Stable open pollinated Sungold/Sunsugar varieties
 

I like to grow open pollinated varieties and a few years back I tried growing a Sungold/Sunsugar open pollinated variety (I forgot which one).

Anyway the variety I tried was nothing like a Sungold or Sunsugar it looked very different and tasted just plain bad.

I was thinking of giving it a shot again next season. I was looking at the variety called Ambrosia Gold.

Just wondering if anyone has tried that variety or any other variety that is supposed to be a Sungold/Sunsugar open pollinated type that was actually stable and tasted similar to a Sungold or Sunsugar?

Thanks

Jim

Jim,

Several years ago, I tried every OP "Sungold" I could locate. It was about 7 different ones. Every one was lousy. Not only did they not taste like Sungold, but they were the blandest cherries in the garden, that year.

Maybe there's a newer one that's better. I'd only trial seed directly from someone that says this new one is close to Sungold in flavor. No more blind trials, for me.

I'm still picking one or two Sungolds (F1) in my garden, a day. Every other tomato variety has gone "skunky"./puke

Dr. L:love:ve Apple


[QUOTE=uno;378570]I like to grow open pollinated varieties and a few years back I tried growing a Sungold/Sunsugar open pollinated variety (I forgot which one).

Anyway the variety I tried was nothing like a Sungold or Sunsugar it looked very different and tasted just plain bad.

I was thinking of giving it a shot again next season. I was looking at the variety called Ambrosia Gold.

Just wondering if anyone has tried that variety or any other variety that is supposed to be a Sungold/Sunsugar open pollinated type that was actually stable and tasted similar to a Sungold or Sunsugar?

Thanks

Jim[/QUOTE]

I don't know who your sources were for the OP Sungolds but I grew Sungold Select II in 08 and Big Sungold Select in 09 and neither came close to bland or bad. Both came from Reinhard Kraft and both were excellent OP representatives of the F1. No they didn't have sugary melt in you mouth sweetness of the F1 and you won't find an OP cherry that sweet but it had a well balanced tomato/sweet flavor that a lot of folks liked myself included.

Ami

Sungold Select II is the closest I've tasted to the real deal. I agree with Ami that it doesn't have that same exact flavor combo you get from the F1, but it's real close.

Lee

Reinhard developed the following OP ones from
,Sungold F1;

Sungold Select
Sugold Select II
Big Sungold

But Big Sungold Select were seeds sent to Manfred Hahm, wh has a seed site on Reinhard's website, they know each other well, and was also the one who found what they named Green Zebra Cherry in a box of cherries in a store.

Reinhard sent Big Sungold Select seeds to both Brad Gates and myself and both of us found it was not stable, giving several different colors when grown out. There's a thread here about this somewhere.

And Reinhard is still working with Sungold F1 since a couple of years ago he asked me to send him some seeds since the F1 seeds in Germany are very expensive.

I can't answer your question about Ambrosia Gold although I did offer one of Lee's Ambrosia ones in a recentseed offer, I'd have to see which one, and folks got other colors from that one as well.

I told Lee about it and I think he got it all straighted out and now offers Ambosias Gold,Pink and Red.

Carolyn

Apart from Reinhard's dehybridized versions, there's also Iva's Red Berry, Sungold based and rumoured to be sweet, but obviously of a different colour. You can get seeds either from Carolyn's offer in January if she receives enough, or directly from Iva.

[QUOTE=GunnarSK;378641]Apart from Reinhard's dehybridized versions, there's also Iva's Red Berry, Sungold based and rumoured to be sweet, but obviously of a different colour. You can get seeds either from Carolyn's offer in January if she receives enough, or directly from Iva.[/QUOTE]

Yes Gunnar, one of the folks who does seed production for me is doing Iva's Red Berry, original seeds from Iva, and while I know what some of the problems with regard to seed production have been with some of the new ones , those folks live in different parts of the US,I haven't heard that Iva's Red Berry is one of them.

So right now I do expect it to be in my January seed offer here at Tville.

Carolyn

Thanks Tormato, Amideutch, Lee, Carolyn137, and GunnarSK

My experience was like Tormato is saying. I got all different colors and sizes and fruit that tasted nothing like a sungold or a sunsugar.

I would love to find an open pollinated one that actually produced true to type.

I'm always open to trying new ones. But I would like to know if they are actually consistently producing true to type before I try them since my space is limited.


