Thread: Cherokee Lime
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Old February 10, 2012   #8
travis
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Evansville, IN
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Carol and Craig:

The "Cherokee Lime" has clear epidermis as was said earlier in the other thread about "Cherokee" tomatoes started today: http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=21290 So, it would seem it is not the same tomato as Cherokee Green which has a yellow epidermis.

Carol: You ask, "since Golden Cherokee was originally from Cherokee Green, isn't it possible that these green fruit are just the Cherokee Green?"

Since Craig has said in the earlier thread, "...beyond that (C. Purple, C. Chocolate, C. Green), any others were the results of crosses and selections, I believe," then obviously he would discount Cherokee Lime as being "just the Cherokee Green" not withstanding the clear epidermis vs. yellow epidermis, I would think.

Craig: Is it possible that Cherokee Chocolate and Cherokee Green also are the results of crosses rather than the much more rare "mutations?" I ask because it would seem possible there was instability beyond the 1:10,000+or- expectation of a spontaneous mutation in such a limited population of plants in such a short time span as what occurred.

Ami: It seems unlikely also that Cherokee Lime is a spontaneous mutation considering two people each got the same green-when-ripe expression in 2 out of 3 plants from the same seed batch in the same year.

Other things to consider: In my limited experience, I have not seen a green-when-ripe further devolve by segregation into anything other than green-when-ripe, although I have seen them develop more pronounced blossom end blushes, yellow > clear epidermis, and bicolored interior flesh as seasons went on and segregation continued.

My opinion? The original Cherokee Purple sourced seed may have experienced a small bit of stray pollen, although I will not venture a guess as to where it happened.
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