Territorial Seed Company/USDA Seeds

18 years ago

Went to a really interesting presentation by a rep from the Territorial Seed company last week.

We were able to discuss tomatoes a bit before and after his talk. He said Territorial is pulling tomato varieties out of the USDA for trialing. Anything they think interesting or tasty enough could end up in their catalogue.

I asked him if they planned on crossing any tomatoes to create either hybrids or o.p.s. He said that did not seem likely right now.

I ordered three tomato varieties that sounded intriguing and some flower seeds.

Anyway, I just wanted you to know that it sounds like they are doing some serious digging and I encouraged him to try lots. That people like us would be supportive of their efforts if they found some really delicious tomatoes.

May even enter their taste-off. I would think Earl's Faux would knock off all competition. Depends on the weather in September.

I hope this post does not get me in trouble. I do not own any part of Territorial nor do I work for them. Rescuing old seed is something so many of us talk about that i thought folks might like to know about this. I suppose a lot of companies must do it, but I never gave it much thought.

Best to all.

Mary

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Comments (5)

carolyn137
18 years ago
Mary,

Just to let you know, I'm currently in the process of trying to contact a particular person with the USDA re access to USDA seeds.

A person who has posted in the Main Forum has said that anyone can request seeds, but that is not my understanding at all, nor that of others who have gotten back letters saying it is closed to all but professional breeders as is also now stated at the Home Page.

And as Craig and others have said, almost all the "good" stuff is out of the USDA tomato listings by now anyway. The majority of listings, well over 95%, were old breeding lines that have been in there forever.

Since Territorial said they aren't planning on doing any hybridizing, it leaves me wondering, and assuming that they got out what they wanted early last year before is was closed to all but professional breeders.

And I do hope they checked the listings for USDA varieties in the SSE Yearbooks re what they might have wanted, and also to be sure that duplicate offerings/requestings were/ are not being made. But I'll just assume that was done before they made their requests.

So basically what you're saying is that Territorial plans to offer more USDA varieties in the future, the same as Mike Dunton at Victory Seed has been doing in the past few years and plans on continuing to do with the varieties he already has or that Craig or I or others might send him.

Right?

In other words, older commercial varieties since the USDA is not a repository of heirloom varieties. I think of all that I got out in the early 90's just one was a so called heirloom, and that's Drushba, aka Druzba, which I already had from elsewhere but got it to compare with what I knew as Druzba.

Carolyn
Mary_in_pnw
Original Author
18 years ago
Carolyn,

I think they are looking at everything, tomato seed and anything else that looks worthwhile.

What they will offer I think would depend first on how it does in the Pacific Northwest. They trial everything in their test gardens as you know, and they are producing more of their own seed, some of it in limited quantities.

I don't know if they will duplicate what Mike Dunton is doing. The info offered here was gathered from a conversation before and after a presentation offered at my favorite local garden store.

If I find out more, I will certainly post. I am trialing the Beaverlodge Series offered in the Territorial catalogue this year. I understand it came out of the GRIN. Not sure about the Gill Brothers All Purpose.

Mary
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carolyn137
18 years ago
I don't know if they will duplicate what Mike Dunton is doing.

Mary, I don't mean duplicate in the sense of offering necessarily the same varities, I mean duplicating, aka doing the same as Mike has been doing, in trialing various USDA commercial varieties, as he does in Oregon and then offering them in his catalog/website.

Sorry if I wasn't clear about that. ( smile)

Carolyn
Mary_in_pnw
Original Author
18 years ago
Hi Carolyn,

They apparently did that with the Beaverlodge series they are offering in their 2006 catalogue. Guessing they might have with the Gill Brothers All Purpose tomato. Assuming they are looking at other plants with an open mind and a willingness to trial varieties if they seem to show promise. I was so pleased they were interested in such matters that I wanted to share it here.

Mary
usagardener
18 years ago
I also think that Territorial Seed Company deserves a pat on the back for their efforts as opposed to being suspicious of their motives or making assumptions.

UG