"Big Mystery"

KarenO · May 28, 2014

I tried this when I first joined TV but I didn't have any luck so I want to try it again.

I call this tomato "big Mystery" because I don 't know what it is. The story goes: an old man brought a big tomato as a present to a lady he was sweet on who worked with a friend of mine in a garden center about 12 years ago. He had apparently grown this variety here in the Edmonton area for many years and was his pride. my friend thinks he might have called it "Chicago" He is nowhere to be found anymore.
The lady shared the tomato with the staff at lunch, my friend saved some seeds and gave them to me to ferment. I have grown it often since, saved seed (and it always comes perfectly true), and I would love to know what it is.
There is no record of an OP tomato known as "Chicago" any place I can find.
It is a very large RL early midseason plant. about 70 days . produces lots of Large mild sweet ribbed pink globe shaped tomatoes. around 16 oz each easily. always round, never flattened and always ribbed with very delicate thin skin. few seeds, very meaty.
I have seen a million tomato pictures but nothing seems to quite match up. I thought I would seek some ideas here. I realize it won't be definitive and it is possible that this is an unknown tomato but I would like some ideas of what you all think it could be.
Otherwise it will remain my "Big Mystery"
Thanks. KarenO

rags57078 · May 28, 2014

nice looking tomato

kath · May 28, 2014

No clue what variety might be, but they are beautiful tomatoes!

JamesL · May 28, 2014

Karen,
Good looking tomato. Looks an awful lot like a Brandywine Suddath's. The regular leaf description and the DTM don't match though. A relative perhaps?

peppero · May 29, 2014

NICE!

jon

ddsack · May 29, 2014

I hope Tania and Carolyn might have some ideas, they have gone through so many more varieties than most of us. I personally have never grown a large pink with such a regular round upright shape along with uniform fluting on all the tomatoes. My pinks of that size have been flattened oblates. Sounds like a great tomato, and sure is a pretty one, and my ears perked up when I read early midseason!

luigiwu · May 29, 2014

Those look great! I hope you'll off these up for trade at some point! I love reading/hearing about tomato stories!

**carolyn137** · May 29, 2014

Very often a person will just name a variety for him or herself, a family member, winning a contest with it at a local fair, named after the church and on and on. That church one is called Jean's Prize, and I've offered seeds for it in my seed offers here and was so named b'c Jean won so many prizes with it at the church harvest fair.

Maybe this man was originally from Chicago. No way to know, and in many cases more info can be unearthed, as it were, but in this case I don't see that happening.

Let me give you just one recent example.

A Tville member contacted me about a new variety she came across that was just called George's Seeds, or George's, she got more info about it and it turned out that George was the person who brought the seeds from Italy to the US.

So we talked about it quite a bit, via PM and the final name decided on was George's Giant Italian Red and it's being grown out by one of my seed producer folks who gardens in the midwest and if all goes well I'll be offering it in my next seed offer here. And thanks to Tam here at Tville for that one.

I can't tell you how many new ones I've ended up naming, hopefully with a family member, but if not, just having to go on its characteristics.

Neves Azorean Red is another example. I was given seeds for it by a local person who got them from a cousin near Boston, and doing some background sleuthing it turned out that the seeds were originally given to the man who owned Neptunes Harvest by Anthony Neves who had come from the Azores to the US and was trading fruits with the owner for some of the Neptune fish and seaweed products,

Instead of naming it myself I decided to let others know how difficult it can be to name a variety. So I started a thread at GW back in 2003 or so and gave all the background info I had and let them make suggestions. There were 22 folks who responded and the final name we decided on was Neves Azorean Red.

And I sent seeds to all 22 who participated in that thread.

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/w...es_Azorean_Red

Carolyn

DoubleJ · March 25, 2017

Quote:

Originally Posted by carolyn137

Very often a person will just name a variety for him or herself, a family member, winning a contest with it at a local fair, named after the church and on and on. That church one is called Jean's Prize, and I've offered seeds for it in my seed offers here and was so named b'c Jean won so many prizes with it at the church harvest fair.

Carolyn

Back into starting tomatoes again after a few years off. Life gets busy in the summer with 3 boys. Anyway, I looked and looked for Jean's Prize for sale anywhere and couldn't find it. I had 6 seeds left after giving most away and they were years old, I would say at least 5 years old. I started all 6 and only one came up. Now I have to baby this one surviving plant to be able to save seeds from it this summer.

Thank you again Carolyn

Nattybo! · March 25, 2017

Oh wow! What a beautiful story! KarenO, thank you for saving this beautiful tomato. It would have been lost forever had it not been for you. I think the name you picked is lovely too. Perfect. I think the old man would have liked it too. Northerners and southerners alike would like an early tomato. Thanks again for saving this tomato's genetics. It is so very pretty.

**carolyn137** · March 26, 2017

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoubleJ

Back into starting tomatoes again after a few years off. Life gets busy in the summer with 3 boys. Anyway, I looked and looked for Jean's Prize for sale anywhere and couldn't find it. I had 6 seeds left after giving most away and they were years old, I would say at least 5 years old. I started all 6 and only one came up. Now I have to baby this one surviving plant to be able to save seeds from it this summer.

Thank you again Carolyn

Here's a suggestion.

