DarJones

Did i read that right, you've been planting seed from the same original plant, for the past 15 to 20 years?

If it did start out as a cross, it is certainly stabilized by now.

Oh boy would i love to grow those, they're the perfect "smallish" size imho, thanks for sharing the pics and info =)

Darrel, I can't see it being Zapotec of which the original is pink, flattened and fluted b'c of the number of fruits that are being held in the hands. Original Zapotec is larger than those that are shown. And yes, there are some places that sell seeds for what they call a red version, but still flattened and larger than what's shown, and one red version is listed in the 2012 Yearbook as coming from Lisa at Amishland, rare, exclusive, etc., but still larger than what's shown.

If it weren't for the fact that you got that plant so many years ago I'd be tempted to say it looked like a possible cross with the variety Tomatoberry, link below, but that variety wasn't even avaialable until I think 2008.

Carolyn

I think what you have there is some version of a Stuffer Tomato.

When you cut one open is it somewhat hollow inside like a cross between a Pepper and a Tomato?

Thanks Carolyn for that link, the Tomatoberry does look similar to mine, but I know I have been growing and saving seed from the one pictured since at least 1995 or 1996.

It has bred true every year, although I rarely have more than two or three plants in any one year and I save seeds from each one. In any one year I plant out seeds from a selection of the past 7 or 8 years worth of seed and plant the most vigorous.

It is indeterminate, not as vigorous as many cherry tomatoes but it usuall gets to 4 or 5 feet tall in 20/25 gallon pots. It has done somewhat better in garden soil but I am so short on garden space that I tend to grow mostly in pots. I also find that the crunch and sweetness tend to be more pronounced on pot grown specimens.

I will try and remember to cut and photograph some fruits this evening and post pictures. I don't recall there being caverns inside along the lines of a stuffing tomato, but then again I eat them like candy mostly, popping them right in the mouth and crunching away, and so do not get to see much of the interior haha.

Mike

CH

Mike

After removing the seeds:

Another one quartered - solid flesh

More solid flesh:

With seeds and then after removing seeds:

I would love to trade for a few seeds also ! My trade list is not up to date but I have many kinds of tomato seeds , too many to list, please let me know if you are interested in a trade and what you are looking for ? Thanks !

Iris

I have lots to trade -

will send a PM -

Deb

please email me for a trade :-)

And I'd certainly keep whatever name you pick. To me,
it would an insult to you if I changed it. You'd probably
never know, but I would.

Nothing to offer, I'm afraid, unless you'd like a nice
plumeria cutting or two or three.

*******

If you're going to name it, please do so and request that everyone you send seeds to use the same name. To allow others to call it what they want to just introduces confusion to the whole situation.

If this is the only place you read/post, that works well for here, but if you read/post elsewhere it would be best to make the same request for using the name you gave it.

Carolyn, who remembers well the time she asked folks here to name a variety to help folks understand what goes into naming a variety. That situation was different b'c it was an heirloom and there was lots of background info which she shared with everyone first. There were 22 folks who participated in the thread, the final name was Neves Azorean Red and as thanks she sent seeds to all 22 who participated.

I would love to help you preserve it. I helped with a grow-out a few years ago for Craig L. that I really enjoyed doing.

I'm really interested to see what you name it.

Cindy

Looking foward to growing these little guys next season.

CH

Also, the info in the blurb for my book is WAY out of date since I had to retire early due to two bad hips and have been retired since 1999.

Heck, I've got four pristine copies here at home and am waiting until the price reaches around one thousand, then I'll unload and up my budget for dark bittersweet chocolate and cashews. LOL

One can get used copies via Amazon and other places but the only place I'm aware of right now, for a new copy being sold for the correct price is Heirloom Seeds in PA, if Tom has any left, that is.

Sure, I'd like some seeds to try for next year. I guess I'm supposed to send a PM to the person with them, and will do so after I finish this post. And I'll also offer something in return as well.

Well, I can do better than that and mj, since apparently there are some problems reaching you , and I don't list an e-mail address on MY Page, my choice, why don't you e-mail me directly at cmale@aol.com

And that e-mail addy for mj only, pretty please. ( smile)

Carolyn

He may know of these already, if not then most likely you have your very own variety.
See no way to contact you.

My email is bpandkat@nc.rr.com

Are you the one who asked to go directly to his home to pick up some plants rather than go to the Raleigh farmer's Market where he sells them? ( wink)

He is my best friend, tomato and otherwise and we've known each other for about 23 years now and if mj sends me seeds some will go to Craig, who raises all my plants for me since I can no longer do so being chained to a walker,and some will also go to one of the folks who does seed production for me, probably Shoe in NC as well.

So no need for you to give seeds to Craig b'c I have to for the reason I just mentioned. ( smile)

Carolyn

I was about to add into this email about this tomato to see if he wanted any seeds or not but I guess no need to do so.
Glad I came back here to grab a picture to show him.

