Let’s get into the more esoteric of my tomato plantings for 2020 - on to Indeterminate Tomato Update, part 3. This is a pretty motley crew of all sorts of tomatoes, and picture taking wasn’t as disciplined. Still, it was an interesting set of varieties, in some cases more for what the future will hold from saved seeds. Unlike my previous 24 indeterminate choices, these are not flavor favorites or newly received family heirlooms. They are all projects or mysteries, and were a lot of fun to explore. Seeds from many of these are available for the asking if you want to join in on various types of projects.

The small, round scarlet fruit of Cherokee Purple X Fuzzy hybrid

Cherokee Purple X Fuzzy F1 - Last year a cross onto the very unusual tomato Fuzzy seemed to have taken - I am quite sure it was Cherokee Purple as the male, though it could also have been Lillian’s Yellow (my record keeping could have been better). Fuzzy is a mix created by Tim Peters years ago, and seed was shared with me by Tien Chiu in California. Fuzzy is not a flavor winner, but has the greyest, fuzziest foliage I’ve seen, on a rather short determinate plant. I crossed pollen onto either 6627 or 6628, resulting in a tomato whose F1 seed was saved as T19-130. I planted seeds of T19-130 and the seedlings were indeterminate. The foliage was not quite normal, but just slightly greyish/fuzzy. The golf ball sized fruit formed in clusters, very heavily yielding, and ripened medium scarlet - the quality of the fruit (flavor-wise, which was just OK) is not really of consequence, since hybrids don’t always show the flavor of the component parents. Seed was saved as T20-25. A test planting showed a lot of diversity of plant type, but I didn’t have enough of the season remaining to grow them to maturity. This is not part of the Dwarf Tomato Project (no dwarf was used in the cross), but rather to play with the fuzzy foliage gene and plant form. Among the hoped for results when grown out next year are determinate fuzzy plants with different colored, better flavored, larger tomatoes. Another great option would be a very fuzzy indeterminate plant with large tomatoes. This is simply fun in the garden!

Small, round, very lightly striped fruit of Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X a striped fruited Microdwarf hybrid

Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Striped Micro F - This is another example of fun in the garden, and not part of the Dwarf Tomato Project. In 2019 I successfully crossed either Cherokee Purple or Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom onto a microdwarf sent to me by my pal Dan Follett. The microdwarf had large purple cherry sized fruit with green stripes. I grew two microdwarfs, so the cross was on either 6650 or 6651. The seed was saved as T19-129. The cross was proven to work because the seedlings were normal looking - not microdwarfs. I grew one plant this year, and seed is saved as T20-26. The plant ended up as a determinate growth habit, quite unexpected. The tomatoes were very numerous, golf ball sized, scarlet red with very faint gold stripes; this was not unexpected, as the stripe gene partially expresses in hybrids. I saved loads of seeds. In a test planting this fall, there is great diversity of plant type. Among fun possibilities are larger fruited microdwarfs with various colors. Lots of fun can be had with this one.

Peach Blow Sutton X Dwarf Sweet Sue F1 - This is indeed part of the Dwarf Tomato Project, and is my effort to work fuzzy skinned, peach fuzz type fruit into some of our dwarfs. Last year I took pollen from Peach Blow Sutton (a variety I found in the USDA collection some time ago, obtained a sample and grew out - it is from 1900, and produces peach-sized, fuzzy skinned mostly pink fruit with a trace of yellow in the flesh, and crossed it onto a flower on Dwarf Sweet Sue. Seed in the presumed hybrid was saved as T19-132 - a test planting last year showed indeterminate, regular leaf plants, indicating a successful cross. The resulting plant grown this year from T19-132 was indeed regular leaf and indeterminate. The tomatoes were of good size - 6 ounces on average - and abundant. The color was interesting, ending up mostly pink but with significant yellow areas in the flesh, as can be seen in the above picture, on the left. The flavor was quite good, and I saved lots of seed, as T20-28. I did a test planting of saved seed this fall and there is the expected diversity of plant type - regular and potato leaf indeterminate and dwarf specimens. The season was not long enough to grow them to maturity, so this will provide some fun for next year.

