Odd Tomato Hybrid

I 'accidently' grew seeds from several hybrid tomatoes this past year from adding the previous year's compost to my garden. Most of the tomatoes reverted to cherries, both yellow and red. There was also a ton of horsenettle that just took over, as always.

Six or seven of these yellow cherry tomatoes are still sitting in my window sill after three months. Has anyone heard of tomatoes storing this long, or is it possible somehow they hybridized with the horse nettle from the previous year?

Second, would anyone want to ferment and grow out another generation of this plant? I've never sent plants before, but let me know the best way, and I'll send them out.

"is it possible somehow they hybridized with the horse nettle from the previous year?"

Nope. They (tomatoes and horse nettle) may be in the same Family but are in different Genus and species.

You sure have a curiosity there, malleus. Some tomatoes have been bred to be long keepers so perhaps one of those parents were in the lineage of whatever you grew out.

I'm wondering if you grew Sungold the previous year...those are hybrids and maturity colors are from yellow to reddish so maybe that is what you are working with, eh? Can you remember?

Shoe

Thanks for replying. I knew they weren't that closely related, but I honestly can't think of what else might've happened. The summer was dry and hot, if that'd make a difference?

The varieties were Better Boy and Beefeater. A small section of the plants were still large-fruited, but most reverted to red or yellow cherries. The leaves were still tomato-like, but a little fatter. The yellow cherries are hard, and fairly bland, but three months... most tomatoes I've grown would be 'fermenting' in a few weeks at best.

I'd be happy to send three or so to you, if you'd like to attempt growing them. I can only imagine what someone with real skill could do with this trait. Just let me know.

Some hybrids have wild tomatoes in thier parentage, primarily to introduce specific tolerance to disease. Rarely shows up until the F3- F4 generations tho. Would not be from Big Boy or Beefeater in the F2 generation,. You must have thrown something else in your compost . There are cherry tomatoes ( green house) that have extraordinary shelf life like Katalina, Natacha, Picolino. Maybe some store bought cherry tomatoes got thrown your compost pile.

malleus, thanks for the offer of the "tomatoes" but I have so many tomato grow-outs and experiments going on I have to learn to say no! :

Edited to add...

I wonder if the yellow "tomatoes" you have on your window sill are actually horse nettle berries. They, too, are yellow and resemble cherry tomatoes.

Shoe

This message was edited Dec 1, 2010 1:41 PM

Malleus74, are you growing your tomatoe plants inside?

They're definitely from tomato plants, but they resemble horsenettle berries the size of large cherries. Horsenettle was interspersed in-between the plants, but the size / leaf / thorns make them stand out. I harvested a hundred of these cherries at least, from smallish, three to four foot tomato plants that sprawled out a lot. The red ones tasted and kept like regular cherrie tomatoes. The yellows... well, I 'kept' a handful while trying to decide if I'd intentionally grow out this generation. They're just now getting small spots on them. They're hard and very bland... but I could see them doing quite well in salsa or something similar.

As far as I know, it would only be from beefeater or betterboy (or a hybrid of them). It's just my wife and I. I'm the only one that treks out there to the compost pile.

I grew the plants in two 6x6 raised gardens, mostly made up of compost with a little sand, with possibly some ash thrown in for good measure. Tomatoes seem to love the spot. I have pictures on my facebook page with the parents of these tomato plants seven foot tall. No exaggeration.

I'm still growing the odd little plant, and the fruit can still sit on a shelf for months on end. I'm trying to find someone to take it over right now.

Here's a pic of the first or second year's fruit.

>> There was also a ton of horsenettle that just took over, as always.

Do you throw deadhorsenettle weeds into your compost heap? I learned the hard way that "they aren't kidding" when they say that weed seeds can be very perstent in compost heaps.

I've grown some really dense, uniform mono-crops of some weeds when I top-dressed a seedbed with screened compost.

My compost heap is very small and never gets really hot. I have learned NOT to keep weeds that have gone to seed or look even close. Instead I throw the "weedy junk" into a separate heap on top of some clay where NOTHING can grow.

I wish that heap "good luck" at colonizing the clay. probably over years that clay will soften enough for some weeds to dig their roots into it. Until then, all my weed seeds will germinate in the same spot and fight it out with each other. I figure a brief session with a mattock will let me chop down and bury the winning weeds before they can seed again.

But I won't try to use "weedy compost" on my vegetables again. It's worth it to me to buy a few cubic feet of composted manure instead.

RickCorey_WA, the plants themselves are obviously tomatoes. That's the odd thing; it's just the fruits are extremely thick skinned, and there's almost no taste. That's why I thought it might be a hybrid with those characteristics, since they originated from beefsteak-style parents.

>> I 'accidently' grew seeds from several hybrid tomatoes this past year from adding the previous year's compost to my garden

It's easy for me to believe that a few hybrid tomatoes, going to seed, would produce truly weird plants. Breeders can play games with hybrids that give good results in the F1 seeds they sell, but then the F2 offspring are all over the map.

I've been told that the exact opposite CAN happen - that a breeder will sometimes release hybrid seed that comes pretty true to the parents if you collect their seeds.

It is the hybrid parent that is introduced for shelf life. Farmerdill called it. Invariably most grow out experiments result in a golf ball hard tomato that looks great and lasts for months. The genes for longevity seem to overshadow the ones for flavor when it comes to hybrids.

Never really thought about it but that must be why the hydrids I grow have a much longer shelf life then the O/Ps

In case my post sounded like there is a cast iron hybrid parent and the other is a tender OP, I should clarify. To create tomatoes that look great, last forever and taste great are goals of a hybridizing program. There are tomatoes that are not edible but because they last for months are part of the hybridizing process. Unfortunately when saving seed from hybrids you will often end up with a tomato that has desirable commercial traits but not have the flavor of the hybrid parent.