A glossary of commonly used tomato culture abbreviations
 

[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=4][COLOR=green]After reading Thawley's post about PL and RL, I figured it wouldn't hurt to have a glossary for the folks who are new to our abbreviated language. I will get the ball rolling. Feel free to add some tomato and gardening terms that appear here on the forum. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=4][COLOR=#008000]DTM - days to maturity - This is the number that you see on seed packs indicating how long (on average) it takes from the time you transplant into the garden until you have ripe fruit. I suppose it is one way of comparing the earliness or lateness of varieties but I have found it pretty much meaningless. I have had tomatoes with a DTM of 85 days come in at 50 and vice versa. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]


[FONT=Tahoma][SIZE=4][COLOR=#008000]mater[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

I had someone here help compile a list of all of the abbreviations/acronyms that we use around here...when I recently resychronized the storage forum here (where I put it to work on further) I accidentally deleted it. :(

I [I]think [/I]I also have it tucked away in an email somewhere...I promise I will look for it and post it ASAP, if I find it. ;)

A few more unknowns:
• Dwarf (is this just another name for determatate?)
• F1, F2, F3???

More for the list:
• BER: Blossom End Rot
• Florida weave: trellising method
• SSE: Seed Savers Exchange
• EB's:Earthboxes
• MG: Miracle-Gro®

OP : open pollinated
CP : cross pollinated ...

DTM from date of transplant to maturity depends on the state of transplanting, I see tomato-lovers transplants tiny seedlings upto plants bearing flowers already so that will influence the time to mature as well...

(IN)DET erminate
PL : potatoleaf

Here's a few (I may add more later):

LGS - Lime Green Salad
NBD - New Big Dwarf
BWS (or BW Sud) - Brandywine, Sudduth
BW - Brandywine
CP (or ChP) - Cherokee Purple
CC (or ChC) - Cherokee Chocolate
CG (or ChG) - Cherokee Green
RL - regular leaf
GMGPL (or GMG) - Grub's Mystery Green PL

TV = Tomatoville

:mrgreen:
dcarch

[COLOR=green]SOL - when your garden is attacked by blister beetles and hornworms and you have a major hailstorm all in the same day.[/COLOR]
[COLOR=green][/COLOR]
[COLOR=green]mater[/COLOR]

F1, F2, F3 - refers to the generation of crossed seeds in the process of stabilizing, it can take many generations (7+) to fully stabilize a cross or hybrid

RL- regular leaf

All dwarfs are determinate, but not all determinates are dwarfs

BTW - What would you call it when a F2 or F3 looks like it wants to be a PL, but still has some serrations?

laurel-tx

BTD = Berkeley Tie Dye
ARGG = Aunt Ruby's German Green
SOTW = Stump of the World
TGSC = Tomato Grower's Supply Co. (I've also seen this one listed as TGS)
TT = Totally Tomatoes

I'm sure I'll think of more later...

DIY EB = Do-it-yourself Earthbox(R). Self-watering plant containers which are homemade versions of the commercial version sold as Earthboxes(R). There is a long thread in the Growing in Containers forum on how to make these.

NAR = Neve's Azorean Red
MP = Marianna's Peace

WMT/SF
Worths mystery tomato small fruited.:?

Worth

Mischka--

Here it is...

