"Big Mystery"
 

I tried this when I first joined TV but I didn't have any luck so I want to try it again.

I call this tomato "big Mystery" because I don 't know what it is. The story goes: an old man brought a big tomato as a present to a lady he was sweet on who worked with a friend of mine in a garden center about 12 years ago. He had apparently grown this variety here in the Edmonton area for many years and was his pride. my friend thinks he might have called it "Chicago" He is nowhere to be found anymore.
The lady shared the tomato with the staff at lunch, my friend saved some seeds and gave them to me to ferment. I have grown it often since, saved seed (and it always comes perfectly true), and I would love to know what it is.
There is no record of an OP tomato known as "Chicago" any place I can find.
It is a very large RL early midseason plant. about 70 days . produces lots of Large mild sweet ribbed pink globe shaped tomatoes. around 16 oz each easily. always round, never flattened and always ribbed with very delicate thin skin. few seeds, very meaty.
I have seen a million tomato pictures but nothing seems to quite match up. I thought I would seek some ideas here. I realize it won't be definitive and it is possible that this is an unknown tomato but I would like some ideas of what you all think it could be.
Otherwise it will remain my "Big Mystery"
Thanks. KarenO

nice looking tomato

No clue what variety might be, but they are beautiful tomatoes!

Karen,
Good looking tomato. Looks an awful lot like a Brandywine Suddath's. The regular leaf description and the DTM don't match though. A relative perhaps?

NICE!

jon:yes::)

I hope Tania and Carolyn might have some ideas, they have gone through so many more varieties than most of us. I personally have never grown a large pink with such a regular round upright shape along with uniform fluting on all the tomatoes. My pinks of that size have been flattened oblates. Sounds like a great tomato, and sure is a pretty one, and my ears perked up when I read early midseason!

Those look great! I hope you'll off these up for trade at some point! I love reading/hearing about tomato stories!

Very often a person will just name a variety for him or herself, a family member, winning a contest with it at a local fair, named after the church and on and on. That church one is called Jean's Prize, and I've offered seeds for it in my seed offers here and was so named b'c Jean won so many prizes with it at the church harvest fair.

Maybe this man was originally from Chicago. No way to know, and in many cases more info can be unearthed, as it were, but in this case I don't see that happening.

Let me give you just one recent example.

A Tville member contacted me about a new variety she came across that was just called George's Seeds, or George's, she got more info about it and it turned out that George was the person who brought the seeds from Italy to the US.

So we talked about it quite a bit, via PM and the final name decided on was George's Giant Italian Red and it's being grown out by one of my seed producer folks who gardens in the midwest and if all goes well I'll be offering it in my next seed offer here. And thanks to Tam here at Tville for that one.

I can't tell you how many new ones I've ended up naming, hopefully with a family member, but if not, just having to go on its characteristics.

Neves Azorean Red is another example. I was given seeds for it by a local person who got them from a cousin near Boston, and doing some background sleuthing it turned out that the seeds were originally given to the man who owned Neptunes Harvest by Anthony Neves who had come from the Azores to the US and was trading fruits with the owner for some of the Neptune fish and seaweed products,

Instead of naming it myself I decided to let others know how difficult it can be to name a variety. So I started a thread at GW back in 2003 or so and gave all the background info I had and let them make suggestions. There were 22 folks who responded and the final name we decided on was Neves Azorean Red.

And I sent seeds to all 22 who participated in that thread.

[url]http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Neves_Azorean_Red[/url]

Carolyn

The lady he brought the tomato to...her name is Zena. If I can't identify it maybe it should be called Zena's gift. Goes with the story anyway. Thanks Carolyn
Karen

Nice tomato to go with a very nice story. Most guys give their lady flowers, or jewels, or such other... At TVille, we give the one we fancy the gift of a beautiful tomato.

[QUOTE=taboule;413430]Nice tomato to go with a very nice story. Most guys give their lady flowers, or jewels, or such other... At TVille, we give the one we fancy the gift of a beautiful tomato.[/QUOTE]

So true.

And Karen, trust me,you aren't going to be able to ID it with a known variety so maybe Zena's Gift would be perfect.:)

Carolyn

The "early" part attracted me as well. I'd love to trade for some for 2015! I like Zena's Gift as a name, too.

Beautiful tomato. I love the ribbing and the colors. I'd also love to trade for a few seeds, and the Zena's Gift is such an appropriate name. Thanks for sharing the Big Mystery.

You've got me at early(mid), meaty and few seeds. I'd be interested in trading in 2015. (Whatever the final name).

I can't resist a ribbed tomato! Aren't they the most beautiful? Intriguing that this one is round rather than flattened. I certainly would be interested to try it here in NC. I think your choice of name is lovely.
~Caroline

I too would be interested in a trade but for a 2014 fall garden

Me too, What a nice looking tomato with the perfect name.

I'm glad you folks are interested in it, it is a nice tomato. Unfortunately right now I do not have enough seed on hand to share as I am growing it out right now to get a fresh supply. (the plant I am growing is from 12 year old seed from that original tomato.)
I will be sure to save a bunch this year and I will offer it out in the fall to those here on TV who would like to try it.
I like the name Zena's gift and so it shall remain.
K

Wow! 12 year old seed still crankin! Zena's Gift looks special in all respects.

It reminds me of Ernesto not an exact match though.

