in the Catskills.

Bird drop is possible. No pecks at all on any of my plants but that is the luck of the draw
as not really having tomatoes much available to them, until they get a taste I suppose.

The soil is old, like herbs like. I toped with my container mix being first year it is Sungro
...light and fluffy, with some vermiculite, pine bark fines base. No compost as that goes
to the farm in black bags for a season to heat up. re-peat.

This morning pic....
The tiny ones are CubanYellow, "a burst of sunshine", lol. Tried to show the flattened
shape. And size is comparable to SunGold. Fat flat pears.

I'm still thinking environmental and just a seasonal oddity. But time will tell. Good
weather and a huge trailing vine just like some other small fruited. Many more fruits
and possibly 6 more weeks of good weather.

[imp]

Besides the color & shape intriguing me, the size of the plant is also of interest to me. Pears can get big, but a 15 foot tall pear tomato is very very large.

Like I said, if you have some extra seed later, would like to try it out this next year and see what it produces.

[oakley]

What's nice about the old vining type, like this one, is they go up fast but not full at all.
I never prune them. The CubanYellow I've grown for some time now, has gone up 6ft,
down and all over the driveway. I just let it be.
They grow well in the same pot as another as a companion of sorts.

I have some wild grapes on the farm back on a far hill that are all over the trees.

Note, I may have mentioned, the stem at the base is the size of my thumb.

Seeds will be saved.

[KarenO]

I would hang on to that and grow it out again next season. I bet it will retain the pear shape. It's interesting and unique and I think you should work with it yourself for a few seasons and see what it does.
very cool.
KarenO

[Spartanburg123]

Yes! And as stated, if you grow it out and it is stable and different from all others, then it is so phenomenally easy to name it yourself!!! Let's see what it does next year- I suggest that YOU grow it out, quite a few if possible.