AGG Aunt Gertie's Gold
AKA Also Known As
ARJR Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Red
ARGG Aunt Ruby's German Green
ASAP As Soon As Possible
BB Bloody Butcher, BrandyBoy
BBH Brad's Black Heart
BCW Box Car Willie
BER Blossom End Rot
BFT Black From Tula
BLT AKA RTS (Ruined Tomato Sandwich)
BT Bacillus thuringiensis
BTD Berkely Tie Dye
BTW By The Way
BW Brandywine
CC Cherokee Chocolate
ChChoc Cherokee Chocolate
CG Cherokee Green
ChGreen - Cherokee Green
CP Cherokee Purple
ChPur - Cherokee Purple
CRM Concrete Reinforcing Mesh same as CRW
CRW Concrete Reinforcing Wire same as CRM
Det Determinate
DH Dear Husband
DTM Days To Maturity
DW Dear Wife
EF Earl's Faux
EPA Environmental Protection Agency
EPB Eva Purple Ball
FWIW For What Its Worth
GA Gregori's Altai
GDC - Golden Dwarf Champion
GG Green Giant
GH GreenHouse
GJ - German Johnson
GMG Grub's Mystery Green
GMO Genetically Modified Organism
GRS German Red Strawberry
GW Garden Web
IMHO In My Humble Opinion
IMO In My Opinion
Indet Indeterminate
Ind Indeterminate
JF Jaune Flammee
KB Kellogg's Breakfast
KBX Kellogg's Breakfast, potato leaf
KHP Kalman's Hungarian Pink
LC Lucky Cross
Lucky X - Lucky Cross
LL - Little Lucky
LGS Lime Green Salad
LOL Laugh Out Loud
LPB Large Pink Bulgarian
LYH Lillian's Yellow Heirloom
MG Miracle-Gro
ML Mortgage Lifter
MP Marianna's Peace
NAR Neves Azorean Red
NBD New Big Dwarf
NCP Natural Cross-Pollination
NPK Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium
NSP Natural Self-pollination
OP Open Pollinated
OTOH On The Other Hand
OTV Off The Vine
PL Potato Leaf
PM Private Message
PNW Pacific North West
PPP Pink Ping Pong
RL Regular Leaf
ROFLMAO Rolling On the Floor Laughing My A** Off
SASE Self Addressed Stamped Envelope
SESE Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
SFG Square Foot Gardening
SFT Silvery Fir Tree
SH Southern Hemisphere
SHP Sand Hill Preservation
SO Significant Other
SOW Stump Of the World
SSE Seed Saver's Exchange
TGS(C) Tomato Grower's Supply Company
TMV Tobacco Mosaic Virus
TSWV Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus
TT Totally Tomatoes
TYVM Thank You Very Much
TYW Tom's Yellow Wonder
WOW Wall O' Water

Please edit and relocate at will:D

Kurt

edited - I added a few!
Craig

NICE! Thanks for the post.

I've seen a variation on "DW Dear Wife"...

SWMBO: She Who Must Be Obeyed

Thawley

Now we're cookin'!

Thanks!

a few more...

AFAIK as far as I know
BSF black soldier fly (its beneficial larvae are common in summer compost)
GE genetically engineered
GW GardenWeb
IIRC if I recall correctly
IRL in real life
SASBE self-addressed stamped bubble envelope (to prevent seeds from being mangled by post office; alternative is to make the envelope 1/4 inch thick or more and pay extra 20 cents postage for hand canceling)

If we can keep this thread running with additional abbreviations, I will consolidate them into page in the FAQ section of the forum... please keep 'em coming folks! ;)

Hard to just pull the abbreviations out of the hat.
TTC --Texas Tomato Cage
(sp) --spelling issues...may or may not be spelled right
TT---Tomato Tone fertilizer
SWC --self watering container
IOW -- in other words
FWIW -- for what it's worth
FYI -- for your information
MG --Miracle Gro AKA the "blue stuff"
AKA --also known as

BWPS - Big White Pink Stripes (seems to be marketed by the accronym alone)
BER - Blossom End Rot
TMV - Tobacco Mosaic Virus
TSWV - Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus

And I have seen one for Semi-Determinant, but unsure what is correct acronym.
Thanks so much, this will be useful :-) kd

[quote]All dwarfs are determinate, ...[/quote]'Fraid not. Dwarfs may be determinate or indeterminate. Dwarfism has to do with internode length, which doesn't seem at all related to flowering habit, the determinant of whether a variety is determinate or indeterminate, as the dwarf project is showing with its numerous indeterminate varieties.

abbreviations
Being fairly new here I would see all these abbreviations and wonder what they stood for. I ran accross this thread and thought it was very useful. Last post was in Jan.2010

LMAO
 

Was LMAO mentioned = laughing my a-- off.

