The Ventmarin database says a Jet Star Hybrid truss should have 6-8 fruit.

Welcome to the wonderful world of seedling surprises! (Last year I bought a Sweet 100 that turned out to be a beefsteak.)

I know Jet Star F1 very well and have grown it many times and while I grow mainly non hybrids Jet Star and the others bred by Harris Seeds, Moreton Hybrid and Supersonic F1, while being some of the earliest F1's bred, still have some of the best tastes around, IMO, for F1's. Along with Ramapo F1 and Big Boy F1 and Better Boy F1 aren't bad either and each of those has a same parent of a large pink heirloom from the midwest called Teddy Jones.

What you show is not Jet Star F1.

Any chance you got some labels mixed up or is the fault with Walmart only, which is in a way surprising to me. I also know in the past that a seed or two will jump out of the shallow rows I sow them in and hop to another row when watered in.

To rule out just a stray seed in the pack do you have just the one plant from the pack or did you raise some others from that pack so that comparisons could be made?

Carolyn

My WM had no less than five seed sources this year: Burpee, Ferry-Morse, Seeds of Change, American Seed (from Norton MA; IIRC that's a brand to avoid), and another I can't remember the name of. The one I can't remember was a sub-brand of American Seed; it had very attractive modern packaging and was designed with Hispanics in mind (Fiesta-type font, bilingual info).

Hi Carolyn,

Thanks for confirming.

All I have is 3 packs of seeds Big boy, better boy & Jet star. I did label them properly while seeding. I have planted 2 better boy, 1 big boy and 1 Jet star. There's no other seeds with me..so I am sure I didn't mess up. I did give a few jet star plants to my friend, will check with him tomorrow on how his plants are doing.

Nirmal

I don't know how often it happens but it is conceivable that you could have ended up with an OP seedling of the maternal line used to make Jetstar. I believe they usually work with male sterile plants to make seed production easier- but there is a very slight chance. Interesting looking plant nonetheless. Definitely not any of the three varieties you listed. The foliage looks like something from one of the goliath series- but none of those make those kind of fruit trusses either.

I guess we can't blame this problem on the American Seed people.

missingtheobvious - you mentioned it right, it's going to be a wonderful surprise to see how this turns out. I think it's an opportunity to see the parent of our popular variety. I will start posting the picture of this plant and how this turns out.

thank you Jon_z6b there might be some OP happening.

I did gave a few to my friend, I will visit him sometime this week to see if there are anymore like this.

Carolyn pointed Big boy, BetterBoy and Jet star have the same parent, but better & big boy plant looks way different from this. I did plant Jet star in a different potting mix and then repotted it back to 5-1-1. They have really thick stem when compared to jet star and different leaf shape.

Yes, both Big Boy F1 and Better Boy F1 have a same parent but the other parent for both is different.

Male steriles were not used when Jet Star and the other Harris Hybrids I mentioned above were bred. And I have no way of knowing what's being done now, but since you only raised one seedling I think it's far more probable that what you might be dealing with is a stray seed of another variety and you wouldn't know that unless you germinated several seeds from the pack and compared them.

The variety Orange Strawberry was a stray seed in a pack of commercial Pineapple seeds and there are others I can't think of now. But it has happened that a stray seed of ??? can get mixed in with another variety, especially when the F1 seeds are sold in bulk and then repackaged, which is very common. Not all commercial companies, be it Stokes, TGS, you name it, exercise the same control when repackaging seeds with their logo.

When I'm packing up seeds for my seed offer done elsewhere I have just ONE open pack of a variety on my tomato seed packing table at a time so as to cut down on any stray seeds being included.

And before I go to the next request I take my hand and sweep any seeds left on the table to the rug, before I go on to the next one.

Heaven help me if I ever spill water on that rug before it gets vacuumed b'c I know I'd have seeds germinating on the rug. LOL

Carolyn

nirmalk_p: The plant in your photo is definitely not Jet Star. You may want to contact Ferry Morse, who packaged the seed, to see if they're aware of any other issues.

