Very excited

[Todd Ziegler]

I have been growing a family Heirloom tomato for about 20 years now called "ziegler's fleisch" up until now I have had the same tomatos show up year after year (same shape, size, color). However this year I have a new shape showing up, it's a ribbed shape. I don't think it's a result of an accidental cross because I have never grown a tomato that has a ribbed shape. I can't wait to start a selection program next year for stabilizing this new shape. I will isolate this new tomato next year, so that I can be sure of no problem with the seed. I hope I can have a stable variety in 5 years but only time will tell.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That's exciting. Have you had any ripen yet? It will be interesting to see what kind of tomato it makes.

 

[Todd Ziegler]

I have not had any ripen yet but I one that looks like it will be red. As far as I can see it looks like about 5 tomatos from that plant will have ribbing to a various degree. The tomato in the picture has the most pronounced ribbing. I couldn't get a good picture of the other 4 but I will add a picture for comparison.

 

[Todd Ziegler]

Here is a tomato from the same plant. The ribbed ones appear to be slightly bigger but that will remain to be seen as I start the selection process. Also I need to pick 5 names for the 5 new tomatos that I will save the seed from. I want to incorporate my children's names into the names of the tomatos. Madolyn, Anthony and Jesse (boy) Ziegler. Any suggestions would be great.

 

[digitS']

Great! You should have years of fun with those, Todd.

My Dad's youngest brother kept his mother's tomatoes going. In the early 90's, he gave me some seed and told me she had them all the time he was growing up, so, from the Depression era. She called them"the peddler's tomato."

Growing heirlooms was popular and, after a few years, I became curious about one I saw in a seed catalog - Porters. I ordered the seed. Two seasons, I grew both. First, I thought that the foliage was different ... a little. The second year, I realized that there was no difference between the two, at all!

I asked my uncle if he wanted to grow the two or see what I had learned from pictures. "No." And, he immediately turned away . Grandma started her family in SE Oklahoma. She was from Texas and not all that far from the Porter Seed Company near Fort Worth. I grow Grandma Pearl's tomato every year.

There is a potato-leaf variety called Bloody Butcher that we especially like to have, altho DW hates the name. She always says the same thing when she hears it, "that's not very nice." So, we call them Jolly Ranchers.

This year, I have an obvious cross. Some seedlings had regular foliage. There has been no ripe fruit yet but the plants are loaded! They look about the same as the Bl... Jolly Ranchers! However, since regular foliage is dominant, it will take several years to stabilize. Or, if the fruit is different and it kicks out a potato-leaf seedling in 2017 ... Saving seed is fun!

Steve
Edit: oh! I'm thinking of calling that new tomato, if'n I like it, "Sally." That would be as in "sally forth."

 

[Todd Ziegler]

Our family Heirloom was created by a great uncle of mine from Illinois. He owned a seed house and raised many different types of vegetables but the only surviving vegetable is my tomato. It is still being saved and sold by a few people. When I first saw it listed in the seed savers exchange 20 years ago I thought it was just a coincidence. Thankfully I had a cousin who had did our family tree and I was able to trace the tomato back to a great, great, great uncle in IL and so I went to the town and did some research of my own on the seed house business he owned. I had hoped to find some old advertisement. I couldn't find any relatives either. It appears that that family line died out. Also after 20 years I still haven't found any advertisement either.

 

[so lucky]

Todd, what is the name of the family tomato?
Ziegler is a name that is around here, in SE Missouri. There are 6 listings in our phone book. Maybe some of your relatives crossed the river.

 

[Todd Ziegler]

Ziegler's fleisch. There's some others who are saving the tomato but they have the spelling wrong. The name means "brick makers flesh" or "flesh like a brick".

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not sure how the genetics of that tomato will work. The seed that one grew from was apparently crossed so any seed from any tomato on that plant is likely to give you a new tomato, even the tomatoes on that plant that look normal. I would not save any seeds from this plant with the intentions of maintaining the family heirloom. I'd save those seeds from a different plant. I'd probably save a few seeds from the "normal" tomatoes on that plant and see what they do also. You have an opportunity, have fun with it. I think you have a box of chocolates and there is no telling what you will get out of it.

I'm surprised that you are getting tomatoes that look that different on the same plant. When I've gown squash that was cross-pollinated, all the squash on a specific vine looked identical but squash on different vines from those seeds looked different.. Growing some of Russ's crossbred beans this year, so far all beans off of a specific plant look identical. I'm getting different beans from what looked like identical seeds but they are on different plants.

 

[Todd Ziegler]

I will only save seed from the other plants for the Heirloom, so that I can maintain the proper seed.
I am surprised at the variation myself. That is why I am going to save seed from several different tomatos on that plant and grow them out in a different garden that is about 5 miles away. Even though I am surprised at the shape variations, it's not impossible. Plant breeders will select certain tomatos from the same plant that might be darker in color, lighter in color, slightly bigger or smaller etc. Not all new tomato varieties are a result of a cross. Some are just the result of selectivity of an unusual characteristic on the plant. When done this way, it's usually called a new strain or a new variation of the tomato. Not exactly a completely new variety.
Either way I am going to have fun.