I think the dwarf situation is worth discussing a bit more. ALL dwarfs are "shorter" than indeterminate varieties, and all ALL dwarfs are very distinct in growth habit - very stocky, thick central stem, crinkly, dark green foliage. When we refer to indeterminate and determinate dwarfs, it is more around how they shoot out the blossom clusters, and height potential. Indeterminate dwarfs - such as Summertime Green, Summertime Gold (all of the Sneezy family), will top out at 4 feet or maybe a bit more by the end of the growing season (compare to a true indeterminate, which can go 8-12 plus feet, if you stake). They tend to have the blossom clusters off the main central stem, within the foliage radius of the plant (you don't typically see indeterminate dwarfs shooting blossom clusters beyond the foliage). Determinate dwarfs, which seem to be a characteristic of the Sleepy family - Rosella Crimson, Rosella Purple as examples - and the Grumpy family - are "rounder" looking plants - more branching, less rapid upward growth, topping out at 3 feet or so. These are the ones that can pop enormous blossom clusters out the top of the plants. But all Dwarfs, like indeterminate varieties, flower and fruit all year, until killed by frost.

It really isn't all that clear cut - there are selections that seem to be in between the two above. But it really isn't important, since all dwarfs - both determinate and indeterminate - are easily caged and grown on short stakes.....

GWR - Green When Ripe

[B]CSA[/B] - [I]community supported agriculture[/I], also known as "subscription farming."

You purchase a subscription from a local farmer, just like you would do for a subscription to a weekly newspaper or magazine. The difference is that you receive fresh, locally grown or raised fruit and/or vegetables.

CSA subscribers pay upfront for the season of produce (average is $400-$600). This early bulk payment enables the local farmer to plan for the season, purchase new seed, make equipment repairs and more.

Some farmers also offer CSA subscriptions for farm-fresh eggs, and/or meats.

As a newbie, I think this is a great idea, but can't help wondering why the
poster can't just peck out the name of a mater like Brandywine instead of
having an abbreviation of BW. Yes, often I can figure them out, but the time it
takes me to do that is longer than the time it would have taken the author to
type the name for the benefit of all newbies and some oldtimers.:x

I think with brandywine it's because both it's a popular type, and there are multiple variations. With something like Potato Leaf/Regular Leaf - PL/RL you might be discussing a whole list of tomatoes, and have to type the long way dozens of times in a post of the list. Also, there's the spelling to consider, you can probably figure it out if you need to type it out, but you might have to stop typing and think about it.

Thats a load of BS!!!!!

Sorry i had to do this

RTFM - read the fine manual

[quote=FILMNET;206145]Thats a load of BS!!!!!

Sorry i had to do this[/quote]

No, you didn't have to do it. I was going to edit your post but decided to leave it for now and just to say that using such an abbreviation that's known to all doesn't stand for the variety Big Sungold. So please do refrain yourself in the future.:)

Alpine, everyone starts out as a newbie at some point and thre are abbreviations that one learns as one learns more and more about tomato varieties. If you don't understand some of the abbreviations then just ask the person posting what one stands for if you don't see it in the posts above.

There will never be a comprehensive list of tomato variety abbreviations for the simple fact that there upwards of 10-12,000 varieties in circulation. Add to that that many Tville members who are from countries where the spellings of some varieties are truly hard to remember without looking them up each time you want to fully name a variety. And many US folks grow those same varieties.

And there are varieties not just from Europe and other countries, but tons of them from the US that also are hard to spell. If you look at the thread on grow lists here in the GEneral Discussion Forum you'll see that almost to a person variety names are spelled out in full. That's for the Grow lists, but in regular posts many use abbreviations and I do myself.

So, again, if you see an abbreviation for a variety that you don't know, just ask the person right in that thread what it stands for b'c if you PM the person about it that means that perhaps others who didn't know what it stood for and were too shy, or whatever to ask, won't know either.

Hope that helps.

The proper way to use any acronym such as "BW" is to use it [U]only[/U] after it was first spelled out: Brandywine. Then it can be subsequently referred to as BW as most all readers will be able to figure out what it means, newbie or not. To begin an initial post full of abbreviations or acronyms in any forum is just rude (ask Miss Manners).;-)