Jim
[URL="http://tomatoville.com/member.php?u=239"][/URL]

Tatiana's has a new release she has stabilized named after her son "Igor" It is a red cherry she says has the sweetness of sungold and sungold is one of the parents. I have not grown it as it is brand new but I am planning to order seed as it sounds like a wonderful new cherry I am interested in trying. If you are not stuck on yellow, this might be worth a try :)
KarenO

[QUOTE=KarenO;378670]Tatiana's has a new release she has stabilized named after her son "Igor" It is a red cherry she says has the sweetness of sungold and sungold is one of the parents. I have not grown it as it is brand new but I am planning to order seed as it sounds like a wonderful new cherry I am interested in trying. If you are not stuck on yellow, this might be worth a try :)
KarenO[/QUOTE]

[URL]http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Igor[/URL]

Tania says in the above link that it will be available in 2014 and also mentions some sister lines she's working with.

Carolyn

The year I grew Galina's Yellow cherry (OP) and SunSugar side by side, I found them to be pretty similar.

This year I'm growing Zluta Kytice (yellow currant) and I like it a lot. It's not quite as sweet as SunSugar, which I also have this year, but it is very productive. I have a photo of both -- the Zluta Kytice is a lot larger than I anticipated, and my SunSugars are smaller than normal, so they are not much bigger than ZK.

Thanks KarenO, Carolyn137, and Habitat Gardener.

KarenO and Carolyn137

I will look into that one...it's the first I ever heard of it.

Habitat Gardener

Galina's is one that I have been wanting to try for so long now. I thought I bought seeds for it a while back and for some reason I guess I never did. Just wondering if you remember your seed source for Galina's?

Thanks

Jim

[QUOTE=uno;378711]Thanks KarenO, Carolyn137, and Habitat Gardener.

KarenO and Carolyn137

I will look into that one...it's the first I ever heard of it.

Habitat Gardener

Galina's is one that I have been wanting to try for so long now. I thought I bought seeds for it a while back and for some reason I guess I never did. Just wondering if you remember your seed source for Galina's?

Thanks

Jim[/QUOTE]

Jim, I can tell you my original source for Galina's and that's when Bill McDorman of High Altitude Seeds was the first to get into Siberia and brought back many new ones, including Galina and that was in 1991. Craig, nctomatoman, and I bought all of them and split the seeds.

[URL]http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Galina%27s_Yellow#tab=General_Info[/URL]

there are 10 seed sources for 2013 listed in the above link and I know where I'd buy them from, if I ever wanted to grow it again,but it really isn't my place to choose one place over another.:)

Carolyn

Interesting thread. I have grown Ambrosia Gold for three years now, and perhaps it wasn't stable that first year, because one of my Ambrosia Gold plants in 2011 produced smaller marble-sized fruits which were bright orange. I saved seed, and last year, and this year I have gotten that same fruit which has a really intense hit of both acid and sweet. I really love them. This year, I got some fresh Ambrosia Gold seed for comparison and those turned out to be larger and orange, but not quite as bright orange color (the photos below make the larger AG look bright, but it really wasn't the same in reality.) The photos show the smaller selection in the first photo and fruit from the newer seed of both Ambrosia Red with Ambrosia Gold in the second. Lee at J&L said my smaller AG selection sounds a lot like another of his tomatoes: sugar drop.

[QUOTE=RobinB;378738]Interesting thread. I have grown Ambrosia Gold for three years now, and perhaps it wasn't stable that first year, because one of my Ambrosia Gold plants in 2011 produced smaller marble-sized fruits which were bright orange. I saved seed, and last year, and this year I have gotten that same fruit which has a really intense hit of both acid and sweet. I really love them. This year, I got some fresh Ambrosia Gold seed for comparison and those turned out to be larger and orange, but not quite as bright orange color (the photos below make the larger AG look bright, but it really wasn't the same in reality.) The photos show the smaller selection in the first photo and fruit from the newer seed of both Ambrosia Red with Ambrosia Gold in the second. Lee at J&L said my smaller AG selection sounds a lot like another of his tomatoes: sugar drop.[/QUOTE]

Robin, I went back and looked and found which Ambrosia I had offered in the Experimental section of I think my 2012 seed offer:

[B][COLOR=#004080]Ambrosia, bred by Lee Goodwin, Tville member, an OP Sungold type. Craig and I got fruits that were gold and very tasty. Lee, who was doing seed production got red fruits, so that’s what I’m offering here, with Lee G’s approval. At his seed website he offers Ambrosia in three colors, a red, a pink and a gold. I’m not sure what will come out of these seeds[/COLOR][/B]
[B][COLOR=#004080][/COLOR][/B]
[B][COLOR=#004080]The Lee being referred to is LeeNewman in NC.[/COLOR][/B]


So whileI had Ambrosia Gold seeds for 2013 I didn't offer it. And Lee was very glad when I told him that the Ambrosia Gold seeds were also giving some red fruited plants and said he thought he knew what the problem was and would fix it.

But in the same experimental section was another Sungold F1 child and that was Vince P1, which was a selection of a cross between Sungold F1 and CherokeePurple I think it was.

Carolyn