If your one plant grows OK, why don't you cosider taking some cuttings from it and sticking those in the same soil or artificial mix you used to sow your seeds.NOT not in water.

Take cuttings from where two branches go off kinda together, and in the middle of those two,kind of in the arm pit, you'll see a new small branch growing and those are the ones you want.

Let me know if it works out and if not and you don't get seeds I'm pretty sure I may still have some, probably quite old,but not that old that they couldn't be awakened.

Here's some help on how to take cuttings,with pictures

https://www.google.com/search?q=taki...&bih=788&dpr=1

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...k1.0YrNaKJ_-ts

Carolyn

KarenO · May 29, 2014

The lady he brought the tomato to...her name is Zena. If I can't identify it maybe it should be called Zena's gift. Goes with the story anyway. Thanks Carolyn
Karen

taboule · May 29, 2014

Nice tomato to go with a very nice story. Most guys give their lady flowers, or jewels, or such other... At TVille, we give the one we fancy the gift of a beautiful tomato.

**carolyn137** · May 29, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by taboule

Nice tomato to go with a very nice story. Most guys give their lady flowers, or jewels, or such other... At TVille, we give the one we fancy the gift of a beautiful tomato.

So true.

And Karen, trust me,you aren't going to be able to ID it with a known variety so maybe Zena's Gift would be perfect.

Carolyn

RobinB · May 29, 2014

The "early" part attracted me as well. I'd love to trade for some for 2015! I like Zena's Gift as a name, too.

May 29, 2014	#6
ddsack Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Northern Minnesota - zone 3 Posts: 3,220	I hope Tania and Carolyn might have some ideas, they have gone through so many more varieties than most of us. I personally have never grown a large pink with such a regular round upright shape along with uniform fluting on all the tomatoes. My pinks of that size have been flattened oblates. Sounds like a great tomato, and sure is a pretty one, and my ears perked up when I read early midseason! __________________ Dee **************

May 29, 2014	#8
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	Very often a person will just name a variety for him or herself, a family member, winning a contest with it at a local fair, named after the church and on and on. That church one is called Jean's Prize, and I've offered seeds for it in my seed offers here and was so named b'c Jean won so many prizes with it at the church harvest fair. Maybe this man was originally from Chicago. No way to know, and in many cases more info can be unearthed, as it were, but in this case I don't see that happening. Let me give you just one recent example. A Tville member contacted me about a new variety she came across that was just called George's Seeds, or George's, she got more info about it and it turned out that George was the person who brought the seeds from Italy to the US. So we talked about it quite a bit, via PM and the final name decided on was George's Giant Italian Red and it's being grown out by one of my seed producer folks who gardens in the midwest and if all goes well I'll be offering it in my next seed offer here. And thanks to Tam here at Tville for that one. I can't tell you how many new ones I've ended up naming, hopefully with a family member, but if not, just having to go on its characteristics. Neves Azorean Red is another example. I was given seeds for it by a local person who got them from a cousin near Boston, and doing some background sleuthing it turned out that the seeds were originally given to the man who owned Neptunes Harvest by Anthony Neves who had come from the Azores to the US and was trading fruits with the owner for some of the Neptune fish and seaweed products, Instead of naming it myself I decided to let others know how difficult it can be to name a variety. So I started a thread at GW back in 2003 or so and gave all the background info I had and let them make suggestions. There were 22 folks who responded and the final name we decided on was Neves Azorean Red. And I sent seeds to all 22 who participated in that thread. http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/w...es_Azorean_Red Carolyn __________________ Carolyn

May 28, 2014	#2
rags57078 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: South Dakota Posts: 278	nice looking tomato

May 28, 2014	#3
kath Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: zone 6b, PA Posts: 5,664	No clue what variety might be, but they are beautiful tomatoes!

May 28, 2014	#4
JamesL Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Long Island NY Posts: 1,992	Karen, Good looking tomato. Looks an awful lot like a Brandywine Suddath's. The regular leaf description and the DTM don't match though. A relative perhaps?

May 29, 2014	#5
peppero Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: selmer, tn Posts: 2,944	NICE! jon

May 29, 2014	#7
luigiwu Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: ny Posts: 1,219	Those look great! I hope you'll off these up for trade at some point! I love reading/hearing about tomato stories!

March 25, 2017	#10
Nattybo! Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Maryland Posts: 272	Oh wow! What a beautiful story! KarenO, thank you for saving this beautiful tomato. It would have been lost forever had it not been for you. I think the name you picked is lovely too. Perfect. I think the old man would have liked it too. Northerners and southerners alike would like an early tomato. Thanks again for saving this tomato's genetics. It is so very pretty.

May 29, 2014	#12
KarenO Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Vancouver Island Posts: 5,922	The lady he brought the tomato to...her name is Zena. If I can't identify it maybe it should be called Zena's gift. Goes with the story anyway. Thanks Carolyn Karen

May 29, 2014	#13
taboule Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: MA Posts: 903	Nice tomato to go with a very nice story. Most guys give their lady flowers, or jewels, or such other... At TVille, we give the one we fancy the gift of a beautiful tomato.

May 29, 2014	#15
RobinB Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Near Reno, NV Posts: 1,621	The "early" part attracted me as well. I'd love to trade for some for 2015! I like Zena's Gift as a name, too.