16,949 Garden Web Discussions | Growing Tomatoes
If they have a little bit of color on them they can be picked and will ripen just fine days later. I picked a bunch of all green ones before, even small green ones that looked really immature. They all did ripen eventually. The really green and immature ones took a while though, several weeks. However, they did not look too good. They were wrinkly looking and I did not eat them.
Without a doubt the color is the most unique aspect of the tomato. I've never seen anything like it. It's not red, yellow, or orange nor is it a combination of the above (most bi-colors I've grown are generally yellow with streaks of red or vice versa, maybe with some green thrown in).
I've lost the light for tonight and a flash would distort the colors but tomorrow I'll snap a picture of it next to some red, yellow, and orange varieties to give a better sense of the unusual salmony/peachy color. It's also pretty uniform in color inside. It doesn't have streaks of different colors through it, which has also been my experience with bi-colors I've grown.
I'll also let some of them ripen/over-ripen to see how the color evolves if this one was on the under-ripe side.
Here's how I see it.
There were volunteers that you believe to be from some red hybrids although you don't know for sure.
I can't see reversion of any red hybrids reverting to what the others were that you mentioned.
However, if he were growing any other varieties, perhaps some OP ones, then some of those volunteers could be the result of a cross pollination or indeed even aspecific variety.
I'm not sure it looks like a typical gold/red bicolor, at least the ones that I've grown, which is quite a few.
So I think the first thing you should do is to save some seeds and sow them again next year to see if all seeds give rise to the same plants and fruits that you've shown us or if it was ther result of a natural cross then it's the saved F2 seeds that you save, then be sure to put put enough plants from those F2 seeds so you can see any genetic segregation which should occur if the fruits you show are actually hybrid.
Long paragraph, there, so if you have any questions, please just ask.
Finally, no one can ID it for you as has been mentioned above and the reasons given for that were also given above and just now by me. That is, you have no starting point b'c you don't know exactly which varieties were planted by the landlord, so if you could ask, that might also help.
Carolyn
Go for it! I'm trying to figure out some plants I can grow for the horticultural exhibit. I just found out that one man got $90.00 is prizes. I could live with some extra green stuff! I've always been intimitated by the skill of the people that enter, but I've got to start somewhere.
I've grown both varieties together for two years. Last year Brandyboy outproduced Brandywine, but not by much. The Brandywines tasted a bit better. Both were very good. So far this year, the Brandywines are outproducing the Brandyboys and the Brandywines taste a lot better. This season's Brandyboy seems a bit sickly - not bad, mind you, but a little more yellowing of the lower leaves than normal.
It's my fourth year of growing tomatoes, and I've come to realize that there are many factors affecting taste and production, and that chance has a lot to do with your results. Not that we can't improve our controls upon the environment, but no matter what we do, mother nature's still a b*tch that smiles one moment and laughs in our faces the next. But hey, that's part of what makes gardening an entertaining challenge.
Take care,
Scott in Napa
Yes, what you linked to is a heart so what I linked to below is a Google IMAGES search for this variety and when you run your mouse over a pictures it tells you more.And you'll also see there are various shaped fruits for this variety as well. I think it's page 3, 2nd in from the left where the various shapes are shown very well from a seed site in New Zealand.
Actually when performing a mouseover the the pic its description is NZPP. But it is not a pic of NZPP. Something like Mr Stripey.
Now IF there are there are "various shaped fruits for this variety" and the shapes are quite contrary to each other in general shape, then they are NOT the same variety... e.g, if a putative NZPP plant produces a pear-shaped fruit in one instance and another putative NZPP displays a heart-shaped berry in different "NZPP" plant, they cannot be the same cult.
Reggie
PErhaps you're looking at the wrong picture.
Page 3, top row, 2nd in from the left is the picture from NZ and there are no stripes at all.
And as I recall, I think, LOL, there are a couple of other pictures there that also show different fruit shapes and those on different pages.
You can enter NZ Pear or NZ Pink Pear and get about the same results wherever you look whether it's by conventional Google, google Images, various websites, listings in the SSE YEarbooks or wherever.
I don't think there's anything more that I can post that will help you clarify the issue to your satisfaction.
Since I do post at several other message sites the situation of having two names for the same variety is not all that rare, and it does cause problems, no doubt about it. And the situation of having more than one fruit shape on the same plant is also known as well.
Good Gardening,
Carolyn
I'm fairly close by, south of Greenville SC. I want to pull mine too, so that I can plant my winter cover crop. But as long as they still have a few small ones I can't bring myself to pulling them! LOL
I pulled them one year, because I was OD'd on them too. Then I got to wanting a fresh one from the garden! They may not be as good as they were, but beat the heck out of anything from the grocery!
Yea, I was just out pulling a number of my plants. My garden is fairly small so I have to pull one season to start another. I'm already behind on planting fall crops but am looking forward to my broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, peas, carrots, beets, swiss chard & tons of lettuce. However, our first frost isn't till mid November so I'm leaving one garden bed still going since my Aunt Ruby German Green is still producing. Figure I'll pull it in a month - that's probably how long it'll take me to plant the others & be ready anyways. But, I'm there with you! Ready to say goodbye to the tomatoes & focus on the fall crops.