- Mark, Vegetable Seed Manager at Harris Seeds

Here is a link that might be useful: Harris Seeds Website

Mark, I'm glad to see you confirming what I and others have said.

There's no way that you would remember my name but you and I have had several chats on the phone, the one I remember most was when the parents of Moreton Hybrid were "lost", and then found again. I also remember asking you why they stopped producing Starpak F1, which I loved.

I was raised on a farm in Loudonville, NY and in those days, I'll be 73 next month, the Harris "man" came to the house and discussed with my father what was new, and took his order right at the house.

When those home visits stopped there was a store in Menands, NY, not far away at the Menands Market, where one could buy Harris Seeds and all sorts of other items from shovels to you name it.

So I guess you could say that I've known of Harris Seeds for at least 60 years or so and to date have always been impressed with the quality of seeds, bar none.

No order this year b'c I have enough seeds for this year, I think. ( smile)

Carolyn ( Male), also pleased that Harris became independent once again after the short term association with Moran Seeds. And also upset that she never got a chance to get your fields in Rochester b'c she spent quite a few years at the Med Center there getting an advanced degree in Microbiology ( infectious diseases) and wishing she could remember the name of one of the larger dept stores downtown that sold THE best cheesecake ever.LOL I think they're gone now ( could it have been McCurdy and____ or something like that, but her love for NY style cheesecake goes on forever. LOL

Thanks for the much valuable information Carolyn.

Mark it's nice to have someone from seed company to look at the forum. I will visit my friend to see how his plants have turned out and then will call Ferry Morse

Thanks,
Nirmal

Carolyn,

Thank you for your kind words and we appreciate your business over the many years that you have gardened.

We still have direct sales reps in the Northeast who work with the larger vegetable growers. I myself was a direct sales rep for the Joseph Harris Seed Co and with Harris Moran Seed Co in PA and NY for many years before coming to work here in 1994.

The big department stores that used to be downtown were McCurdy's and Co. and Sibley's.

- Mark, Vegetable Seed Manager at Harris Seeds

Here is a link that might be useful: Harris Seeds Website

Jet star tomatoes are my favorite,but you definitely don't have one. Jet star tomatoes have more leaves, and only produce five or six fruits per truss. Grow it and see what you get!

nirmalk_p

I am glad to see someone else had the same problem as I.. I planted 200 of these seeds from walmart and I have same results as you.. I have some very upset plant customers.. This was the only seeds that I bought from a big box store this year and I will never do it again.. I will only buy from individual seed sellers from now on.. I grew these plants this year because I had someone request Jet Star plants, and needless to say he has a whole garden of cherry tomatoes.. VERY VERY UNHAPPY... I tried to call the seed company and after entering 1 for USA, the phone just rings and rings and no one answers

I tried to call the seed company and after entering 1 for USA, the phone just rings and rings and no one answers

lilmonk3, years ago my parents were living in Belgium, and I had a terrible time trying to reach them by phone. All the operators I talked to were clueless, and I didn't know anyone who called outside the US who could help me. Finally I learned I needed an additional code besides the code for Belgium.

There should be one code for calling outside your own country, a second code for the country you're calling, and then the regional code (in the US a 3-digit "area code"), and finally the phone number itself (in the US, 7-digits).

This site will provide the proper codes for you:
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/dialing.html

I buy my Jet Star F1 seeds from Harris Seeds since they were the ones that bred it along with Supersonic F1 and Moreton Hybrid. I like all three but Jet Star F1 is my favorite.

Carolyn

I'm glad to find this blog but not happy about it. I also planted Jet Star for the first time spring '13 and my plants and trusses look exactly like those at the beginning of this blog. They have from 12-25 blossoms per truss, some look like 2 trusses near enough to be a double. The fruit setting appears it is going to be like a grape or Porter Tomato. They are setting fruit very good even in this East Texas heat, but they sure ain't jet Star.
Like some others the seed packet is Ferry-Morse 20 Pelleted Seeds, bought from Wal Mart Feb '13 dated 2012 LOT J1. The pkt has an 800 number, wonder if they'd answer? Larry