I can't grow potato leafs in my garden. Too hot in that spot. You never know what you're gonna get, and that's good!

Dan

Grow it out you Never know, but I bet it is a stray seed. Some seeds seem to be invisible. Right now i have two seedling in the bottom of my starter tray. No way did i drop any seed there.........
"potato leaf tomatoes are more inclined to cross-pollinate." I have seen that discussed by the "experts" and it seems to be not that big an issue.

I try to grow potato leaf plants, because from my highly scientific, strict protocol, assiduous observations, they get whacked with disease a bit less than the regular leaf ones.

But then we have a really short, cool season to deal with. My theory is that the big leaves are like little throw blankets and keep the plants warmer.

I think I'll give it to my neighbor, Biker Billy.

Every year, I have an assortment of tomato plants for him. He claims he cares not a whit what varieties they are. If his girlfriend does as good a job taking care of them this year as last - they might not die on him and I can keep track of it that way.

Biker doesn't know it but I trialed his vegetable relative Boxcar Willy that way one year. They both did poorly . . .

Tomatoes not "jumping the fence" and cross-pollinating is important on my side of the property line. I've had my Grandmother Pearl's tomato every year almost since she passed away in her 90's. Kind of like how we kept my other grandmother's Pomeranian Smoochie after she passed. Loved them both . . .

After saving seed for 20 years, I still can't see any difference in Grandma's tomatoes! And last year, before the ravages of cold weather took some of them, there were 29 varieties in the corral!

David, I think your confidence in the larger leaves to keep the plants warm is misplaced. It startled me that ALL of my Bloody Butchers died last year when I stupidly allowed them out of the greenhouse and into an unheated plastic tunnel for an overnight stay.

The other varieties in there more-or-less survived going from a 60F overnight greenhouse to a 37F overnight tunnel. The Bloody Butchers, despite their ability to set fruit and mature it before any other tomatoes in the open garden - wilted terribly and died!!

I think the BB's are really demure creatures that deserve principled, conscientious care - at least, that's what I intend for them in 2011.

Now, all that is out-the-window if'n it was a Bloody Butcher that clandestinely showed up in the box with my Early Girls! Tuff love, it is going off to Biker Billy's boot camp and rototiller proving grounds! I'll keep an eye on it from over the fence.

Steve

I grow several PL's. Depending on the year I would say 35-45% of what I plant will be PL. I tend to think many of them are a little more disease tolerant. And most years my most vigorous plants will be PL plants. So far like I posted in another thread I haven't experienced any crossing problems. I even save seeds from sprawlers. I try to save fruit from early fruit if possible and fruit that is close to the center of the vine. If for some reason I want to save seeds from one on the outer edges of a vine and close to another vine I never mix them with the others and I make a note on the bag. I personally feel that crosses aren't as prevalent in this area as they might be in areas with high numbers of pollinators.

Steve hopefully the seeds I sent you will grow true. I feel they should. I'm also trying some exciting new ones this year. Received some I started seeds of that isn't on the grow list I posted. Those are nice looking plants you have. Mine are behind yours. After the late freezes the last few years I try to plant aiming at an early to mid transplanting of tomatoes and late May on peppers. Jay

Jay, plants from your seed look just super! Here I am mystified by some kind of Early Girl and life must be fairly intriguing in your tomato garden!

But, I am perplexed and seriously questioning whether it could be a Bloody Butcher. Just realized, I sowed the BB a week before these Girls . . ?

And, here she is:
{{gwi:1198644}}

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Roy !

Don't think that she will be in Biker's garden this year . . .

digitS'

Here is a link that might be useful: Pretty Woman, Orbison

I got another one!

Almost didn't post this picture. You can see that she isn't quite as strong as its neighbor - the normal leaf Early Girl. But, I thought about it and it pretty well confirms that I didn't screw up unless I somehow sprinkled seed from another variety into the EG packet!

These were sown about 2 weeks later than the plants in the 1st picture. So, mess up with stray seeds 2 different times? (I don't think so! ;o)

. . . in the Osborne Seed Company packet. Somehow. {{gwi:1198646}} Dream Baby

digitS'

I want to share what may be a deepening mystery.

Four Months Have Passed:
{{gwi:1198647}}

Oxhearts!!

. . . at least, the first 2 fruits have that shape.

Once again, this isn't what I expected but there could be an environmental explanation. Perhaps it is just that these are the first fruits of the plant.

I saved the oldest of the 2 plants and gave the other to the neighbor. He promptly lost it amongst his tomatoes but I could likely search it out again. Early on, my plant had a lot of trouble with flea beetles. I might not have otherwise sprayed the tomatoes for these pests except that Mystery Girl was taking such a beating. That was weeks and weeks ago but the beetles may have set the plant back some.