Umm don't know, I emailed him back on May 27th asking him about Dwarf plants and ideas about smaller under 4' plants with large tomatoes that I could grow.
He emailed me back with his home address in his very first email and said stop on by before noon the next day and pick up as many Dwarfs as I wanted for free because he was about to compost them.
So I picked up 3 which is all I had pots for.
He was very nice guy, enjoyed talking with him and seeing his driveway full of plants.

I didn't even know he sold plants at the Farmers Market until after I talked to him, but he had stopped selling them at the time I emailed him, too late in the year.
I guess when he does this it is only on Weekends and before late May and I NEVER go on weekends, too crowded.

CH

I am also growing Tromboncino Squash, Densuke Watermelons, insuks wang kong runner beans, 1812 scarlet runner beans, and two unkown varieties of italian pole beans. One may be fagiolo de cueno but I'm not certain.

I have some other common things like cukes and bell peppers but I'm not sure about saving those seeds. Oh and I have about 3000 avalanche snow peas.

CH

And when I occasionally answer a question here in the Discussion Forum about diseases, then others will often contact me to answer their questions.

Right now you can see a thread I put up, still at the top, about someone who did e-mail me but I couldn't asnwer back b'c his e-mail addy was dead.

And I have about 5 posts off GW right now, asking for seeds, which I don't sell, I make one seed offer annually at another place, SASE type, and also up to now have SSE listed many,and then 2 others asking various questions.

I'm not shy nor a recluse, nor one who doesn't like to help others, which I've been doing since about 1983, but I had to give up answering questions sent to me off GW many years ago b/c it was just too much to handle, and besides, I'm one who thinks that ALL questions and ALL answers should be done publicaly so that anyone who wants to answer can do so.

And GW is not the only message site I interact with.

Long answer, yes, but I just wanted to assure you that my limiting my e-mail address to just mj was NOT b'c of anything having to do with my book, which I don't sell either. ( smile)

Carolyn

Helen, You were by no means selfish, you have just as much right to ask as any of us. I only need a few seeds myself to get my own seed stock going. :)

CH

Thanks for the enthusiastic response. Give me a few days to digest all this and figure out next steps. As Helenh noted, these tomatoes don't produce huge amounts of seed but I do have some from prior years. At the very least, Carolyn, will try to contact you and get some to you. It is a nice variety, that feels like a personal friend, and would be nice to get it out there so that it can always be found. I have seriously been concerned that if my house burned down some winter, I would never be able to grow them again.

Back to work (yeah, having to pay bills sucks lol)

Laterz

I no longer keep a trade list but have a large perennial garden and collect seeds if I know what someone wants. I have some heirloom tomatoes though not an extensive amount. If you are interested we can discuss a trade through email. Thanks for your consideration and a chance to try your unusual variety here in the Midwest.

Carolyn

Lindsey

And it's now in NC where one of the four wonderful folks do seed production for me since I no longer can having fallen in Dec of 2004 and severed all four quad muscles in my right leg, hence, I've had to use a walker since then,

If it llooks good and seed production is good, as someone said above I do send seeds for trial to certain seed sites and also sometimes SSE list a variety although I'm cutting way back on my SSE listings, as well as offering it my annual seed offer elsewhere.

I don't know who else Mike sent seeds to, but as far as the seeds to me, seeds produced this summer will go to the kinds of folks /places I mentioned above and then they grow it out in 2014 and save their own seeds, so it takes about two to three years before a new variety becomes publicaly available if all goes well..

Carolyn

Where do u do a seed offer? I'll keep my eyes peeled at the other places you mentioned. It looks like a great snacker.
Thanks, Lindsey

I should also mention, that if you ever need help growing out tomato seeds I am able to help. That goes to anyone else too. I have ample space and I enjoy seed saving/preservation. I use blossom bagging methods. It is too late to help this year, but if you need help in the future you can contact me here. I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of VA.

Lindsey

And GW does not allow for other message sites to be mentioned here so I could be banned if I did so.

I've tried 3X to clarify this with Tamara, the Mod here, but, well, I still don't have an answer and I can try again.

No links from other sites can beposted here as well and in a recent thread here Ami and others were questioning that policy since message sites major function, as many of us see it, is tu share information.

Righ tnow I have enough folks to handle growouts of brand new varieties for seed production, but thanks so much for making the offer, really,

Carolyn

I didn't know the rule about referring to another site. I only knew of one other garden forum anyway. I may not be new to gardening, but I am very new to online gardening. It took me forever to sign up here b/c I just am not good with computers and couldn't figure it out. I think I have the hang of it now, and find it such a useful resource. I did a little research and I found the other site, so no biggee there. Thanks for the help; I am eager to try this tomato. My little girl and hubby love crunchy cherry types. I only know of Yellow Pear Tomato being crunchy; I haven't come up on any others. I am putting it on my must grow list!

Lindsey

I wish mjhuntingtonbeach had cut some of the fruit crosswise; I'd like to know how many locules there are.

It looks like there are many interesting genes/traits, most particularly the ribbing and possible extra locules.

I have attached a picture of two tomatoes sliced down the middle, one on top, the other one below, and you can see there is one single cavity on each side of the tomato.

