Sweet Betsy trillium and Virginia Bluebells on April 19 at Botanical Gardens of Asheville

Here is an article that I’ve not read in a long, long time. It is very characteristically “Carolyn” for sure.

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Seed Sources

by Carolyn

There are two types of seed sources that I want to discuss. First, there are several commercial firms that carry a good variety of heirlooms and I’ll list them. Second, we have available for you some interesting F2 seeds you might wish to consider growing out.

Before listing the commercial firms I would again encourage you to consider becoming a member of Seed Savers Exchange (SSE). SSE is not a commercial firm and is not a seed company. It is an organization dedicated to the preservation of heirloom vegetables, fruits and grains. If preserving our genetic heritage is important to you, you might wish to consider membership. Additionally, membership will give you access to about 3000 heirloom tomato varieties; almost all of the varieties mentioned in Off the Vine are available to sSE members. Hoepfully you’ve read the material concerning SSE in our first issue and would, if you join, offer seed to others through the Annual Yearbook although that is most certainlyNOT a requirement for membership. Send $1 for information/brochure to Seed Savers Exchange, 3076 North Winn Road, Decorah, IA 52101.

The following list of commercial sources is not inclusive; they are companies Craig and I hand others we know have dealth with and have been pleased with both the seeds and the service. Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, P.O. Box 170, Earlysville, VA 22936 (catalog $2) is a treasure trove of heirloom histories and excellent open-pollinated varieties; there is a large selection of heirloom tomatoes including several that have been mentioned in Off the Vine. Jeff McCormack added German Red Strawberry, Druzba, Manyel and Marizol Gold to his catalog this year and also has Riesentraube, Cherokee Purple, Eva Purple Ball and Green Grape along with many other excellent varieties. Gleckler’s Seedmen, Metamora, Ohio 43540 (catalog free) has a long list of heirloom varieties. Rob Johnston of Johnny’s Selected Seeds is enlarging his offerings of heirloom tomatoes and has several whose names you’ve read here such as Cherokee Purple, Cuostralee, Yellow Brandywine, Anna Russian and Tiger Tom. Craig and I have been sending seeds for trial to both Jeff McCormack and Rob Johnston for several years and are pleased that they have chosen to offer some of them to the public. Heirloom Seeds, PO.. Box 245, West Elizabeth PA 15088(catalog $1) is a small firm with an excellent selection of heirloom tomatoes. The following two companies carry both hybrids and heirloom tomatoes in their catalogs, which are free. Tomato Growers Supply Co. .O. Box 2237, Fort Meyers, FL 33902 and totally Tomatoes, P.O. Box 1626, Augusta, GA 30903. Linda Sapp at Tomato Growers Supply has greatly enlarged her offerings of heirloom tomatoes in the current 1995 catalog; craig and I are now sending seeds to Linda for trial and we hope that some of them will perform well enough to be offered through her catalog.

I think you could have a lot of fun with the F2 seeds we are making available to you. Stanley Zubrowski is an amateur Canadian hybridizer who has been trying to breed some taste (Brandywine) into some early varieties. We have F2 seeds of Brandywine X Kotlas, Brandywine X Stupice and Brandywine X Polish (red). The F1 plants of all three varieties gave fruit which was early, red or pink (should all be red; see discussion below) and with excellent taste; the Stupice, Polish and Kotlas F1 plants were potato-leafed. The foliage type will vary, as I’ll explain below, when you grow the F2 plants. Tad Smith, whose article about late blight is in this issue, gave us F1 seed from two crosses. Yellow Oxheart X Polish gave us huge pink hearts and Purple Perfect X Purple Price gave lovely dusky pink fruit with superb taste on a potato-leafed plant. The two parents of the “purple” cross have the same coloration as Cherokee Purple as do the F1 fruit. At the risk of incurring Craig’s wrath (Cherokee Purple is his “kid”), I must confess that I like Purple Perfect better than Cherokee Purple. If you send me a SASE (32 cents) I’ll send you 10 seeds of however many crosses of the five mentioned that you think you can handle. if you find a good one after stabilizing it for 20 years (I’m joking!) it would be a nice gesture to send me some seeds of your selection so I can forward them to Stanley and/or Tad. After all, they did the hybridizing and would like to know what the good offspring look like.

