To: LINDA MILLER
Subject: A tomato question...
LM> SP>   Whoah! They sound suspiciously like Texas tomatoes! :-) And they 
soun
LM>now ain't that just like a Texan!
  Everything grows bigger in Texas! ;-> (No, I'm not a Texan.)
LM> SP>   like tomatoes I would like to try. But they also sound somewhat 
ike
LM> SP>   Prudden's Purple and its close relative, Brandywine, both of which 
I'
LM> SP>   growing this summer. (PP is 10 days earlier.)  They belong to the
LM> SP>   potato-leaf determinate genre of tomatoes, and Brandywine, at 
ast,
LM>discovered another tomato from the Charleston/Huntington areas of
LM>W.Va.  called Mortgage Lifter,  very simular...there  are  varied
  I've heard of it. It's another heirloom making a comeback...and it got
  its name apparently because of its reliability in good season and bad.
LM>early girl, deep red, large sweet tomato that I think crossed one
LM>windy day with a variation of the Mortgage Lifter and became what
LM>she called Abe Hall's. And boy are they goooooood, make my mouth
  A lot of good varieties happened thataway, Linda. And the owners kept
  growing these "accidents" because they had superior taste,
  reliability, or productivity...or all three.
LM>water just thinkin' about them. They are too big and would bruise
LM>easily for commercial use.
  Home gardeners can get soooooo spoiled. :-)
LM> SP>   grow out hundreds of varieties, 5 plants in a row, say that there 
s
LM> SP>   less than 2% crossing of species, especially among modern 
arieties;
LM> SP>   so they save seeds from the middle plants in the row, and rarely
LM> SP>   bother with hand pollination unless deliberately crossbreeding.
LM>a  few  years back I had my yellow tomatoes to cross with the Abe
LM>Hall,  produced a streaked not so sweet tomato,  nothing I  would
LM>have wanted to go any further with.
  If you'll look at the flowers, you can tell. The pistil is fully
  enclosed in most commercial varieties, meaning the flowers are
  automatically self-pollinated. Semi-wild cultivars, and some older
  varieties may have exposed pistils. These are the ones that can be
  crossed by insects or wind. Brandywine, if I recall correctly, has the
  pistil barely exposed, and not in every flower. This is one on which
  I would cover a single good branch on a decent plant with Reemay as
  the flower buds began to open, and shake the branch every day to self-
  pollinate.
  Brandywine has peculiar buds. About 1 in 3 is exceptionally round and
  fat. When the bud opens, it is a double flower, and the fruit looks
  like two tomatoes squashed together. Knowing their similarity, nor was
  I surprised to see the odd fat bud on the Pruden's Purple (really a
  deep pink.) I'm waiting to see how similar the fruits are, because
  next year I am reducing the number and varieties I grow, and I'll take
  the earliest of two comparable cultivars.
  Last year I raised Ghost tomatoes, supposedly another wonderful-
  tasting variety with a transparent cuticle enclosing yellowish flesh.
  This heirloom can cross, since a couple turned into dusky pink ones.
  Strangely, the cross tasted better than the "true" type, but alas, I
  was unable to save any seeds from either when I landed in hospital.
  I won't try that one again. Too blah!
  But Matt's Wild Cherry was a real hit. These tiny tomatoes (huge
  plant) are really tasty and tender-skinned; I simply added whole
  frozen ones to soups and stews, and the skins were no bother. They can
  be thawed slightly, and added to winter salads as well. That is, if
  any survive the daily "inspection" and come into the house. :-)
  Celebrity is reliable, the Kotlas fruits here up to a month earlier
  than usual, the Heinz 1439 is dependable all-purpose but late season,
  and the Golden Grape is a flowering spectacle. Brandywine has the edge
  for fresh eating. Plus the two Sweet 100's given me by my sister, and
  these are this year's lineup.
                       ...Sandra...
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