Cold and dry here in AB :) stored in a metal watchmakers case from Lee Valley. you know those little metal clear lidded containers designed for tiny watch parts nested in a metal case. pretty much bullet proof way to store seeds. I have way to many for that case now but my oldest seeds are in there and those I've tried still seem to germinate.

I have newer seed but I wanted to regrow the original if I could get it to germinate and it did.
KO

[QUOTE=KarenO;413521]Cold and dry here in AB :) stored in a metal watchmakers case from Lee Valley. you know those little metal clear lidded containers designed for tiny watch parts nested in a metal case. pretty much bullet proof way to store seeds. I have way to many for that case now but my oldest seeds are in there and those I've tried still seem to germinate.

I have newer seed but I wanted to regrow the original if I could get it to germinate and it did.
KO[/QUOTE]

Karen you posted just before I was going to post and here's what I was going to say .

It bothers me a lot when some folks ask for seeds in a thread, and here's why.

First, only those posting in a thread know about a new variety which is not fair to all the other TVille members who might want seeds as well;

Second, you shouldn't expect Karen to copy down user names and then PM each of you telling you seeds are ready.

I quit listing the varieties to be grown out for my annual seed offer just b'c of this issue and I know a few others do the same.

If and when a person, such as Karen, have seeds to share, they start a thread in one of the seed exchange Forums and make that offer to ALL.

Above you saw I referred to Tam and her new variety she gave me a few seeds of, not hers, but seeds that were sent to her, She asked me if she should start a thread about the new variety and I advised her not to do so b'c I knew what would happen and she didn't have any seeds to share anyway.

When and if Karen has seeds to share I'm sure she will offer them in the seed exchange to all.

Karen, would you agree with me?

Carolyn, who BTW would appreciate a few seeds for seed production for her annual seed offer.:twisted::lol::?:

[QUOTE=KarenO;413504]I'm glad you folks are interested in it, it is a nice tomato. Unfortunately right now I do not have enough seed on hand to share as I am growing it out right now to get a fresh supply. (the plant I am growing is from 12 year old seed from that original tomato.)
I will be sure to save a bunch this year and I will offer it out in the fall to those here on TV who would like to try it.
I like the name Zena's gift and so it shall remain.
K[/QUOTE]

Sorry I didn't see this post first, but I consider my post as backing you up on availability.

12 yo seed isn't that old, I say that b'c I've never thrown out one saved seed since 1990 and the oldest seed I've ever been able to wake up was 22 yo seed of September Dawn.

But one does have to use some special methods to wake up very old seeds and it doesn't always work.:)

Carolyn

lol Carolyn I thought you'd never ask. When I have seed I will definitely let you know. I better grow this one in the best spot in the garden this year so I can get some good seed. Generally I never bag blooms but to be certain I will for this one
K.

It also looks like a Malinowy Olbrzym.

Is anyone here a SSE member who can tell me who listed Zena's Gift in the SSE as a new and rare variety?
Naturally with no attribution to the source (ME) or the story.
Fascinating day here. Pm me please.

KarenO

Yes, this will be very interesting indeed....

[QUOTE=KarenO;605324]Is anyone here a SSE member who can tell me who listed Zena's Gift in the SSE as a new and rare variety?
Naturally with no attribution to the source (ME) or the story.
Fascinating day here. Pm me please.

KarenO[/QUOTE]

Yes I can.

this is from I think 2-3 Years ago

(Here are some photo’s of my “Zena’s gift” tomato. It is quite stable and all of the fruits have either this round beefsteak appearance or more oblate sometimes and range from about 8-16 oz. thin skin, always lightly ribbed shoulders, never any green on the shoulders. first ripe fruit typically in mid July which makes it fairly early for a big tomato at about 70-75 days.Sometimes early blooms are compound so it is also capable of making large misshapen fruit.
A vigorous and large RL indeterminate plant.

I’m glad you are interested in it as I would really like to see some others grow it. It’s a great tomato.

******
Above is the info you gave to me, I still have it.

Neil got it from me as one of my seed producers,he lost all his plants 2-3 years ago including I think maybe 3 years ago,regrew it recently I think, but which Yearbook are you referring to since that makes a huge difference, and yes,he did know it came from you since I usually ID where seeds came from. If I had the time to look back in my data book I might find that.

You also PMed me about this.

If Neil forgot the source,I'm sorry.

I didn't know you were an SSE member,so that's good as well, I think,and I say that since I stopped being a listed member last year but being a longtime,lifetime member I still get all of the publications.

This year there was a huge rush for the listed members and no one was even answering at SSE for days at a time.

Now I'm also remembering that you sent me the seeds inside a card,I think I misplaced them and asked you to send them again,and you did.

I have no control whatsoever as to what someone might write as to background in the Yearbook.I only know that when I was still a listed member I wrote everything I knew about a variety.There have been times when a seed producer asks me if I have more history,sometimes I do,sometimes I don't.

Carolyn,who hopes that helps, and not a mystery to me at all.So I won't answer your PM since it's all here.

[QUOTE=Spartanburg123;605333]Yes, this will be very interesting indeed....[/QUOTE]

Darin, there are usually answers to be had as I'm sure you already know.

Carolyn

Nice story about the tomato Karen, I'm glad you brought this thread back up or I would've never knew it existed.

I tried to find seeds but SSE has no results when I did a search for it. Do I have to be a member to search or buy seeds?