Caribbean Heirloom Tomato Varieties?

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

I don't know if you found it yet, but there's a long thread about Plate de Haiti as well as Olirose St. Domingue ( sp?) here at Tville indicating the results of some who have grown them as I posted from those SSE members who grew them after I listed them many years ago. It's not a clear picture at all.

I received seeds for both in a large trade with Norbert in France in 1992.

And in the Town Hall here at Tville I just saw someone join from Costa Rica and someone else also from Costa Rica answered and I asked if either of them knew the variety Cartago Pear, which is on my grow list for this year and hoping the seeds germinate. Cartago is a city in Costa Rica and the seeds came to me saying it was from Costa Rica, b'c there are places called Cartago in other countries as well.



No answer yet.

I know it's a murky trail and the current seeds being circulated may or may not be true, but I'm going to grow them out and see what I get. If you did happen to run across yours from the original distribution in one of your forays into the seed vault I'd love to try and wake those up and compare them to what I have growing.

[Jeannine Anne]

I am growing the Plate de Haiti this year although I am certain it is the wrong one as Carolyn explained in her post but I am curious to see what sort of a tomato it is now as Lisa from Amishland has apparently apologised publicly for sending out the wrong seeds to folks who bought this one. I believe the right ones she thinks she has are wrong anyway but am curious as to what this wrong seed is.

XX Jeannine

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Jeannine Anne

I am growing the Plate de Haiti this year although I am certain it is the wrong one as Carolyn explained in her post but I am curious to see what sort of a tomato it is now as Lisa from Amishland has apparently apologised publicly for sending out the wrong seeds to folks who bought this one. I believe the right ones she thinks she has are wrong anyway but am curious as to what this wrong seed is.

XX Jeannine

Jeannine, right now I refuse to go to her site, but Will Weaver she adores and I sent seeds for Plate de Haiti to him and no doubt she got them from him and noting his SSE listing for the variety it was different from the original seed I was sent by Norbert and sent to him, so if it were me I'd step aside and not try to follow a trail right now.

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Originally Posted by Jeannine Anne

I am growing the Plate de Haiti this year although I am certain it is the wrong one as Carolyn explained in her post but I am curious to see what sort of a tomato it is now as Lisa from Amishland has apparently apologised publicly for sending out the wrong seeds to folks who bought this one. I believe the right ones she thinks she has are wrong anyway but am curious as to what this wrong seed is.

XX Jeannine

I got mine from Heritage Harvest Seeds, which has a good reputation but may have recieved the wrong seeds initially. I have emailed and asked if they can tell me their original source for the variety. It may simply be a description that has been copied around that doesn't match Carolyn's or it may be a seed mix up/cross, hard to tell at this point.

We'll have to compare what we get come harvest season!

[carolyn137]

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...ht=plate+Haiti

Above is one of the threads I was referring to, start at about post 18.

There's another one where I copied word for word the descriptions of those who SSE listed Plate de Haiti and I suppose I could recreate that by poking into my older SSE YEarbooks.

But any one here who uses the SSE online Yearbook, you have to be an SSE member with a password, can look up any variety from the time it was first listed, and in that case it would be me for both Olirose and the Haiti one.

Yes, I'm a long time SSE member, since 1989, but I prefer not to deal with the online YEarbook, I prefer the paper one.

[The Future]

Thanks Carolyn. Went to look it u and of course my membership just expired...

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by The Future

Thanks Carolyn. Went to look it u and of course my membership just expired...

Do you mean your SSE membership so that you couldn't view the online?

It's not really that important as I see it, it was just a suggestion, but as I said above, I can do the same by looking at my older yearbooks. But honestly, I don't know how that's going to help other than my own initial description of Plate de Haiti as received from Norbert and grow out by me.

I'll keep looking for that other thread here at Tville, and if I don't find it I'll go back and look for the listings for Plate de Haiti in those older Yearbooks. Most of the problem is with that one, not the Olirose one.

[Boutique Tomatoes]

Is this what you were referring to Carolyn? How the description changed from ovals to apple shaped?

Originally Posted by carolyn137

I first listed it in the 1994 SSE YEarbook and here was my description from that listing:

75-80 days, indet, regular foliage, small ( red) 4 oz ovals, OK taste, from Norbert Parreira, France

..... which indicates I didn't think much of it.

As I said above, Will Weaver asked me for it and in the 1997 SSE YEarbook he wrote:

small apple shaped fruits hang in clusters, brilliant deep red raspberry color but fruit is not plate as the name would imply, does better in the south, African-Americam heirloom, seeds from NY MA C ( me) in 1993.

I don't know how he knows it does better in the south since he's in PA and there were very few folks who even listed it after my initial listing.

Tania says pink fruited based on I Don't know whose info and Weaver says pink/red and says apple shaped, as does Heritage Harvest seeds, the only commercial place listed by Tania, who also say apple shaped, etc.

But the seeds I got directly from Norbert in France gave 4 oz ovals that were red to my eye at the time, so I don't know what happened to it in the meantime. I just looked at the 2002 and Neil listed it there and said the same as did Weaver in 1997 and Neil you got your seeds from Weaver so it says.

So my original seeds sent to Weaver kinda got changed from ovals to apple shaped? Guess so.

[Boutique Tomatoes]

I got a response back from Tanya at Heritage Harvest Seeds, Weaver was her source for Plate de Haiti as well.

Judging by the pictures I think Carolyn is right and this got swapped out with something else and wasn't caught. They're definately not ovals in the photos on both sites selling them.

Now to decide if I grow them out anyway or put them out on the picnic table at the community gardens as a free heirloom with no name...

[retiree]

Yes, I got my seeds from William Woys Weaver in 1997 and he got his start from
NYMAC 1993.
My Plate de Haiti's looked exactly like the one pictured in his book. I kind of liked this tomato and I should see if I can get some to germinate next year. This could be a new project for next year.lol
Neil G. (Canada)

[Jeannine Anne]

Carolyn I know mine are wrong, you educated me very well on the old thread but I sowed these by mistake and didn't have the heart to chuck them and curiosity is saving them now.
I have no intention of sharing the seeds or giving away the plants so they are just going to be fruit producers for me..just two plants. I know they are wrong Plate de Haiti as compared to the ones you have but they are also wrong as compared to Lisa's wrong ones as she mixed her seeds up and later apologised publically and offered to exchange them. I didn't bother as I didn't want any more wrong seeds.

So really I have no idea what these are.. Mystery Toms?

XX Jeannine