No Early Girl has ripened yet. So, early - this one is!

Steve
(oh, and no links attached to the photo this time ;o)

Keep us informed what the later fruits look and taste like. I have fruit set on my Dana's Dusky Rose plant. I lost all I had started in the hail. A lady on another forum I've sent seeds and other veggie plants too sent me one in the mail along with some others from MO. They spent memorial day weekend in the post office and in the hot temps. They were in transit I believe 6 days overall before I got them. Was surprised they even survived. It is the only one I moved to the garden and transplanted immediately. I then put a shade over it. So it has had it's share of trials and hard ships. But has fruit set now and barring any unforeseen accident should produce fruit by mid month. So I will hopefully get my DDR fix yet. Jay

It looks like the later fruits will be round, Jay.

Neither of the 2 pictured above weighed 3 ounces. The next group to ripen look to be maybe just a little larger.

DW & I ate the mystery fruits - after I'd saved 12 seeds. They tasted like Early Girls to me!

Since then, I've picked a couple of "real" Early Girls. They must be at least 5 ounces. I won't be able to do a side-by-side taste test since these EG's aren't quite ripe and there won't be any ripe mystery fruits for another week . . . It should work out tho'. There are plenty of EG's and quite a few fruits on the mystery plant yet to ripen.

I will be able to pick a couple of Rainy's Maltese tomorrow. Once again, they are the first beefsteaks in my garden. It will be a little while before there are any DDR's, Jay.

But, Hey! One of the Kellogg's Breakfasts is beginning to change color. There are lots of fruit on that plant - it looks like they will have a chance to ripen!

The little mystery tomato also has lots of fruit. This is surprising because the plant is quite small and the leaves, sparse.

I'm afraid the weather here isn't giving the tomatoes much of a chance this year. The plants just had too many weeks of below normal temperatures. They all have fruit but the plants are quite small and production won't amount to much. I will just have to be happy with what shows up, enjoy the diversity and new choices! There will have to be a wait for another, different season for celebrating a bumper crop . . .

Steve

Many of the regular Early Girls have ripened their 1st fruits. I now see that about one-half of those have that that ox-heart shape. They are also smaller than the later green fruit ripening (as on Mystery Girl).

Typical weight is 4.5 ounces.

So, this must be an environmental thing. Later fruits on all the plants are round. However, none of my EG's have fruit as small as the mystery tomato.

I located the neighbor's mystery tomato. It also has smaller green fruit that appear to be ripening sooner than his others. I haven't been over there in a few days but will check it out again tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how similar to my plant it is and how different from his Early Girls.

BTW - the tomatoes here must be ripening a couple weeks later than any previous year that I can remember. I mean, it is darn near September!

Steve

This is why I breed cows instead of plants. I KNOW who put what where!! ;)

All joking aside, though, this is a very interesting discussion. I hope to start seed saving in the next few years, so I'd best pay attention. :D

MsFuzz, I only saved seed from my grandmother's tomato at first, and for many years. Large Red Cherry must have been in my garden for 10 years before I realized that it was an heirloom and I could save seed. In fact, it was the great Ben Quisenberry who saved LRC, I guess. He is the same person we have to thank for the Brandywine.

There may not be a whole, heckuva lot of open-pollinated varieties I can grow. I almost need those thrive-on-abuse, lightening-quick hybrids but . . . not really.

I don't think I've got a cross-bred EG. I don't think it is a mutant. I think (not sure) that I've got EG's mother.

If the worker didn't remove the stamens from a flower on a plant that he/she was pollinating for a hybrid, that flower would probably self-pollinate. That's what tomatoes do. So, all the genetic material in the seeds from the fruit of that flower would be from the mother plant. How would they know that one of the fruits didn't have hybrid seeds inside?

If the mother was a hybrid, I may be outta-luck using the mystery plant's seed but, I looked at information on tomato hybridizing (linked below). They say that, "Both parents should be pure, preferably being selfpollinated for more than six generations . . ." So, it sounds as tho' this should just be a normal non-hybrid plant.

If there is something special about it, the earliness of fruit development might be it. I know that it ain't got no resistance to flea beetles!!

(Now watch the plant patent police show up in my garden to seize the mystery plant! If I fall silent about this subject, you know that a judge has issued a gag order . . ! ;o)

Steve
it would probably take a gag order to shut me up about most anything . . .

Here is a link that might be useful: AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center, 8 page pdf

Oh, the neighbor's mystery plant doesn't have any ripe fruit on it . . . but, I know that those plants have been picked thru at least twice so far.

The green fruits on that plant are smaller than its EG neighbors but the plant itself, isn't as small as mine. I think the flea beetles kind of set mine back quite a bit.

(Now, the PP police can come after my neighbor, too! "He did it! I didn't know nuthin' about this, officer!")

digitS'