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| Hi, I posted this in the general plant ID forum but they told me to try you guys! I'm just curious about what this tomato actually is. My mother-in-law gave me the seeds this year that I think are at least 10 years old. Her elderly, now late, neighbor had given them to her and apparently the seeds had at least been passed down from her grandmother's time, maybe longer. This is in a little village outside Oxford. I planted 12 and 6 germinated, and are growing well, I'm just curious about what they are. I have another photo for scale that I'll put up. They do turn solid red when ripe, you can see one just behind the hand in the 2nd photo. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Here's the other photo. |
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| Is it a type of Oxheart? That's not one that I have grown but I have seen that shape in seed catalogs. Teresa |
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| This appears to be a globe fruit with a nipple on the blossom end. Nipples, I believe, are genetically recessive, so this would eliminate a lot of the many varieties in the red, 1" to 1.5" grouping. The leaf type seems to be regular to my eyes. The fruits green shoulders indicates it does not have the unifrom ripening gene found in most commercial tomatoes, so it could possibly be an old heirloom variety. Is it determinate or indeterminate? It is impossible to identify it exactly, but we can all guess. In case it is a long lost and rare heirloom, you should save seeds. |
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- Posted by Christacharlene 6 (My Page) on Thu, Apr 3, 14 at 17:02
| I have no idea. Are they any good? |
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| I looked up Oxheart, the tips of these are much pointier than that. Some on the other forum suggested others that look more like what these are but still not the same to my eyes, and when I forwarded the messages to my mother-in-law she said she remembers the tomatoes being pretty round except for that nipple. I don't think they're big enough yet to be useful in any ID but these are the seedlings so far: http://roofinlondon.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/tomato-100-year-2014-3-27.jpg Don't know the (in)determinate answer yet... will keep an eye out. It's definitely not anything dwarf/compact. The folded-up paper with the seeds on it was labeled "100-year-old tomato" and the woman's name; she had passed it on to the mother-in-law before she died but I suppose after she had to stop gardening. There are a bunch more seeds that I saved in case I killed all the plants or something. I'm sort of learning as I go along on a tiny little roof garden. Happy to send some seeds to someone more reliable to keep going for posterity in case they're interesting to anyone other than me. |
This post was edited by Toffle on Thu, Apr 3, 14 at 18:19
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| Looks LIKE Anna Russian. But probably it is not it. |
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- Posted by carolyn137 z4/5 NY (My Page) on Thu, Apr 3, 14 at 19:16
| No, It's not a heart shaped variety as has been mentioned above, just a small red with a nipple. With so many varieties out there and this one being grown for perhaps the first time in a long time and not known I can't see anyone being able to ID it for you. Unfortunately it's almost impossible to ID ANY variety via photo unless the variety has something distinctive about shape or coloration, etc.,and few do. Carolyn |
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| Oh Caroline I was so sure you'd solve the mystery plant! Interesting looking tomato, tho. Sharon |
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- Posted by carolyn137 z4/5 NY (My Page) on Fri, Apr 4, 14 at 9:56
| You mentioned above a 100 yo tomato and the only tomato variety I know of in England that's over 100 years old is Moneymaker, link below. It fits what you've been showing as for size and color except for the small nipple and such small nipples can appear on fruits from time to time, especially if there's been high heat. Carolyn |
Here is a link that might be useful: Moneymaker
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| As I look at the picture (with hand) they are not definitely round. The third small one on the top looks distinctively heart shaped.But that is beyond the point trying to ID it. The nippled blossom end is also a distinctive feature that puts it apart from any crowd. Even with all that narrowing down, it seems to stay unknown. Give it a name: Mystery Lady |
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