Honor Bright X Dwarf Blazing Beauty F1 - Pictured above, the right hand tomato, is the scarlet red fruit from the hybrid I created by crossing the very odd Livingston variety Honor Bright (yellow foliage, white flowers, fruit ripening green to white to orange to red) with our Dwarf Blazing Beauty, a real favorite with snappy tasting orange fruit on a potato leaf dwarf plant. The cross, made last year, was saved as T19-131. A test planting showed the cross to be a success, as the seedlings were indeterminate and regular leaf. My planting of T19-131 yielded an indeterminate plant with regular leaf foliage that produced lots of oblate 6-8 ounce good flavored scarlet tomatoes, with seeds saved as T20-29. I test planting in the fall of saved seeds showed all sorts of diversity, including some of the hoped for yellow foliaged selections. In this one, the goal is to get potato leaf yellow foliaged dwarfs with orange tomatoes. Next year will, again, be fun!

Blue’s Bling, unsuccessful F1 cross with Blue P20

Blue’s Bling X Oregon P20 F1 - There are no pictures of this one because my cross didn’t take. Last year I attempted to cross pollen from the original antho variety, Oregon P20, onto a more short growing specimen of the variegated variety Blue’s Bling. Seed was saved as T19-133. This is not part of the dwarf tomato project, but just some fun crossing a variegated variety with an antho fruited variety. I grew a number of seedlings from T19-133, but aside from one plant, all showed variegation, meaning an unlikely cross. I did grow out one plant that lacked variegation, but, alas, the tomatoes were simply the type expected with Blue’s Bling - medium to large oblate purple tomatoes. A successful cross would have produced smaller, rounder red tomatoes. I did save seed as T20-27, but it is a dead end, though a nice tomato, very Cherokee Purple-like.

Bright yellow flesh of Ferris Wheel potato leaf yellow

Ferris Wheel yellow potato leaf seedling - I described the origin of yellow fruited Ferris Wheel in my Indeterminate Review part 2. The regular leaf seedling that I planted was highlighted in that blog; I thought I’d plant the potato leaf seedling I germinated from that seed lot as well. I was quite delighted to find that it was very similar - nice sized, smooth medium large bright yellow, delicious tomatoes. Seeds are saved as T20-30.

Cherokee Chocolate red plum from 2019 - Last year, I gave a Cherokee Chocolate seedling grown from T17-8 or 9, to our neighbor Kim. Much to both of our surprises, instead of oblate chocolate colored tomatoes, Kim harvested firm red long plum tomatoes with pretty good flavor for its type. Thinking it was a hybrid, I saved some seeds from one fruit and planted them this year, seed lot T19-135. The seedling I grew to maturity was indeterminate and produced Roma-shaped red tomatoes that were a bit smaller and differently shaped than last year’s find. Flavor was fair. It had few seeds, and they were very small. I saved some as T20-31. Looking back on my garden map, the Cherokee Chocolate seed that contained an unexpected hybrid was near the following possible crossing candidates -

Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Zluta Kytice F2 potato leaf selection

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this one a friend in Europe crossed the two varieties and sent me F1 seed, which is 6741. I grew out the indeterminate regular leaf plant last year and enjoyed the small - golf ball size - bright yellow fruit with a slight pink blush. Seed, saved as T19-110, was grown this year, providing a mix of regular and potato leaf plants, as expected. I opted to grow out one of the potato leaf seedlings. It didn’t blow me away, but was a nice large yellow cherry tomato…seed saved as T20-32.

Left fruit is the deeper yellow colored yellow from the Comstock Ferry packet sent to me by my friend Walk Swokla

richer yellow flesh color of Toni’s Yellow Saver

Yellow fruited from Comstock Ferre sent to me by Walt Swokla - Walt (he of Cancelmo Family Heirloom) sent me seeds of a yellow tomato originally purchased as a seedling for his mom (called “low acid yellow) from Comstock Ferre in the late 1970s. She last saved seeds from them in 2002. He wants to name it Toni’s Yellow Saver. I received the seed late in the spring, it is number 7260, and I managed to get some to germinate and the single seedling I put in a grow bag did well and ripened tomatoes. As you can see from the above pic, it is a yellow skinned, yellow fleshed variety, unlike the paler colored clear skin pale yellow flesh types such as Lillian’s Yellow. I liked the flavor, and saw the potential as a nice, medium sized deep yellow slicing tomato. Seeds are saved as T20-33. Thinking of the timing, I wonder if this is a variant of Jubilee or Golden Queen.