Cheers.

Mike

I was wondering if, when you cut them in two around the equator (rather than from pole to pole), there were ever more than two locules. But it sounds like you're certain it's always two.

I don't have any experience with stuffers or hollow tomatoes (or bell peppers) and I thought -- from the older photos -- that perhaps the odd ribbing or denting might indicate more than two locules: deformed, partial locules, some apparently without seeds.
===

If you ever want to experiment with a multiple-locule cherry, ABC Potato Leaf had three (occasionally four) cells when I grew it last year (seed from Remy/Sample Seed). I never saw a fruit with only two cells.

Thanks very much these are gonna be awesome!

CH

•This forum is for the purpose of exchanging material, there should be no need to mention money in any postings. If money is mentioned, the posting will be considered an advertisement and the poster will be banned.

If anyone has seeds to offer then they will usually offer them for trade in that fourm, and sometimes no trades are even wanted.

Mike has been gracious is sending seeds to a few persons, as I read above, but why not wait until there's feedback about this variety and then if good, there probably will be seeds available both commercially as well as for traded seed.

I know you're probably new here, and probably don't know about the seed exchange, link at the top of this first page. Actually I just went there and was surpised to find lots of Wants, but no takers.

With so many message sites now available, I guess those looking for seeds might find that availability varies considerably from one site to another.

Here's hoping I helped a bit.

Carolyn

As I said above, I don't know who else Mike sent seeds to and I may have saidit above, and if I didn't,I'll say it in the following paragraph.

I know the owners of many seed sites and have for a very long time soknow them well, probably b'c I'm very old myself, LOL, and each year I send seeds for trial to those places and if they like a variety or find it to be very different then they may offer it commercially.

I think this ribbed cherry is different and one of the four folks who does seed production for me now will be growing it in NC this summer. It doesn't look like there are many seeds in those fruits, so I'll just have to see if I end up with enough to send seeds for trial, offer it in my annual seed offer elsewhere, possibly list it in the SSE YEarbooks and send to friends.

The places I usually send seeds to have included the following:

Tomato Growers Supply (TGS); I've known Linda since 1990
Heirloom Tomatoes of Airdrie, Jeff is in Canada
Glecklerseedmen, Adam is in OH
Victory Seeds, Mike is in OR
Sandhill Preservation, Glenn is in IA

In the past there were several other places, but I had to shorten the list so that there would be less competition between seed sites for the same varieties.

And with my annual seed offer there are other owners of seed sites who also request some of the varieties, especially the newest ones,

Carolyn

Carolyn

Thanks,

Matt

macbettz - I like the flavor, very sweet tomato flavor. And when you bite down on it, it has a crunch almost like a bell pepper. Looks can be deceiving I guess.

Thanks

Emma

.

Emma

.
&&&&&

Let me clarify Emma.

I didn't ask for seeds, Mike contacted me and offered some to me.

From a fall in Dec of 2004 when I severed all four quads in my right leg I've had to use a walker. So no more hundreds of plants and varieties each season for me.

So I decided to find varieties new to all or most, and asked initially three of my close tomato friends to help with seed production, and this year I asked a fourth person bc there were so many new varieties, Perhaps you saw my grow list which I posted here.. And they're delighted to experience new varieties, and some SSE list them as well as the ones they're growing themselves.

My plants are grown for me by Craig LeHoullier in Raleigh and shipped up to me and here at home and someone now has to do all the gardening here at home.

No, I'm not commercial at all. B/c I'm older and have been posting about tomatoes since the early 80's I know the owners of many seed sites and I send seeds for trial to some of those places and if they like them they do the seed production and sell them.Nothing back to me except thanks, which I appreciate.

I also make an annual seed offer elsewhere where I give away seeds for an SASE, no money involved and while I offer to pay postage to all areas outside the US sometimes some of those folks do send money to help cover postage.

I hope that clarifies where I'm coming from and that I'm not commercial and I essentially give away seeds to both individuals via my seed offer as well as to some commercial places of my choice. In the way past I listed lots of varieties in the annual SSE Yearbook as do many, and there is a request price, but nowhere's does it cover the cost of envelopes, padded mailers and postage, since SSE members rarely include anything for postage.

For the 2013 Yearbook I listed just a few varieties and asked for only ONE dollar for anyone anywhere for 10-15 seeds ( suggested SSE request prices are based on US/Canada and overseas, different amts for those,but I and many others don't use the suggestd SSE request prices)and that should indicate to you that I'm more interested in sharing seeds than making money although it would great if I could cover my costs, I'm deleting almost ALL of my SSE listings for next year, for many reasons.

I had a good professional career and have what I'd say is a comfortable retirement, money wise. So making money is not part of my agenda.

Finally, I don't trade seeds for several reasons but if someone sends me a new previously uncirculated heirloom variety I offer that person seeds as thanks.

Carolyn

CH

One is almost ready.

Here's the plant from a couple of weeks ago. It's about
a foot taller now.

Thanks for all the info. Looks pretty unique to me.

Thanks and regards
G

Thanks