In a previous thread I had just gotten around to read.....and Yes! I found the discussion important enough to start a new topic under CrossTalk to (talk) about the breeding aspect of the new tomato called Tye-Dye Hybrid.
I would stop right now and read those posts before continuing here.
I included the link.....
Burpee does it again - UGH!
http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=12953
Here is the official write-up at Burpee's website...
To view a picture of the tomato look at this link.....
http://www.burpee.com/product/plants/tomato+plants/tomato+tye-dye+hybrid+-+packet+(15+seeds)/ViewLarger.do
Interesting that Burpee claims no relationship to Brad's Tie Dye even though the name is similar and also the flavor is like Big Rainbow, Pineapple and Georgia Streak...
Now permit me to show links to each of these three tomatoes....
Pineapple
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_jQWiCDyZBsI/Scr5YMmTYLI/AAAAAAAAAFk/k7AanYfQEfg/s1600-h/Tomato+Pineapple.png
Big Rainbow
http://www.burpee.com/images/en_US//local/products/detail/b63073.jpg
Georgia Streak tomato
http://www.reimerseeds.com/images/pr...mato_Seeds.jpg
My thought is that Burpee has a different clone than what Brad has....
Berkeley Tie Dye tomato
http://www.wildboarfarms.com/images/100_4693.jpg
After reviewing these photos, what are the parental backgrounds of Burpee's hybrid? Each variety looks like a simialr bi-color tomato. No information is given obviously on the pedigree. Brad's variety has stripes like the ancestor
Green Zebra with a bit of green flesh. Did Burpee (Petoseeds) (Seminis)(Monsanto) cross Brad's Tie Dye with one of these varieties? I would think that Burpee's line would have faint stripes if Brad's BTD was used a parent.Can we assume that George Ball had anything to do with this hybrid? Note the quote below for some insight or not....
Nauurally, I would like to grow a few plants of the hybrid Tie Dye and check out the F-2 population, maybe even cross it with my improved bi-colors such as my
Skykomish which has good late blight resistance (Ph-2 and Ph-3 genes).
A few years ago I sampled some of Brad's natural crosses of the Berkeley Tie Dye and from the segregations I have one I call
Join or Die. I should show a picture of that one on my blog someday. Names can change or they can stay identical to existing clones of tomatoes. Who knows why Burpee chose the name that Brad made famous. Burpee likely did make it a hybrid and in a year or so we will know if that is true.
When I gave my talks this past fall in Europe, I told everyone that I can not control the names of my varieties, nor control folks growing them or selling the seed. I do not have the money for patents, let alone the money to police it.
In basic terms I more or less said, "My seeds are your seeds"........
Thirty years ago I sent Burpee some of my tomato seeds for trial. They wrote back at the end of the season that they did not want to get into specialty tomato varieties and that they had no further interest in my lines. No other communication has progressed since.
From what Brad has told me over the years....many of his creations got their start from natural crosses of my Green Zebra. I have no control on what Brad or anyone else does with my lines. And I doubt if Brad Gates should persue any inquiry since my own efforts to ask for credit of breeding is not always honored. I am happy when credit is given, don't get me wrong.
I have hundreds and hundreds of tomato varieties that I have developed that I have not released yet and I could easily have folks sample that many F-1 hybrid tomato lines. I had not done so because there wasn't any reason or money in it.
The Skykomish variety of mine is a super bi-color like the Hybrid Tie Dye and I have it as a parent in nearly 80 crosses. A few folks in Europe are among the lucky ones to get to try them.
Funny, I got my loudest applause in Europe when I would bad-mouth Monsanto! But if the world really wants diversity.... companies like Monsanto will have to come to the little people who grow true diversity in their own backyard. I only fear that the execrable seed companies are practicing parricidal genocide of the work that private breeders do in creating new plant varieties.
Tom Wagner