Quote:
Originally Posted by cwavec
I would like to see a little clarification of what is meant, in relation to a tomato,
by the terms "long keeping" (ilex, #21), "long storage capabilities" (ilex, #21),
"longkeeper varieties" (Locomatto, #22).
I'm assuming to start with that this is not the same as some recently bred hybrids
created just to cater to the "retail long chain" (I know I have that incorrect but I
hope it's illustrative enough as I can't think right now of the actual words). In other
words, the post-harvest period that includes sorting, packing, shipping, shelving,
sale and finally consumption. At least one of these has been promoted by an
otherwise favorite seed producer as being capable of shipment from Almeria to
Moscow and return and arriving back home in the same condition as when it left.
It seems to me that this is not at all the same objective as one would seek when
engaging in the Piennolo process.I'm trying to understand a bit about how that
process works and what actually happens to the fruit when it is undertaken. Also,
what characteristics most contribute to its success.
On the contrary, I'm sure that some of these new hybrids are explicitly bred so that
they cannot ripen. They can get plenty red though.
Again, it seems that this is not a quality that the Pomodorino del Piennolo shares.
Would someone knowledgeable kindly comment on that?
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De colgar tomatoes have the "alc" gene, which together with smaller size and thick skin, make tomatoes that store 5-12 months at room temperature. They keep for months even if picked fully ripe. They are in no way similar to supermarket tomatoes. They will keep fully ripe on cold wet soil for weeks, even months. They do mature, and can be great off the vine (diversity is huge, so some are much better than others, specially when most are not selected for eating fresh in a salad).
I have quite a few tomatoes sitting around, picked late July, waiting me to take seeds out. And my storage conditions are far from ideal.
"alc" affects storage life, but also aroma, taste and color. They usually have an odd uneven color with shades. Plants heterozygous for alc, solve the color issue. Some new hybrids use it.
There is information on this gene on the net. For unknown reasons to me, "rin" and "nor" were more known and used, when it seems pretty clear that results were not ... well, they sold those tomatoes, so I guess they can call it a success as there was no need to solve or improve anything.