Sungold source
 

Is there any place other than Burpee to buy sungold F1 seeds? I checked TT and TGS Sungold is not listed this year.

Ingore this post I was spelling "Sun Gold" as "Sungold". I got the name right and then I found them.:oops:

I think there is an OP version of Sun Gold available, but maybe not commerically yet.

Sungold has been dehybridized by various people, but these OP variants like Sungold Select II, etc. are not interchangeable with Sungold. Sungold is one of the most difficult tomatoes to convert to an open pollinated variety.

What makes a tomato difficult to convert to OP? I can think of needing the space to grow out a large number of plants to select from as an issue for folks who are field-openic, but what else comes into play?

Value Seeds, Thompson & Morgan's outlet store, has Sungold...

[quote=stormymater;120831]What makes a tomato difficult to convert to OP? I can think of needing the space to grow out a large number of plants to select from as an issue for folks who are field-openic, but what else comes into play?[/quote]

In addition to the space issue, it would be very difficult to get the OP version to taste just like the hybrid version. Of course, you could dehybridize it to your specific liking.

[quote=stormymater;120831]What makes a tomato difficult to convert to OP? I can think of needing the space to grow out a large number of plants to select from as an issue for folks who are field-openic, but what else comes into play?[/quote]
Sungold has some very different parents. We haven't been able to figure out exactly what, since this information is a trade secret, but it appears to have a currant type tomato in its parentage.

People who have dehybridized Sungold have gotten large and small fruit in red, gold, and other colors. None have gotten the exact flavor and fruit size.

thanks for explanation feldon30 - learning all the time!

I find the best thing is to buy in bulk from JSS or TGSC. I think I have 3000 seeds..so if the hybrid ever goes away, I will be all set! (actually it is a very popular variety for seedlings, so I need at least 300 seeds per year)

Over the past few years, I've found that Sun Gold seed from Thompson & Morgan give me the best results for that variety.

The worst examples I got of Sun Gold were from Burpee. Some of the plants actually yielded tart red cherries.

And I notice in the 2009 Johnny's Selected Seeds print catalog that they offer 100 Sun Gold seeds at a very reasonable price (6.95). I've always gotten great results from other JSS seeds in the past.

My Sun Gold and Super Marmande seeds just came today from Value Seeds. They came in postage stamp size foil packs with the name and lot only on them, but I already downloaded the planting information so it doesn't matter to me.