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On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

Take a look at the top 8 tomatoes so far listed in the GPC tomato contest for this year. Look at how they are identified. We have had some reliance on this listing to be able to tell the lineage of the tomatoes weighed. Yet, none are identified well enough to know where they came from though I assume most of them are Big Zac offshoots. Even at this early stage of tomato growing, we have lost the ability to track tomatoes regarding their heritage. I would say to growers who want to know exactly what they are growing either grow your own seeds or only accept seeds from other growers that are properly identified.

8/12/2014 2:13:22 PM

Allentown, PA

Marv,

I fully agree. I have tried my best to track the linage and strain of tomatoes that I have grown.

The best I myself can do is to be diligent and demand that not only myself but that others also do the same thing in order to fully understand what we are growing not just who grew what.

The benefit of this comes to fruition when we wish to do crosses of seed lines in order to advance the science of giant tomato growing.

8/12/2014 4:48:39 PM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

PA, I feel this is a lost cause.

8/12/2014 6:20:18 PM

Allentown, PA

If more of us speak about this along with remainders on a consistent basis I feel that it would become the norm Marv.

8/12/2014 7:49:51 PM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

Too many people just don't get it.

8/12/2014 9:53:50 PM

valparaiso, in

Sadly Marv I have to agree.

8/12/2014 10:23:25 PM

East Carbon, Utah

Sadly for many of us humans, rules and laws have to be enacted and enforced in order for us to do the right thing.

In this case a rule would need to come from the GPC, something to the effect:

No tomato (watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkin, etc.) will be included without proper documentation of lineage.

Date, grower, and location are all required as well as official weight; is it really too much to ask - or demand - that variety name and lineage also be included?

8/12/2014 11:58:23 PM

Allentown, PA

Yes Dale, I agree with you that rules have to be put in place in order for people to understand how important this is.

I would propose that the officials at the GPC write language dictating such into the entry rules regarding tomatoes.

8/13/2014 6:20:19 AM

South East

The gpc does not require lineage of pumpkins other then the actual plant it was grown on and a pollinator.

In tomatoes i,m pretty shure that 98% is open pollinated since controlled crosses on tomatoes are quite the hassle, so a mother plant should often times be enough be enough. And with so many open pollinations, genetics in tomato growing are a game of chance, no one knows who the daddy was.

What you guys really want, is an aggc type site for tomatoes. And unless someone volunteers to start documenting all this information, I don't see people changing their ways. After all naming a fruit with your last name, is one of the fun aspects of growing. To expect growers to name the actual species (4.61 Big Zac ?)or add it to title of the fruit for genetic purposes is useless right now, since no one is keeping track of that info. And it would require growers to start finding out and tracking down the lineage of their seeds for gpc entry, witch only the most die hard of growers do.

Maybe one of the die hard tomato guys out there wants to start keeping track of all this info for all of us ......

8/13/2014 7:10:34 AM

sevierville, Tn

i see, so the problem is that there are other species being grown. Its not like pumpkins where all are ag's. So the same name system doesn't work.

8/13/2014 7:20:50 AM

Allentown, PA

Let's say this; If you, a competitive tomato grower care enough about the aspect of giant tomato growing you'll care enough to keep track of the linage of what you grow so that other growers and the overall community will benefit as a whole.

If you don't, not only do you do damage to the community you do a major disservice to yourself as well.

The importance of keeping as accurate a record as possible cannot be emphasized too greatly.

If you don't care to do this, can we as a collective whole acknowledge you, the particular growers contributions?

Write it like this example; 4.46 Diehl (Big Zac) 2013.

Was that difficult? No.

Obtain the information about what your growing.

If you don't know what a particular line that someone grew is then investigate it by asking here on this message board.

The chances of someone knowing what a "" Smith 5.20 LB "" actually grew from.

Go here;

Rocky http://tomato.giantstogrow.com/index.php

Record your tomato information. This is an incredible tomato community resource for us.
The guys and gals at Rocky Mountain Giant Vegetable Growers created the site to record information from the GPC contest as well as other non GPC sources.

Explore it, understand it, use it that way ALL of us in this community can advance.

8/13/2014 8:22:38 AM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

That site looks good but it only lists the top ten tomatoes. If you look at Boudyo 6.83 it says it came from a 5.07 Boudyo. 5.07 Boudyo is not listed as it is not in the top 10 and so the story ends there. Am I right about this or do I not understand how to use the site?

8/13/2014 9:21:06 AM

Central NY

I think I'm just going to eat mine.....

8/13/2014 9:37:00 AM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

That's what I have been doing. With some special blue cheese sauce.

8/13/2014 10:36:50 AM

Hinckley MN

so if someone grew an 8lb tomato from a seed they knew nothing about, none of you would want to grow it?

8/13/2014 11:26:12 AM

Central NY

...nah

8/13/2014 11:34:47 AM

Central NY

...just kidding, and for the record, I call dibs on seeds from the first 8lber!!

