Sue, it's a difficult question for me to answer,

Yes, I know that high sustained heat can alter fruit shape but usually that means just an enlarged nipple at the blossom end, not a true heart shape.

And yes, seeds were sent to me, actually three different packets from someone who found what he called a possible Orange Minsk Heart.

it came from a plant that had the regular beefsteak shaped ones and some that were heart shaped.

Tania's link is below at the bottom.

Tania says that Andrey told her that the original variety was a blunt heart, but I never saw his post about that and what I got when it was grown out origially by Freda for me here at home, seeds from Andrey, was not a heart.

Then there's Prue, which I love, which has fruits of all different shapes on a plant at the same time, saved seeds give the same and it's always been that way,

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Prue

Years ago I grew Azoychka several years in a row for seed production and I never saw anything resembling a heart.

I recall one person who said that fruit shape could be different if there were alternating temps that were high, then much cooler, which could alter the shape of the fruit due to different rates of growth of fruits,

As I said, a very difficult question to answer and my opinion is, what is, is.

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Orange Minsk Heart

I might try saving some seed from the remaining heart shaped ones just for fun. But I really would not expect it to turn out to be a heart shape. It would be fun to have something unique, but I have been around here long enough to know that 99% of what people think are great new varieties don't end up being anything like that. Not only is Azoychka the only yellow I planted, but these fruits are the same size and color as the non-heart shaped ones on the other plant. I will look and see where I bought the seeds and if they also carry Orange Minsk Heart seeds, which I have not seen before. Don't know if it matters, the plant is almost dead due to late season fungal diseases, neglect and recent low night time temps, but even the new fruit that is only about 1 1/2 inches across has distinct pointed ends.

This is the heart fruit with a "normal" Azoychka in the middle from the same seed packet.

I just find this interesting. :)

This post was edited by sue_ct on Thu, Sep 25, 14 at 22:09

It is interesting and maybe in your situation it's the low night temps that are causing the blunt shape, not high sustained heat.

Carolyn

Probably not, because this has been going on for a while, and maybe all season. With a family member ill, I can't say I was paying close attention or keeping good records. What makes me go "hmmmm" is the other plant that is exposed to almost the same environment with no hearts at all. Still so much more to learn.

Although unlikely, even if it were a true Azoychka Heart, it wouldn't exactly create a big stir, lol. I had not even heard of it before this year, and it certainly does not seem to be a sought after variety. I do find it suits my needs though, being early, prolific, and pretty good size and taste for an early variety.

Sue,

Like Carolyn said, a difficult question to answer.

I've had many beefsteak varieties produce fairly blunt heart shaped fruit. In all instances, the hearts have very small blossom scars compared to the beefsteaks on the same plant. Also, the hearts were almost always considerably smaller in size (~ 4 to 10 oz.) than the beefsteaks (~ 1 lb or more). Later grow-outs of saved seed produce normal beefsteak plants, plants with mixes of beefsteaks and blunt hearts like the previous plant, and rarely, plants with longer tapered hearts than the previous plant. I've only experimented with PL varieties of these possible heart shaped tomatoes.
Your hearts look to be the same size as the normal tomatoes, which is much different from what I've seen.

Gary

For what it is worth, my Japanese Black Truffles are putting out about 30% round fruits this year... and I have 4 plants of them and they all are doing it. I have grown this variety for about 4 years and they have always been very pear shaped. Go figure...

Thank you. I guess we will have to see. I still think it will turn out to grow beefsteaks. But I will have fun waiting to see. Interesting that it is not following the "norm" for environmentally caused changes, but I can't get past the fact that I have found a few beefsteak shaped fruit on the same plant, so to me, it really has to be environmental. As you may have guessed, I don't buy lottery tickets very often either, lol. A bit too pragmatic. But I do love the look of the fruit. I find the yellow heart shape to be very pretty.