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On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

What variety tomato seed should you grow? With tomatoes we are interested in the size of a single tomato produced by a variety and the tendency of that variety to produce fused blossoms. There are many varieties that grow big individual tomatoes but only a few that also produce fused blossoms. The one we want must not only produce big tomatoes but also at least two and maybe three megablossoms on each plant. One for sure. Tomatoes that meet this standard include Big Zac, some of the Big Zac offshoots (coming from tomatoes such as those grown by Brant Timm) and Delicious and maybe Supermarv or Megamarv (previously unnamed heirloom varieties I got in Canada and named after a good friend, me). All of these varieties grow big and produce the necessary fused blossoms to give us a shot at the big one. And so, why are some of us growing these varieties but not getting big tomatoes? This has to do with whether or not we have the good fortune to get fused blossoms and then how we take care of them when we do. Luck may play a role in getting the big blossom but knowing how to care for it and the resulting tomato is what gives us a winner. Many are getting megablossoms only to watch them them abort. They simply fall off. At this point I don’t think we should be as concerned about getting seeds from the next big tomato as we should be about learning how to care for the fused blossoms when they appear. We have good seeds though we need to continue breeding to get better ones. The only advantage to planting seeds from a 7 pound tomato is that the line is known to have produced megablossoms that survived and became big tomatoes. I think we have pretty good seeds. Now let’s get the big tomato. Next tip will be how to take care of the megablossom.

3/3/2011 6:49:21 PM

Breslau, Ontario, Canada

Nice!

3/3/2011 9:04:57 PM

Muddy Waters

thanks Lubadub

3/3/2011 10:48:03 PM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

I forgot to mention that if you are going to grow Delicious, an heirloom tomato, you should try to get some seeds of those being selected out by Brant Timm. I refer to these as the Brant Timm strain of Delicious. These are what Phil and Jane Hunt grew to get their big one. Also there is a line from Gordon Graham which I would refer to as the Gordon Graham strain of Delicious. As both of these are OP (open pollinated)their seeds should produce plants that are very much like the plants from which they came. Marv

3/4/2011 6:11:32 AM

Muddy Waters

Is that the 5.0 Timm your talking about??

3/4/2011 7:20:43 AM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

For the Brant Timm strain of Delicious you could grow either the 3.8 Timm 06 or the 5.0 Timm 08 or the 7.33 PJ Hunt 10. On most of these seed packets it will say that the variety is Delicious so as not to confuse them with the line of seeds coming from Big Zac that Timm also grew. As time goes by it will be important to label these seeds properly so we know where they are coming from.The Delicious line should be fairly stable at this point. Each generation we go out with the Big Zac, the seed will be more and more stable and some day will be an open pollinated variety. It may nearly be so now. Some of the seeds are 6th generation believe it or not. Time does fly.
Marv

3/4/2011 8:49:02 AM

South Carolina

Hey Marv,

I will be growing some of the seeds you gave someone from the 2nd Generation GG's. Was wondering if you grew them and if so do they have the trate of the leaves being a little bit more droopie compared to BZ's? Also are these the seeds from which you speak of in the book? Here is a link to my diary showing the package in the middle. :)

http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=150504

3/4/2011 6:10:04 PM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

Tina: The packet of seeds you have is not directly from me. The story goes like this. I spoke to Gordon Graham's wife as I wondered if she had any of his seeds left. He died maybe 15 years previously. She had none. We located a friend of his though who lived in England. Gordon had sent him seeds wrapped in tin foil. He had them and was kind enough to send me some. They were over 20 years old. Minnie Zaccaria, who had some experience with old seeds, germinated them for me and we got one live plant. Minnie sent it to me and I grew it for seed. The next year I sent out seed from that tomato strain to many people. Nobody got a huge tomato but there were lots of megablossoms. Your seeds are probably from someone who grew the seeds I sent out.I don't recall what the leaves looked like but I think they were very healthy looking. Marv

3/4/2011 6:54:52 PM

South Carolina

Thank you Marv. :)

3/4/2011 7:28:10 PM