From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Oak Grove, Mn

Marv..i know you are very concerned with correct identification of varieties.
I have a problem.
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=268915
how do i determine what variety is which..what is the identifying characteristics of these different varieties?
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=269063
is there a difference?

1/21/2017 2:26:51 PM

Wixom MI.

different characteristics in tomato plants can be very difficult to see. i sometimes can't see any differences untill mid to late summer then a plant may be stocky or one that is more agressive and stretches out longer. that goes with leaf size and the fruit too ! i rarely can see differences when plants are young or under two feet tall ? for me the big zac's tend to be smaller stockier plants than the Domingo and mega marvs. my megazac seem to take the Megamarv plant size but maybe the bigzac tomato? the tomato is harder to tell.

1/21/2017 5:42:27 PM

Germany

A cross between two heirloom varietys is not a finished new variety. In the F1 generation the plants and tomatoes will look like the same, but it will be different if you save seeds from the fruits of the F1 generation. Seeds from the fruits of that generation are the F2 seeds. If you plant them you could get some different combinations of the genetical possibilites. Each plant could develop to a own variety. So you have to keep track of every outcome of those seeds because they all will be different. To get a whole new variety it takes about 8 generations to stabilize each cross.

1/21/2017 6:13:56 PM

Oak Grove, Mn

what is strange..under different grow environments..i have big zac under two different environments...they look like completely different varieties..and they are from the same seed. Of the three plants i have shown..the only difference i can identify is on one of the sets...it is showing a deeper green towards the stem end. Other than that...really can not see any identifying features.

1/21/2017 6:26:06 PM

Germany

if they are open pollinated, they could indeed be different. It is basically the same like with open pollinated pumpkins. With tomatoes it is just more likely that the pollination is "self", because the male and female parts are so close together. Once Big Zac was also a F1 cross, maybe it is still not complete stable because the different genetic lineages are not equally developed. Just guessing...

1/21/2017 6:34:42 PM

On top of Brush Mountain, Pa.

How can you tell what variety tomato it is by looking at the plant? I have not run across anyone who has been able to do that. I have not been able to find anyone who can, with certainty, even tell what variety a tomato is by looking at the tomato itself. They might be able to tell you if it is a beefsteak or a bull's heart or a plum but not a specific variety. Why do we want to keep track of the variety tomato we are growing and it's parentage? So we will know for sure, exactly what we have. This is especially important when we are trying to find varieties or mutations or crosses that will go bigger than what we have been growing. Sorry I cannot help. DNA testing is not far enough along for tomatoes to be able to help either. Sorry.

1/21/2017 10:20:48 PM