Always a new experience

nancyruhl · August 2, 2018

The last couple of summers, I have been admiring an extremely black cherry tomato growing at the community garden. At the end of the season, after the plot was cleaned out, there was a few laying on the ground. Me, being me, grabbed them and read the label still in the ground. Blue Chocolate. I grew them out this year and got a different tomato with a cute pointed tip. They have a pretty decent flavor, and add nice unique shape and color to my bowl of harvested cherry tomatoes, so I set out to ferment some seeds for next year. Trouble is, there are no seeds. I have repeated the process 3 times. No seeds. Anyone else have this happen.

IronPete · August 2, 2018

Wow! Nice maters! I, like you, would have taken one from the ground for seeds.

Sounds like you may have started with a hybrid being that their shape is different. I haven't had any tomatoes without seeds but recall on a variety of tomatoes like Siletz for example the first tomatoes harvested often don't have seeds but later ones do. Keep trying. Looks like a nice tomato.

Pete

bower · August 2, 2018

I have had some seedless tomatoes in my greenhouse in very hot weather. Not all varieties but a few will set fruit in conditions that they have no viable seeds to mature. I guess it's the parthenocarpy trait turning up at random, except that for varieties not officially parthenocarpic, such fruit are generally very small - smaller than normal for their kind.

Blue Chocolate is not a hybrid:
http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/blue-...e-tomato-seeds

But I guess your fruit may have been crossed with something else.

It seems unlikely though because there are a lot of recessives carried over - it would've had to cross with another blue-black fruit (or I may be wrong, don't know if the anthocyanin genes are recessive or not). If antho is dominant, it could have crossed with another black (or brown) fruit with a pointy shape.

But sometimes a pointy shape is a gene that is present but only expressed in certain environmental conditions.

In short, pretty much of a mystery.

ContainerTed · August 2, 2018

I checked the Tradewinds site and there was no pointy ends, and then checked for "images of Blue Chocolate tomato". Most of the pictures made me think of one I've been growing since 2010. My seed source was a trade with a friend. It displays the antho where direct sun reaches the skin of the fruit. I think the "images" and the picture below are remarkably similar.

My tomato came with the name "Blue Cherry". The taste is excellent and reminds me of a slightly sweet large Tommy Toe. The fruits displayed in my picture are in various states of ripening. The lower left red is what the areas without antho will ripen to.

**carolyn137** · August 2, 2018

Blue Cherry tomatoes

https://www.google.com/search?q=Blue...&bih=815&dpr=1

Carolyn

VC Scott · August 2, 2018

Blue Chocolate is a Brad Gates variety

https://wildboarfarms.com/product/blue-chocolate/

ContainerTed · August 3, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Blue Cherry tomatoes

https://www.google.com/search?q=Blue...&bih=815&dpr=1

Carolyn

That's right, Carolyn. You don't find the name Blue Cherry assigned to one variety when you search. I haven't released this variety to the public yet. And, when I do let it out there, it might not be named Blue Cherry. By posting here, I was only showing the similarities between all of the newer products available. The picture in post #1 is not exactly the picture from Brad Gates.

Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack the thread.

jtjmartin · August 3, 2018

They look like a cross between two varieties I'm growing this year - the shoulders of Blue Chocolate and the pointy end of Rebel Alliance. (Seeds will go to the MMMM)

Jeff

greenthumbomaha · August 3, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by jtjmartin

They look like a cross between two varieties I'm growing this year - the shoulders of Blue Chocolate and the pointy end of Rebel Alliance. (Seeds will go to the MMMM)

Jeff

JT , Like Button

Nancy, If you harvest more of the Blue Chocolate cherries, could you share a photo of one cut open please. I've grown tomatoes with few seeds, but not one with with no seeds or immature seeds. I'd like to see that.

- Lisa

nancyruhl · August 4, 2018

I will take a picture of the next batch cut open. The gel is green. I squeezed the inards of the batch in the picture into a container and, again there is great fermentation going on. I do not see any seeds dropping down. Certainly, this is a mature plant at this time of the season. Strange.

Jeff, I, too, am growing Rebel Alliance this year, seeds from Marsha, and really like it. My cherry tomato lineup has been awesome this year. I am again growing Rev Michael Keyes, original seeds from Marsha, and Golkrone and Pink Princess from the MMMM. I think Pink Princess could be considered for The KYSO category of the MMMM, it tastes that good. I also grew Cinnamon Pear, which is also good and even more productive than Rebel Alliance. I am harvesting serving bowls of cherries often and giving lots away.

August 2, 2018	#2
IronPete Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2014 Location: Charlottetown, PEI, Canada Posts: 302	Wow! Nice maters! I, like you, would have taken one from the ground for seeds. Sounds like you may have started with a hybrid being that their shape is different. I haven't had any tomatoes without seeds but recall on a variety of tomatoes like Siletz for example the first tomatoes harvested often don't have seeds but later ones do. Keep trying. Looks like a nice tomato. Pete __________________ Thanks; Iron Pete "We can agree to disagree."

August 2, 2018	#5
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	Blue Cherry tomatoes https://www.google.com/search?q=Blue...&bih=815&dpr=1 Carolyn __________________ Carolyn

August 2, 2018	#3
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,793	I have had some seedless tomatoes in my greenhouse in very hot weather. Not all varieties but a few will set fruit in conditions that they have no viable seeds to mature. I guess it's the parthenocarpy trait turning up at random, except that for varieties not officially parthenocarpic, such fruit are generally very small - smaller than normal for their kind. Blue Chocolate is not a hybrid: http://www.tradewindsfruit.com/blue-...e-tomato-seeds But I guess your fruit may have been crossed with something else. It seems unlikely though because there are a lot of recessives carried over - it would've had to cross with another blue-black fruit (or I may be wrong, don't know if the anthocyanin genes are recessive or not). If antho is dominant, it could have crossed with another black (or brown) fruit with a pointy shape. But sometimes a pointy shape is a gene that is present but only expressed in certain environmental conditions. In short, pretty much of a mystery.

August 2, 2018	#6
VC Scott Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: San Marcos, CA Posts: 352	Blue Chocolate is a Brad Gates variety https://wildboarfarms.com/product/blue-chocolate/

August 3, 2018	#8
jtjmartin Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2016 Location: Williamsburg VA Zone 7b Posts: 1,110	They look like a cross between two varieties I'm growing this year - the shoulders of Blue Chocolate and the pointy end of Rebel Alliance. (Seeds will go to the MMMM) Jeff

August 4, 2018	#10
nancyruhl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Metro Detroit, Michigan Posts: 1,051	I will take a picture of the next batch cut open. The gel is green. I squeezed the inards of the batch in the picture into a container and, again there is great fermentation going on. I do not see any seeds dropping down. Certainly, this is a mature plant at this time of the season. Strange. Jeff, I, too, am growing Rebel Alliance this year, seeds from Marsha, and really like it. My cherry tomato lineup has been awesome this year. I am again growing Rev Michael Keyes, original seeds from Marsha, and Golkrone and Pink Princess from the MMMM. I think Pink Princess could be considered for The KYSO category of the MMMM, it tastes that good. I also grew Cinnamon Pear, which is also good and even more productive than Rebel Alliance. I am harvesting serving bowls of cherries often and giving lots away.