Blue’s Bling dwarf? from 2019 plant - I grew a seedling from what was sent to me as Blue’s Bling Dwarf, saved last year as T19-71. The plant and fruit were indistinguishable from indeterminate Blue’s Bling. Seed was saved as T20-34. I don’t have a picture of the plant or fruit

Ugly, catfaced, huge - but delicious - Capri Show Stopper

Capri Show Stopper, indeterminate seedling - Capri Show Stopper was selected and named by Patrina from the Pesty family in 2012, as a medium large, oblate fruited pink dwarf of good flavor. Seed 3499 was grown out by Bill Minkey, and also by Mike Dunton and Shawn Conant. Surprisingly, it now appears to be an indeterminate variety. Two colors have been obtained - pink, and in my garden this year (as shown above), yellow/red swirled bicolor. This is not surprising to me, since the parents of Pesty are New Big Dwarf (pink), and Mortgage Lifter Pesta Strain (large yellow/red). It actually did very well for me, despite not showing a dwarf growth habit, and has a flavor similar to other large bicolors (sweet, mild and fruity). Seed is saved as T20-35.

Tim Nolan’s family heirloom - regular leaf, smaller red heart

Nolan Family Heirloom, regular leaf seedling - I described Tim’s family heirloom in part 2 of my indeterminate tomato updates. I decided to grow out the single regular leaf seedling that germinated. I suspect that it is a hybrid, based on the firm flesh and scarlet red color. The heart shaped fruit were not nearly as large as the potato leaf, pink, authentic variety, and the flavor inferior. Since it is likely a hybrid, saved seed would give a range of outcomes - and is saves as T20-36.

Mary’s family heirloom - Mary Miller of Ohio contacted Southern Exposure Seed Exchange about a locally grown heirloom tomato. She graciously shared seeds with me, and I grew out a plant. The seed she sent me is 7261. The potato leaf seedling produced lots of large, mainly smooth tasty beefsteak tomatoes in the one pound range. Seed is saved as T20-70. The fruit were similar to, but not quite the same as, my other pink potato leaf varieties (Brandywine, Polish, Stump of the World), and the flavor was not quite as good - certainly a solid 7.5. I will share some seeds with Mike at Victory and ensure that Mary and Mike are connected, as this is a tomato well worth exploring and becoming more widely available.

Ann’s Dusky Rose Plum, indeterminate seedling - I grew out 6893, which surprised me in giving an indeterminate seedling. The seed was from a Raleigh Dwarf Project volunteer. Since I rarely grow out Dwarf Project indeterminates, I figured “why not”. What I ended up with were golf ball sized perfectly round, smooth pink tomatoes, seed saved as T20-70, not a hint of antho, and with good, not great flavor - a solid 7.5. Many of them ended up in our canning mixes.

Cherokee Chocolate 2011 seed, fine leaf seedling - This is quite the mystery. I always like to go back and grow out some older seeds of my favorite varieties. It was clear upon germination that Cherokee Chocolate T11-13 was very atypical, having foliage resembling paste or heart types (very limp and floppy). Lo and behold, the young fruit were pepper shaped and showed stripes. The variety ripened as fat pepper shapes, scarlet red with gold stripes, very similar if not the same as Speckled Roman. When things like this happen, I assume I made an error - grabbed the wrong packet - or it was a seed mix up when saving seed that year. The only thing to do is grow some saved seed out in case I grew an unanticipated F1 hybrid. Saved seed is T20-88. I didn’t take a picture of the fruit. Looking back at my garden set up in 2011, it is not evident where a striped variant would come from.

Various cherry tomato volunteers from Raleigh gardens over the years - With all of this new garden space in our yard I thought it would be fun to start looking through some of the volunteers and surprises obtained in my gardens, grow bags and containers over the years. I grew out one plant each of the following orange fruited volunteers: T19-128, T19-149, red tiny volunteer T18-96 (it was hard to determine the color when I grew it in 2018 - red or orange), T16-137 (poor record keeping on this one - so a real mystery), T19-157 (a real oddity - a small oval to pear shaped tomato that slowly ripened orange to scarlet with antho shoulders - I grew two of these), and a red grape shape that one of Sue’s quilt friends gave to me as one small unripe tomato (which I let ripen as best I could and saved seeds - T19-154).

