OSU Blue observations

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by travis

The ironic thing is that the "European version" is in fact the genetically engineered version http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2...ogist-away.ars while the U.S. version (OSU Blue and P20) are traditionally bred.

Not withstanding, I think whoever may have anything called Blueberry must have something other than the "European" GMO because the company who engineered it has not yet released seeds. Probably someone with an active imagination or sense of humor appended that name to a packet of OSU Blue seeds.

Travis, since the info came out about the GMO Blueberry one I've seen lots of folks confuse that one, and I I agree that NO seeds of that one are available, as opposed to the traditionally bred OSU originated ones.

I've seen others who list on their growout lists Blueberry and I know darn well what they have is one of the OSU ones, but then the person wills ay well that's what it said on the seed pack I traded for. Triple Sigh.

So thanks for posting what you did. I was going to but you beat me to it b'c I've been watching that historic tennis match at Wimbledon and then came back here to the computer to find all sorts of dire storm warnings and have been looking at the various weather links I have.

Ever since my home was hit by lightning two summers ago I tend to get very nervous at such times.

[frogsleap farm]

I agree Travis/Geofff. First of all the transgenic work was done by a public institution, the material is regulated, and distribution without permits is forbidden by law. It is extremely unlikely this is a GE line. Based on my experience it looks and sounds just like OSU Blue/P20. From what I've read of the transgenic line is much more uniformly blue/black and the coloration is not as light dependent - not typical of what is shown in this photo

[travis]

In the transgenic (genetically engineered) blue tomato, the anthocyanin colors the flesh all the way through the fruit (like a blueberry or blackberry) rather than in and immediately under the skin (as in OSU Blue and P20). That's why I included the link to the article that explains it in both words and picture. So if your "Blueberry" only has anthocyanin staining a part of the skin and the flesh just under that part of the skin, it's the American non-GMO and not the European GMO.

P.S. Thank you for attaching the thumbnail, Mischka. I don't want anyone not to enjoy their tomatoes for fear they might be growing genetically engineered fruit, which I don't think is the case here.

[frozengirl]

I think this tomato may have potential for cold tolerant crosses.

[Fusion_power]

I have my first really good update on the PH X P20 breeding crosses that I am growing this year. First is that I definitely have a very good flavored tomato that has seriously high levels of anthocyanin. This is the first tomato derived from the high anthocyanin background that has flavor worth bragging about. In a side by side taste test of a perfectly ripe Black From Tula and this tomato, the Black From Tula rated 8.5 and the PH X P20 rated 9.0. By comparison, the best Brandywine I ever ate was about 9.5 so we are getting into seriously good tomato territory.

I still have about 80 plants that have not yet matured fruit so don't know how they will turn out. One sib line that looks really good has uniform beefsteak type fruit in the 12 ounce range. About 3 of the 13 plants in that group show very good levels of anthocyanin. I also have one plant in the group of 80 that is producing heart shaped fruit. This is most likely a result of a bee made cross in last years garden. It has low anthocyanin levels but since the female parent was a very highly colored line, it should segregate readily into a heart shaped blue/black tomato.

I'll update again in a week or so when I've sampled more fruit and have a better idea how they are going to stack up for flavor.

DarJones

[Mischka]

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

First is that I definitely have a very good flavored tomato that has seriously high levels of anthocyanin. This is the first tomato derived from the high anthocyanin background that has flavor worth bragging about. In a side by side taste test of a perfectly ripe Black From Tula and this tomato, the Black From Tula rated 8.5 and the PH X P20 rated 9.0. By comparison, the best Brandywine I ever ate was about 9.5 so we are getting into seriously good tomato territory.

DarJones

I'm very glad to hear this good news, Darrel. Please do keep us updated and I hope you're selling plants from the seeds you save from it, come next spring.

The P20s, up until this point, have been appealing to the eye but disappointing to the palate.

[Ambiorix]

I have several plants of Blue tomato OSU:certains result seeds got back in 2009, the others come from several origins.
I obtain several tomatoes of different forms.
I am going to present you at first the shape which is the most common on each of the plants.








As you see, this tomato has a point(headland) in its end, a mini nipple.
Some European have this shape for several plants resulting from my seeds but also those who obtained from seeds of P20.

Is it forms it typical of P20?

What is your opinion?

[Frog]

Mine are taking forever to set fruit. Every other tomato I am growing has set, apart from P20. When I have fruit set I'll report back on nipple end.

Nipple end is controlled by one of several recessive genes, I suppose P20 must have been heterozygous for the nipple end.

[Fusion_power]

The original P20 seed from Jim Myers produced plants that gave ZERO nipple ended fruit. I still have about 100 seed that he sent me a few years ago. There is a lot of seed floating around that is ID'd as OSU Blue. The genetics of this material is not fully known and does not appear to be stable so it could be the source of the nipple ends you are getting.

The tomatoes I have grown from his seed have been 100% small 2 to 4 ounce fruits with varying amounts of anthocyanin. I separated out one particular plant 4 years ago that showed the very highest amounts of anthocyanin and had decent sized fruit in the 2 inch range. Seed from it was used in crosses to better flavored tomatoes in an effort to improve the poor flavor characteristics.

I'll take a few photos of some interesting plants/fruits after while and post them. Some of them are definitely unusual. Please note that I have 1 and only 1 plant that has heart shaped fruit with nipples. Since I know where the plant grew last year, I can probably come up with a likely parent for the heart genes.

DarJones

[frogsleap farm]

DarJones - I'm guessing the tasty anthocyanin fruit are from a F3 plant, is that right? How much variability in taste and level of anthocyanin did you find in the F2 generation?

[Fusion_power]

Frog,

Yes, these are F3 plants. The F2's were all over the map but gave a few lines worth growing further. Please note that these F3's are from the very best 6 plants out of about 200 F2 plants total.

Here is a photo of a regular leaf plant that is producing pink fruit with decent amounts of anthocyanin.



and here is one that is producing heart shaped fruit with distinctive nipples. These look like they will wind up around a pound by the time they ripen.



Here is a potato leaf pink with nicely shaped fruit with decent anthocyanin.


Here is another with heavy anthocyanin on a PL pink plant.


Another nicely shaped large PL pink


This is one of the best of the large fruited tomatoes.


One more from the PL29 breeding line that is giving such nice size. I'll have lots of possibilities to select for flavor!


And this is the PH parental line. Pure ripe Purple Haze which I had for dinner today!

[frogsleap farm]

Very cool. I'm a generation behind, and looking forward to tasting fruit from my first F2 plants sometime in the next two weeks or so. Thanks Darrel.

[goodwin]

There is some variation in the ones I'm growing as well. You can see the amount of color in this particular line, and some others have that odd shape - particularly the speckled ones.

[frogsleap farm]

I have one F2 plant from my cross (Black and Brown Boar x P20) that is showing both stripes and the anthocyanin fruit phenotype - should be interesting.

[Frog]

Mine have started setting fruit, no nipple ends at all but a lot of cristate flowers setting odd shaped fruit with a few horns at the stem end.