8/13/2014 11:36:06 AM

Allentown, PA

Actually Marv there are over a thousand tomatoes listed on the site including all of mine.

Type in my last name of Diehl in the tomato search box and all of my tomatoes that I have entered including all detailed information and lineage will come up.

For example type Diehl then choose 4.14 Diehl from the drop down choices then click enter. You will then see a lineage tree for that tomato.

The site is only as detailed as what the people entering the information will make it. This is why we need to use it.

8/13/2014 12:16:42 PM

Allentown, PA

I should have said choose the 4.07 Diehl you will then see the multiple entries made by me filling in that particular lineage.

8/13/2014 12:18:25 PM

Allentown, PA

I have also just linked my 4.14 LB tomato I just grew this season with the 6.51 Meisner 2011. All pertinent information about the tomato including pollination date and a photo have been entered.

8/13/2014 12:29:42 PM

Bethlehem CT

Marv, what you are saying is that they would just need to list the weight of the tomato and the name of the grower that the seed came from. As well as the year. Is that correct? It shouldn't be that hard to implement.
I will say this though. I would be way more apt to grow a tomato with unknown parentage than I would a pumpkin.

8/13/2014 4:02:36 PM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

Look above at what PA-J is saying. 4th post up.

8/13/2014 5:56:10 PM

Corryton, TN

Since I have 1 in the top 8 please help me to understand what is wanted/needed without going to the "tomato government" and imposing more laws. Is it as simple as adding the year that the parent seeds were grown? With so many tomatoes at or near the same weight by the same grower I can understand that confusion. Or, do I need to ad the (25% Delicious, 25% Brandywine, 25% Big Zac, 25% Unknown)? Is this the part that "I don't get"?

8/13/2014 5:57:25 PM

Allentown, PA

What the bottom line issue is this; A tomato grower obtains a seed from ""Jack Smith"" who grew a 5.00 LB tomato the season before. That tomato grower has no idea what the type of tomato it is other than Jack Smith grew it and it grew to 5.00 LBS.

Then that grower grows one from that seed and it grows to 4.30 LBS. He then calls it by his last name Jones. It's now the Jones 4.30 that grew from the Smith 5.00.

That's all fine and good BUT what type of tomato strain is it and where did Jack Smith obtain the seed that grew his 5.00 LB tomato??

This matters because when we want to do crosses of such we can advance the world of giant tomato growing by knowing EXACTLY what type of strain it is and what it grew this way we have a much better handle on what the seed might do in the future based on biological information from the tomatoes strain other than who grew what and how heavy it went.

This isn't difficult For example, this season I grew a 4.14 LB tomato. This tomato grew from a seed from the 3.01 Christensen that grew from the 6.51 Meisner that grew from the 7.33 Hunt.

The tomato is a Delicious strain.

For future reference I will label the tomato I grew as the 4.14 Diehl (Delicious) 2013.

At the very least we need the type of tomato strain it is. The best case scenario is that we also know the tomatoes lineage like what I just spoke about.

This is what we are speaking about.

It's not difficult to do but it appears that many are not doing this thus the reason or this thread.

8/13/2014 7:37:58 PM

Bloomington, IN USA

I have just now examined this site so I may not have the best grasp on it. But I don't see where the variety name is listed. Maybe it's there somewhere & I've missed it.
Or maybe it is the Giant Pumpkin people wagging their tail & there is no entry point for the variety because ALL Giant Pumpkins are AGs.
Please tell me this isn't the case.

8/13/2014 7:51:59 PM

Bloomington, IN USA

OK, I found it, you have to go to "detail" to find the variety. At least it is available.
Incidentally, Julia, they have the color of your 4.14 listed as "white", which I thought was comical & 1 of Marv's was "green"!
Oh, there's also a typo, some of yours are listed under Dlehl...

8/13/2014 8:08:30 PM

valparaiso, in

PA_J it's not that it is difficult to do, it is just that people are lazy. That is what it boils down to.

8/13/2014 10:26:57 PM

Allentown, PA

Gritch, I have to agree with you.

Materdoc, the site isn't the best, it has it's mistakes because it really hasn't been used correctly yet.

I'll have to go in and do corrections on my tomato entries. The nice thing about that site is that you can change things yourself.

Once the bugs and mistakes have been worked out and corrected I truly believe it's a great site in which to go to for reference.

8/14/2014 7:27:18 AM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

Unfortunately the site will only be as good as those who enter data into it. The same people naming their seeds in a manner such that the history of the seed is lost are the same people who will not enter data into the site. You will have to agree that this is sad but true. I can only really control what I do and not what everyone else does and so I will be keeping good records of my tomatoes and seeds. And, in response to Farmer Ben, I think whoever grows the first 8+ pound tomato will know exactly what seed they are growing.

8/14/2014 10:43:18 AM

Allentown, PA

Yes Marv. In my opinion those growers that are detailed enough to keep good records concerning the seed they grow tend to also be the one's to grow large consistently simply because of their ability to be detail orientated.

8/15/2014 8:24:17 AM