Now a few worlds about genetics so you’ll have some idea of what might happen when you plant the F2 seeds. The fruit which result from the initial hybridization of the two parents gives seeds which are referred to as F1 seeds. When planted, all the F1 plants and fruit of a particular cross will be identical. (In the Brandywine crosses mentioned above the F1 fruit should have been red because red is dominant to pink and Kotlas and Stupice and Polish are all red. The fact that Craig had pink fruit with the Kotlas and Stupice crosses suggests that some unplanned crossing occurred. Carolyn’s plants of the F1 Brandywine crosses gave all red fruit). It’s F1 seeds that you buy and plant if hybrid tomatoes are your preference. The fruit from the F1 plants gives seed referred to as F2 seed. When this seed is planted you’ll get a variety of different plants which might differ with respect to foliage type, fruit shape and color, earliness, etc. so if the F1 plants were potato-leafed, for instance the F2 plants may be regular or potato-leafed. If you find an F2 plant/fruit that you like, save the seeds and plant again the next year. These F3 seeds will also segregate out different characteristics so you’ll have to select again and re-plant. So how long does it take to genetically stabilize a variety? Well, how does 3-10 years sound? But it really is fun. As an example, let me tell you about an orange/red Brandywine that Craig and I are trying to stabilize. Three years ago Craig sent out some seeds of Yellow Brandywine. That fall he got back seeds from one person with a picture showing huge orange red fruit; clearly the seeds sent out by Craig had crossed with something else in his garden. Look, I’ve sent out crossed seeds too. You don’t like it to happen but it’s inevitable unless you grow varieties many feet apart (see article in first issue on isolation distances). So, the next Spring we planted the seeds. Craig got all regular leaf types with large so-so yellow tomatoes (not Yellow Brandywine type) and I got two potato-leafed plants (that’s what we’re after) that gave huge, delicious red/orange fruit and two-plants like Craig’s. I saved the seed from the potato-leafed/orange-red ones and planted them this past Spring. Well, the plants were all potato-leafed, so I was encouraged, but I got fruit which were pink, yellow and orange red. I saved the seeds from all three variants and will probably plant all o them this Spring even though I should only be planting the orange/red seeds. Craig grew out just one plant and it was potato-leafed with orange/red fruit. Some of the “rejects” are darn good and this stabilizing game really does start to grow on you. so if you have the room and the inclination, send me that SASE.

Lastly, I’ve received several requests and inquiries about my selling seed to the general public. Sorry, but I can’t, and I speak for Craig also. Our sole focus is to publish a newsletter which both educates and entertains with respect to heirloom tomatoes. Both of us are listed members of SSE and participate in related seed activities. When SSE requests start rolling in it is not unusual for us to spend 10-20 hours per week filling requests because we both list several hundred varieties with SSE. In addition, I deal with all the Off the Vine subscriptions and related matters which takes even more time. We aren’t retirees; both of us have demanding full time jobs. Craig is a chemist with Glaxo Pharmaceuticals and I am a college biology teacher. We both have other responsibilities; Craig has a lovely wife and two active daughters and I have an invalid mother who needs attention. I hope that also explains why we aren’t on a rigorous publishing schedule for Off the Vine; we’ll publish 3 issues per year but not necessarily on a rigid schedule. We have tried to enlarge the availability of some of our heirlooms to the general public by sending seeds for trial to Southern Exposure, Johnny’s, Tomato Growers Supply and now Pinetree Seeds; perhaps others will follow. After many years of friendship and a common passion for heirloom tomatoes Craig and I decided we wanted to share our enthusiasm and knowledge with others who have a similar interest, thus Off the Vine was “born”. And who knows, some day Craig and I might actually meet each other! Until then we “internet” it every few days unless a verbal exchange is necessary. And believe me, as those of you who know us personally already know, we are verbal!

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This issue really speaks for itself - homey, interesting, informative. And in some cases, a bit dated - addresses, people, companies, varieties - a testament that time passes, and things move on. Change is inevitable.