Which specific tomato diseases are known to be a problem in your area or that you've experienced before?
It really would be best to know that before folks started making reccomendations.
And are you primarily looking for OP ( open pollinated) varieties or perhaps hybrids as well?
Which varieties have you grown in the past that didn't grow well or were diseased?
I guess I'm asking all these questions b'c near the coast in S Cal there could be Powdey Mildew that formns with the JUne Glooms, and other foliage diseases as well as Root Knot Nemtodes and many other systemic diseaes such as Bacterial Canker, Alternaria Canker, Fusarium and so many more.
Carolyn, just trying to get a handle on what's in your area and if OP's or hybrids are your rpeference. For some of the diseases there are no resistant varieties, only tolerannt ones, and for some the only way to prevent them is by prevention with a vigorous spray schedule, but that also means knowing of the diseases are fungal or viral or parasitic in origin.
Hi Carolyn, I do have had some powdery mildew issues in my garden, but on the tomatoes septoria leaf spot (or at least what appeared to be septoria leaf spot). I am not sure what breed of tomato it was I had this summer... nothing fancy, it was a little starter seed kit for a child... I'm a newbie gardner, but looking to cultivate my skills, and grow a proper garden now that we have a house/backyard. I just want to start with plants/seeds that are known to be disease resistant, to help combat any potential issues... many thanks!
I put up a battery operated electric fence around the garden for a couple of years and that helped somewhat. But this year I have not had one problem with squirrels because I decided to feed the birds year round as we enjoy them so much. The squirrels much prefer the seed to the tomatoes, so I haven't lost one tomato to them. Gone through a lot of seed though!
I am pretty sure that cowbirds will eat them. I saw the cowbirds picking at my birdnet that covers my tomatoes in Arizona, and so when I went out to see, I could see they were after these giant green tomato worms. I picked 4 of them off, and they were HUGE. They seem to start at the top of your tomatoe plant and work downward, and yes, I noticed that they eat the green tomatoes. The birds will eat the red ones, so I just took off my nets, picked anything with even a tinge of red color tomato, and then hopefully the birds will have at it. Are these the same as cutworms? Leafcutter bees will eat up your rose bushes too. It is hard to stay organic. Is there any organic way to get rid of these worms? For cutworms I used Bayer Grub Control and Turf Fertilizer, in my flower plants worked into the dirt outfront, and that took care of those cutworms, but I don't know if these greeen horn tomato worms are considered the same thing, since they seem to start up at the top of the plant, eating everything in sight. I would be interested in a more organic solution to getting rid of these green tomato worms.
Flora, most of the tomatoes grown in Italy these days are F1 hybrids, unfortunately, but I do believe that you could have purchased a fruit with those indented lines you mention coming from the stem outwards and it's called radial craking and would be most often found on OP ( open pollinated), not hybrid fruits.
You've been linked to Tania's data base which is a wonderful site, and perhaps to the list of tomatoes that originated in Italy, but without knowing the name of what you had, there's absolutely no way of knowing where you could buy seeds for it.
You can look at that list of Italian tomatoes and click and click on each one to see if any of them look anything like what you saw and ate, but there's no way to know where to buy seeds for the fruits you ate without having a name for it b'c there are hundreds of italian varieties that can be lookalikes.
BTW, please don't wash and then eat fruits in a public fountain anywhere b'c, ahem, they are often used for other purposes if you catch my drift.
Carolyn, who has been to Italy and many other countries where there are public fountains and doesn't want to really tell you what she observed. ( smile)
Wonder if you mean they were fluted/ruffled/ribbed or just cracked?.
Lots of ruffled varieties to choose from and you may be able to narrow it down to 10-20 choices. But the bottom line is that there is no way to ID what the specific tomato you ate was. There are 100's if not 1000's of possibilities.
Try Ceylon or Costoluto Genovese.
Dave
I am in Baraboo, Wisconsin and I am having exactly the same issue. I did a Brandywine in a container and it produced rather prolifically, but only 3 of my tomatoes ripened in August. Now September is almost over and I am looking at all the many green tomatoes still on the plant as it rains and rains and the temperature sticks in the 50's. I don't hold much hope for any more ripening before the first frost. And from my experience Brandywine do not ripen well off the vine. Disappointing season.
You can accelerate ripening on the vine by reducing watering, pinching off flowers, picking small fruit, pinching off yellowed leaves, and shifting roots. Here's a link that may help.
Here is a link that might be useful: 10 ways to ripen tomatoes on the vine
It will run through my chipper/shredder IF the plants are really dead and dry. Otherwise it just jams it up. So I have found that a big old tree stump and a machete to be really handy. Just pull the whole plant, use a couple of the small branches to tie it into a long bundle, and chop away into 6" chunks.
Dave