I love growing Pansies from seeds - these were started in the fall of 2021 indoors, and are finally in bloom!

Here is another guest article, by Dr. John Rahart of Bosque, New Mexico, by invitation by Carolyn.

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Adaptation of Tomatoes

by John Rahart

Let me start by telling you about the tomato known as Myona. Brought to this country by an Italian immigrant shortly after the turn of the century, it was grown continuously in his garden. In the early 1980’s the man parted with some of his plants and a few of them made their way to my dad who lived nearby (Suffern, NY/Mahwah, NJ). People had always brought their favorites to dad and he had in his collection some impressive varieties, but Myona was equal to or better than the varieties he had previously grown. When I heard his glowing accounts I implored him to send me some spare seed, which arrived without a name. After checking back with the elderly man who had grown it those many years it was confirmed that I was called Myona and that it was the correct spelling. As the elderly man said in a heavily accented voice, “itza myona, itza gotta no nama, itza myona tomato! Ima already tolda you, watza damadda wid you annawayah!” Indeed, it was his tomato.

My greedy little fingers slipped the seeds out of their packet. I pressed my little trophies into the soil, watered, loved and bragged about them even before they flowered. Were these going to dazzle the neighbors or what? I could feel the fame and glory already. To shorten a lengthy narrative … they fizzled! The fruit were small, irregular and atypical compared to what they should have been. However, I had never seen “the real thing”. So I saved seed and planted the next year. Ditto the next year. I wasn’t quite sure what my dad saw in them; they were OK but nothing to marvel about.

An amazing thing happened when the third generation plants matured their fruit. The tomatoes were very large 5 ½” by 4” wide oxhearts, uniform, solid, marvelous, stupendous tomatoes … nothing like the previous two years fruit. Elated at fostering a miracle I was still patting myself on the back when my dad back in New York laughed and said, “that’s the way they’re supposed to look”. I didn’t realize it at the time but I had just stumbled onto a coincidence. I lived in Wyoming: cool, arid, high ultraviolet (7000’ elevation), they lived in NY: hotter, humid, low UV at sea level.

Several years later I moved to New Mexico. After doing the traditional rave and brag dance about your most stupendous tomato I gave some seeds of Myona to a new friend who lived down the street. She carefully planted and grew them, and was NOT impressed! New Mexico: hot, very arid and high UV … it sounded familiar. In convinced her to do the three generation waltz with Myona.

Upon birth and delivery of the third generation of Myonas I was reestablished as a gardening star. How could I be so certain that the Wyoming experience was not just a fluke? The truth is that by then I had acclimated several other highly touted but low performing tomatoes and many of them responded in the same way that the Myonas had in Wyoming. I was not dealing with a cross-pollination problem but with plants which could not immediately respond to such drastic changes in growing conditions. By saving the seed each year and regrowing for several years (usually 3) I was able to get the plant acclimated to the new growing conditions and only then was the plant able to perform “as advertised”.

For people not satisfied with a new tomato which they feel has more potential than they observe, I’d suggest saving seed and growing out several generations before pronouncing it inferior, especially if the seed came to you from a non-similar climate or latitude. Why and/or how does this work? I don’t know; several theories are possible. First, all organisms carry dormant (non-expressed) genes in their chromosomes. It’s possible that stress activates these genes which are then passed active to the offspring enabling the offspring to better accommodate new situations. Second, climate, UV, elevation, photo-period and other stress agents probably affect gene expression as well as affecting the growing plant directly. Third, the presence of mycorrhizae might facilitate adaptation. Mycorrhizae are fungi which form a mutualistic relationship with over 80% of vascular plants. The endomycorrhizae (as opposed to the “ecto” type) are found, for example, in corn, wheat, tomatoes, beans and apples. The fungal hyphae actually penetrate into the plant tissue. In wet environments they can increase the amount of plant nutrients, especially phosphorus, and in arid environments they aid in water uptake. Perhaps adaptation is related to specific species of these fungi infecting the roots. If you absolutely must adapt a particular variety why don’t you ask the seed donor for some soil and mix that soil with your potting mix for that variety. It’s worth a try. Fourth, gnomes, devas and nature spirits … they probably hold back the growth of the plants until they thoroughly test everyone to see who really loves their tomatoes. Why not?

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This is really a fascinating article. It touches on a subject that I have lots of opinions on - whether a tomato can “adapt” to an area (as described above), or whether the particular variety is mixed - a hybrid - or early generation - and different results are from various genetic combinations showing themselves in small, random growing of seeds. So I republish this to share it with all of you - it is an opinion, an experience, and approach. Who can argue with that! Enjoy!