My picture taking of these varieties was not good at all, but I have tasting notes. T19-128 provided lots of nice tasting (7.5 out of 10) orange cherry tomatoes, saved as T20-112. T19-149 similarly gave me orange good flavored (7.5) cherry tomatoes, saved as T20-116. The tiny red or gold pea sized tomato from T18-96 ended up looking exactly like Mexico Midget, saved as T20-120. The two from T19-157 were pretty odd, not setting fruit until quite late, then really taking off. They both ripened red, with some antho on the shoulders, a bit firm, flavor 7.5, seeds saved as T20-83 and T20-121. I suspect they are offspring of some of the Anthy work I did that year (one of our dwarf families that included the antho gene). T19-154 was a strange plant, when young seedlings very prone to damping off, when growing vigorously with widely spaced blossom clusters and leaf branches. My assumption is that it was an offspring of one of the Grape tomatoes - the fruits did ripen to look like the classic grocery store Grape variety, red, firm, and fairly good flavored - seed saved as T20-115. As for mystery T16-137, germination was poor and I ended up with one potato leaf indeterminate seedling. It was the first tomato to ripen, and I picked it too young, thinking it was a yellow, red or green mottled variety. Given time, it ripened to red, and the size and flavor and plant habit lead me to think it is related to the variety Kimberly. Seed is saved as T20-119. A few other volunteers appeared in my grow pots (brought here from Raleigh), two of them clearly Mexico Midget (T20-129 and T20-130, another larger and orange, perhaps a Sungold offspring, and one that was larger than Mexico Midget and ripened red - T20-154.

I am not sure of the fate of any of the above cherry volunteers, but there is saved seed that will be good for years, and anyone who reads this that is curious and wants to try any of them can certainly ask, and I will send them some seeds.

Sungold F2 - I don’t have pictures of the two Sungold F2 that I grew out, from planting seed saved from the hybrid last year, T19-20. One was grown in the dirt adjacent to the rear of my house, the other in a large container in my driveway. Both produced orange cherry tomatoes of good but not outstanding flavor - certainly not on the level of Sungold itself. The fact that I ended up with two orange tomatoes is one further thing that makes me wonder if Sungold hybrid has changed over the years. Long ago I grew out a selection of saved seed and got red, yellow, pink and orange tomatoes. To have gone 2 for 2 with orange, and the fact that the hybrid didn’t taste as good to us this year, makes me suspicious that something is different about Sungold hybrid these days. Seeds for the two F2 from this year are designated T20-53 (container grown, not quite as good), and T20-113, quite good especially when dead ripe.

Volunteer seedling growing in my gravel driveway is a pink, tasty cherry tomato. It is something I’ve never grown….thanks to a bird, perhaps, or a garden grown at this house in past years?

Volunteers from this yard - It was really exciting watching a brand new set of gardens in a new house come alive. There were some unexpected surprises along the way, such as a couple of tomato seedlings appearing that must have been the result of gardens of past inhabitants of this house (or perhaps birds flying overhead with some well aimed bombs!). I first noted a surprise tomato seedling in our main flower garden in the spring. I gave it the name Bumont Surprise and grew it on. It is an indeterminate variety producing heavy yields of pretty standard looking deep red scarlet cherry tomatoes with a very good flavor. It is saved as T20-114, and is undoubtedly a volunteer from a former home owner-grown cherry tomato, likely a hybrid. I also noted, a few weeks later when doing one of my Friday Instagram Live shows, a small seedling emerging from between the rocks in our gravel driveway. That one is pictured above - it is also a cherry tomato, but I like the flavor better (it is sweeter, more complex), and the round cherry tomatoes are bright pink - very unusual. That is saved as T20-55. A third driveway volunteer appeared in a different part of the gravel, near where I park my truck. That one is probably due to my garden efforts this year, as it grew to be exactly like Mexico Midget - pea sized red tomatoes. It is T20-129.

