Comments | gardening: ID heirloom tomato varieties?

sarea_okelani in gardening

ID heirloom tomato varieties?

Oct 14, 2011 21:50

Can anyone please help me identify these three heirloom tomatoes? I'd like to save the seeds for next season, and would like to label them with their varieties, if possible. I've looked online, but honestly I'm no expert and they could fit the bill for so many different ones! Maybe it's impossible to really tell just from looking at them, but ( Read more... )

plant id, seeds, vegetable: tomato, heirloom

Comments 9

labradors October 15 2011, 07:00:28 UTC

http://www.victoryseeds.com/tomato_orange.html
Does this page help at all?
Also, I don't know if it's common for all tomatoes like this, but they could all be the same kind even though they're not all ribby like the first one. My mr stripeys are like that, anyway. Some are huge and shaped like your first one and others are smaller and round all on the same plant.

sarea_okelani October 15 2011, 07:34:39 UTC

I've seen many pages similar to that, but frankly I just can't tell the difference! Maybe it's impossible to just go off their looks, really.

labradors October 15 2011, 09:49:38 UTC

I'd go with orange brandywine or old timey yellow as the closest.
Since you purchased these be aware that the seeds from these are probably cross pollinated with whatever other tomato variety was growing nearby and may not look anything like these tomatoes next year. If you for sure want these it's safer to purchase the seeds.

liminalia October 15 2011, 16:10:39 UTC

This.

Thread 5

virginiadear October 15 2011, 07:17:42 UTC

I can't tell by looking, unfortunately, but this thought crossed my mind: can you reverse engineer their names ( ... )

sarea_okelani October 15 2011, 07:33:40 UTC

Unfortunately, these tomatoes were purchased, and there was absolutely no hint of what varieties they might be. :/

virginiadear October 15 2011, 07:48:30 UTC

You still might try a catalogue to see what looks similar.

More questions: *Where* did you purchase your tomatoes? Farmers' market? Natural foods market? Roadside stand? (Pick-it-yourself farm? That's too much to hope for, I suppose.) What I'm thinking here is again, if you can find the grower---hopefully in your area which is the better ecological choice (we're trying hard around my house to be locavores)---he might be able to say, "We planted these varieties of orange tomatoes" and again, while you might not know with certainty that your tomatoes are A, B, and C, you have narrowed the field of possibles.

If you purchased them at your local supermarket, have you asked the produce manager there? He or she might be able to help you.

What is each tomato variety like on the inside? That might provide clues, too.

rosewalker October 18 2011, 12:56:05 UTC

#2 looks like Dad's Sunset, but I don't think that's a very common heirloom to find.

What kind of leaves did the plant on #1 have? Regular, or potato leaf? If potato leaf, I'd guess yellow brandywine. If regular, maybe Kellog's Breakfast? Those are both pretty popular big orange/yellow varieties.