Abbey's Catch
 

This was a yellow, potato-leaved pear-shaped cherry that I grew for about 5 years, thinking that it was Yellow Pear. Unfortunately, I cannot remember if it was always potato-leaved (wrong for YP, but right for Yellow Submarine). Last year, it gave me round yellow cherry tomatoes which were early and prolific, as usual.

I grew two F2's inside this winter (in a pot) and got exactly the same round yellow cherry tomatoes. I'm guessing that it will be edible tomorrow, so that will make it 90 days to maturity from sowing the seed!

Is this a mutation or did I have some cross pollination going on? I didn't grow any other yellow varieties, and the only PL tomato that I grew was Stupice, so that sounds an unlikely cross, given that Stupice is red.

Linda

It is most likely a cross though I could not guess what with. The gene for pyriform is recessive as are a couple of other genes involved in pear shaped fruit. Long and short of it is that you may have to grow out several dozen plants to find one that repeats the pear shape from the round fruited plant. Of course, it could always be a stray seed.

Many thanks for your opinion.

I don't think it was a stray seed since I didn't have seeds for any yellow tomatoes except for the pear-shaped cherries which I had saved for several years. I planted two last summer, and both gave me round cherries. (That in itself is unsurprising since I didn't know that we are supposed to save seed from different fruit.....)


Is it a stretch to think that it "reverted" to round? The F2's appear to be no different from the F1's although I admit only growing them two at a time is awfully slow-going.

Linda






[QUOTE=Fusion_power;389589]It is most likely a cross though I could not guess what with. The gene for pyriform is recessive as are a couple of other genes involved in pear shaped fruit. Long and short of it is that you may have to grow out several dozen plants to find one that repeats the pear shape from the round fruited plant. Of course, it could always be a stray seed.[/QUOTE]

I grew 2 plants of Abbey's Catch this year. Mine was PL and PROLIFIC! In a bad year for tomatoes this one produced hundreds. The taste was ok. The shape was round - somewhere in between a small saladette and a large cherry sized.

Thanks for trying them Nicky! I found them prolific and early too.

I think you might enjoy Dwarf Gaelen's (from the Plucky line) when it is released by the Dwarf Project. I grew some F5's this year and had two plants with really excellent flavor!

Linda

Cool! I gave one of the Abbeys catch plants to my brother. His 2 year old daughter loves them. A really nice variety. I think that I will grow it again next year! Thanks for the seeds!

Cool!

BTW my yellow dog, Abbey, loved them too. I would throw them to her to catch - hence the name.

This year, I grew several different cherries and tried to give her the ones from the varieties that I liked the least. She made a point of backing up and sitting beside the Sungold plant in the hopes that I would pick THOSE for her. She's no fool!

Linda

I grew it last year and it was PL very dark golden round cherries. nice plant! and there are very few PL cherries.
KarenO

A great find for sure.

I sit next to the Sungold plants hoping for ripe ones too!