Tiny little Mexico Midgets - huge in flavor and productivity

Mexico Midget - I planted it in a rather poor location, counting on it’s weed-like stamina and strength for success. Saved this year as T-20-128, it was from a planting of T19-21, which was a volunteer seedling. I’ve grown it may times, first sent it by Barney Laman from California in 1990, and designated tomato #251. I’ve grown it many times since then - first saved as T91-77, it has graced my garden 18 different seasons. One peculiarity is that it is not easy to germinate, often taking up to a month, though a very few many pop up quite quickly. I think I’ve found the solution. If during fermentation I add some actively fermenting juice from another variety and give it a few days, seeds isolated and saved from that modified method germinate well and quickly. I’ve only tried it a few times, but it seems to do the trick. This would be great news, because no seed company to date can sell the variety (any sold as Mexico Midget are of a crossed selection, growing much larger fruit) because it fails germination standards. The tiny, literally pea sized fruit have an intense, full flavor. I’ve made cherry tomato pesto with it (Trapanese) and it works fine, though it takes a lot to do it. Best use, for us, is garden snacking, and adding to pizzas and omelets.

Fruity - perhaps the best flavored of the cherry tomatoes I grew this year

Fruity - What a wonderful mystery - and surprise - this small, unassuming scarlet red cherry is! I originally got the Fruity seed from a California friend, Tien Chiu - the seeds go back to a breeder named Tim Peters, and is supposedly a mix of colors (yellow, red, pink and orange). I’ve only seen the scarlet red version; this is the second year I’ve grown it, and it is the closest tomato in flavor to Sungold I’ve had. Tien sent me seed that is 6648 - I grew it for the first time last year, saved as T19-27. This year it was saved as T-20-125. It is a very tall lanky plant, clusters not as packed as other cherry tomatoes and on the small side. The scarlet color it ripens to is on the pale size. But…my, that intense flavor!

Ripe Egg Yolk showing its slightly larger size and occasionally slightly oval shape

Egg Yolk - I really like this large bright yellow cherry tomato, and my wife absolutely loves it. It is a particularly juicy variety, and has sufficient meatiness to make it more versatile than many other cherry types. For this year’s plant, I seeded T19-11, which came from T18-15, which came from T17-15, which was from T16-135, which was from 15-42, from 14-69, from 13-110, from 3672, the seed sent to me by SSE . It did very well, producing loads of sweet, balanced flavored fruits on a vigorous healthy plant. My first experience with Egg Yolk was at the annual SSE tomato tasting in 2012. It was one of the top scorers, and upon request I was sent some seeds. I grew it myself in 2013, and it has been in my gardens every year since. Egg Yolk originated in the garden of Larry Pierce in Missouri as a plant growing among his Moldovan Green variety. It is unclear if it is a sport (mutation), seed mix up, or result of a cross. It is clearly a stable variety now, and has been consistent each year I’ve grown it. Seed from this year is saved as T20-126.

A ripe cluster of Black Cherry growing over our deck railing

Black Cherry - it’s been quite a few years since this variety has graced my garden. My seed source was a SSE packet. My first experience was back when it was released by the company that created it, Tomato Growers Supply, a creation of Vince Sapp, husband of Linda Sapp, founder and long time owner of the company. I really loved it that year, with its dark, Bing cherry-like appearance and rich flavor. It doesn’t yield quite as heavily as typical cherry tomatoes, and can suffer cracking prior to full coloring. Since that first time in 2003, I’ve grown it 3 other times prior to its return this year. It is a popular variety and I always sell lots of seedlings of Black Cherry when I decide to offer it as an option. My plant this year grew well, but the yield was typically disappointing, with the flower clusters quite widely spaced along the stem. The flavor was fine - it didn’t shine, but didn’t disappoint, either. Seed was saved as T20-127.

Sungold F1 growing up and over our deck railing

Sungold F1 was, for the first time since I started growing it in the late 1980s, a slight disappointment. I planted seed lot 5237, which I purchased in 2015 from Tomato Growrs Supply. My wife and I both agreed that the flavor just wasn’t there - it was very good, but lacked the unique intensity that I always associate with Sungold. I just purchased new seeds from Johnny’s this year, my original source and the first to sell the variety in the US. Maybe last year was just an off-year for the variety, or our palates were slightly off, or expectations too high. We’ll give it another try this coming year with Johnny’s sourced seeds.