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| One of my green zebra tomato plants produced its first fruit today and it looks nothing like my usual green zebras! Has anyone seen an ORANGE zebra before?
The two tomatoes are the same ripeness (perfectly ripe, if you ask me!) but the one on the right is my "usual" green zebra, and the one on the left is the fancy new one. It's hard to see in the picture, but in addition to the green striping, there are faint red stripes, too. So, is it really something new, or is it just new to me? I'd love to see pictures of other people's unusual varieties as well! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by containerted 6a (My Page) on Wed, Sep 5, 12 at 17:17
| Both of my plants gave both the pictured ones above. To get the one on the left, I simply left them on the plant longer. Flavor was awesome on both. And, Green Zebra is a somewhat recent offering by Tom Wagner. Most people call it "Open Pollinated" and reserve the term "Heirloom" for those tomatoes handed down from generation to generation within a family. Bottom line is that (in my opinion) the picture above is not unique. Ted |
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| Too bad! I've been growing this tomato from saved seeds for about 5 years, and I've never seen a tomato like the one on the left. Maybe the plants I've been growing just tend towards more green (I am probably unintentionally selecting for greener fruit when I choose which tomato's seeds to save). Maybe this orange one is just reverting back? Interesting take on heirlooms. Although it is just semantics, I should think Green Zebra has "aged" to the point of being allowable as an heirloom. I would argue that many of the named varieties of "heirloom" tomatoes were discovered somewhere and their actual age is unknown (ie. Black Krim-discovered in the 1990's, Brandywine-showed up in a seed catalog in 1982, etc). They could be older or younger than Green Zebra. The world may never know. ...That said, I grow an Italian beefsteak tomato whose seeds were given to me by my great uncle before he died. He carried the seeds with him when he came to America, and my family has been growing it since. It is absolutely delicious. I do find myself referring to that tomato as a "true heirloom". |
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- Posted by carolyn137 z4/5 NY (My Page) on Thu, Sep 6, 12 at 10:21
| Tom Wagner's take on what an heirloom variety is is that it's treasured, so that makes all of the ones he bred heirlooms, in his opinion, which is not generally shared by others. There's thread after thread here at GW and elsewhere trying to define what an heirloom is, at least for tomatoes, and there never is consensus and never will be. But I think it's generally agreed that the intent of the word heirloom was to designate varieties, named, or subsequently named, that have been grown by a family for a generation or two or three. And the above would be for the category that most call family heirlooms, for there are other categories and other definitions as well. One of my major interests through the years has been the histories of individual varieties, again, some named, some named and the name forgotten so renamed, and on and on. And I agree with Ted that I too have gotten fruits like you show as well, and it's normal, at least for me/ Back in the early 90's I trialed 22 varieties for Tom and one of them was actually named Orange Zebra. it was a terrible variety, I told Tom so and he never pursued it, thank heavens. LOL Carolyn |
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- Posted by ncrealestateguy (My Page) on Thu, Sep 6, 12 at 11:18
| I have grown GZs for a while now, and the one pictured above looks like just one that is more ripe. I actually let most of mine get to this ripenes... I think they taste better. It does take them a long time to turn to this color, which is maybe why you have not seen it before. In fact, the first two years I grew them, I never knew that they would turn to this. I happened to go to a buddy's house and his looked like yours, and he explained to me that he just leaves them on the vine for a longer time. |
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- Posted by containerted 6a (My Page) on Thu, Sep 6, 12 at 15:39
| Interestingly, I was looking at a picture of Brad's variety "Porkchop" and it was a dead ringer for the tomato on the left in the picture above. But, I get both color schemes shown in the picture from the same plant and, like the post before, I just let the fruit ripen a bit more. Ted |
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- Posted by euarto_gullible 5 (My Page) on Fri, Sep 7, 12 at 23:19
| I agree with the previous two posters. I don't pick Green Zebras until they blush yellow, and I let them yellow up considerably. They're much sweeter when fully ripe. Actually, I initially had reservations about this tomato at first, as they are on quite a few "spitter" lists here on Gardenweb. They ended up being one of my favorites, and I've come to suspect many people who dislike them are eating them before they're fully ripe. |
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| Thank you, Carolyn, for your perspective on "heirloom." John A |
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