Veggie garden friends of the Mid-alantic 2

Rick, Gita and I have only one thing in common...........that would be the lack of leaves Doug Oster describes as those that should be tear drop with a solid unbroken edge of the Potato Top (Brandywine) associated.

All three of us appear to have different fruit. Looking closely at my plant pix you can see a leaf or two that the front part of the leaf looks like it may be closely related to the leaf Doug describes. My fruit looks like and is sized somewhat like the Brandywine I have grown in the past.

Blight is begining to hit my plant. Our area is having the worst blight year I have ever seen. Commercial growers are spraying fungicides every third day or so. Many gardeners have torn their plants out and sent them to the landfill. If I am lucky I will get three or four fruit off of this plant. My other plants are pretty well gone having given me a few ripe fruit.

Gita, sorry but I don't think I have any small fruited ones out there other than Stupice, which I didn't grow last year... I did have some cherry varieties, but they were not growing in the same area... I really don't know if you have a cross, a sport, or a mis-labeled plant. I do hope they will be tasty! And who knows, maybe the first fruits are just small for some reason for you this year... I'll hold out hope for larger fruit by the end of the month!

Doc, sorry to hear you've been hit with the blight. I've been holding my breath waiting for it to appear here. Bad year for tomatoes in the Northeast. :-(

I'm growing Tamina which (in Plantfiles) is supposed to be a potato leaf. I'll get a pic later this week.

Here it is the middle of August and I feel like my garden is just now finally hitting its stride. Got actual red tomatoes, eggplants are finally blooming, late squash and cucumbers coming along, and lotsa other stuff. Better late than never!

I spotted early blight on some of the tomatoes a while ago, but thankfully we haven't seen late blight yet.

These are the leaves from the tomato I have labeled Potato top, the small fruit in the backround is not on this plant. Ric

The fruit is huge and pinkish in color, never becoming a deep red. Oh, and they are very, very tasty. Ric

Ric........................That is the leaf described by Doug for Potato Top. Your first pix did not show these leaves. He would like the first tomato off that plant handled this way: The tomato should be very ripe but not rotten. Cut the tomato in half and squeeze the seed into a jar of water. Let the seed ferment for about four days, stirring the jar once a day. This will kill soil-borne diseases and remove the gelatinous coating from the seed. Send the seed back to me and then next season I'll start the project all over again. My suggestion is for you to send him a pix too. This would help him know for sure you grew the Potato Top.

Doc, The first fruit is long gone, the only way to recover those seeds would be to sit on a bucket. LOL Can I do the same with the second wave? I realize there is a greater chance of a hybrid at this stage, but the chances are still good it will be true. Ric

Although I've run out to the garden a couple of times to harvest, I haven't double-checked on the shape of the leaves on my plants this year... I am pretty sure I have had leaves as described in the past. Sometimes, there seem to be slight variations in leaf shape on the plant... I'll check and snap some photos when I remember to take my camera out to the garden...

I think a pretty high percentage of tomatoes come true whether from the first or subsequent fruits, especially pinks because of somethign about the blossom shape... I plant my cherry tomatoes away from the others, because they're notorious for crossing, but otherwise I think Dr. Carolyn says they come true something like 95 % of the time (might be higher).

Ric, I'm glad your plant was true to type after all... and I'm gladder yet that you find them very, very tasty also!

Yes the above is true. Commercial seed are very reliable like maybe 98% true to variety. However in an uncontrolled grow from we rank and file growers will have much lower chances of remaining true. Isolation is the commercial method of preventing crosses. We have many seed growers near us plus the test gardens of Penn State. The colleges however for the most part only test more recent hybreds for the grant money provided by the seed companies. That leaves things like the LIMBAUGH LEGACY POTATO TOP PROJECT in the hands of we amatuers. Perfection is not expected nor achieved by or in this type project. For instance my seed produced 100% other than the original genetics for me this summer. Those seed came from Doug as provided to him by growers like myself. Of a dozen or more last years seed only three germinated. I have ample replacement seed to try next spring. I shall germinate a couple dozen and grow them to four or more true leaves before I select...hopefully the right seedlings to grow on.

The best isolution I can hope for is growing a hundred feet or so from my own or my neighbors other tomatoes. With many types of Mason Bees so small I can hardly see them there is no tomato blossom they can not enter. Those bees are here both naturally and because I provide their homes that keeps them here. They are not out in the isolated fields of seed producers or at least to any great extent. Furthermore commercial growers use insecticides that reduce their numbers as well as honey bee numbers. This may be why more crosses transpire in surburban gardens. Now that I grow on my patio the tomatoes are just a few feet from the homes of the Mason Bees. Mason Bees are better polinators than the well know honey bees that have difficulty entering tomato blossom. Why....Mason Bees travel only short distances to do their work. Why.....they can get in and they make more trips to gather their needs for reproduction. Mason Bees work many areas unseen. They are so small. Surburban areas are better for Mason Bees.......why because our homes offer the environment physically that enables them to build and maintain their needs...and we do not know that fact. My home is wood shingle siding. I find many mud filled cracks when I paint.

All this boils down to tomato seedling selection by the gardener and not so much the source where the seed came from. Doug points this out in his instructional flat sheet that he sends out with his seeds.

For you guys who are looking to keep your tomatoes genetically pure, have you considered bagging the blooms? It would prevent cross-pollination without the need for growing in isolation.

I just googled
Limbaughs Legacy--the Potato Top Tomato".....

About 4 or 5 links down (of what came up) is Jill Niclaus article on this tomato--AND--every article she has ever written......How's that?

http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/by.php?user=critterologist

Gita

Gita...........this is good. Jill even made her article better than the Doug Oster flat sheet. She showed living plants in color to illustrate the leaf of the Potato Top plant. It is shown with I believe four true leaves. All have the Potato Top tear drop shape and solid edges. Further more she did not confuse anyone by calling all the others Tidwell German.

What showed up in this thread was Hollys plant in the first showing as a plant that was not the Potato Top as was true of mine and your's too.

I think that any interested person should have it all figured out by now. We that grow must expect variation from our germination of the seed and make the proper selection to grow the Potato Top. This can be done by the time the first or second sets of true leaves show. The first two that show are cottys. They don't count as true leaves.

Ric and Holly did have the right plant when they found it a pictured it later.

Cool! :-)

Just adding a note that Carolyn gives that fairly high percentage of "true" seeds to non-bagged, non-isolated blooms. I think her own method is to plant half a dozen of the same variety and save seeds from the two middle plants. But yes, isolating plants or blooms should make things even more certain.

I cleaned up the squash bed and I planted some lettuce and radish seeds last week and they sprouted quick. Late for the lettuce but what the hey- I think I can protect it from a few early frosts. The seeds were old anyway. I should search for spinach seed I think I saved, and plant that to overwinter.

Other than that, just picking a few tomatos.

The tomatoes are about shot, still picking peppers and Brussels sprouts. We haven't dug the horseradish yet but will later. Didn't get any winter crops in either. Ric started moving the compost pile into the garden. What didn't get put in the new bed is being dumped in the garden area. I cleaned up about half of the big weedy area that was still left at the bottom of the garden when we put in the bed. I will get the rest this fall and am looking forward to a nice productive and attractive garden next year.

Holly,

Every now and then I wanted to ask you how the Stone Crop did that I gave you?
Seeing the older ones at HD--looked like it grows all straggly. I loved the close-cropped look of the one I brought you.

OK! Time to stop playing on the "C" and go get dressed and have something to eat and then--out to the Garden i go!!!

G.

Gita, We planted those down at Josh's house and they are doing well. Thank you.