Fish Lake Oxheart cross?

[b54red]

I set out a Fish Lake Oxheart in mid May and it is just starting to put out some ripe fruit. The plant is healthy and productive but the fruit are definitely not true as the fruits seem to be beefsteaks that are a weird shade of golden yellow. The fruits are decent size and since I haven't grown any gold or yellow tomatoes for a lot of years I don't know where this came from. It must be a cross of some kind but I have no idea what it crossed with since no one around here but me gardens. I haven't tasted one of them yet and am anxious to see how they taste. If they are better than most of the gold or yellow ones I have grown in the past then I may save the seed and see if I can get a repeat.

Bill

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by b54red

I set out a Fish Lake Oxheart in mid May and it is just starting to put out some ripe fruit. The plant is healthy and productive but the fruit are definitely not true as the fruits seem to be beefsteaks that are a weird shade of golden yellow. The fruits are decent size and since I haven't grown any gold or yellow tomatoes for a lot of years I don't know where this came from. It must be a cross of some kind but I have no idea what it crossed with since no one around here but me gardens. I haven't tasted one of them yet and am anxious to see how they taste. If they are better than most of the gold or yellow ones I have grown in the past then I may save the seed and see if I can get a repeat.

Bill

When I first saw your thread I thought the discussion would be about getting red or pink fruits,since FLO does that.

Just a few questions first.

How many plants did you set out?

Any chance you were also raising anything yellow/ orange at the same time and there was a mixup in labels?

How far are you from anyone else that grows tomatoes? And here I'm thinking of possible bee crosses and also low flying birds.

Carolyn

[b54red]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

When I first saw your thread I thought the discussion would be about getting red or pink fruits,since FLO does that.

Just a few questions first.

How many plants did you set out?

Any chance you were also raising anything yellow/ orange at the same time and there was a mixup in labels?

How far are you from anyone else that grows tomatoes? And here I'm thinking of possible bee crosses and also low flying birds.

Carolyn

I only set out the one plant.

I haven't grown a yellow or gold tomato in years so there is no chance one was in my garden at the same time.

I haven't seen another garden within a mile and possibly further.

I have certainly had a huge increase in bees in my garden over the past four or five years so I'm sure it could be a cross but where it came from is a mystery to me. We also have plenty of low flying birds around here. I even had a birds nest in my cucumber vines this season.

I know what it is supposed to taste and look like but this sure isn't it and there is no way there was a seed mistake because I don't even keep any yellow or gold seeds in my seed files that I draw my seeds from each year. I do have some old seeds from KBX and Dr. Wyches stuck away in a drawer somewhere but haven't gotten them out in years.

I just checked and the first one is now good and ripe so I will give it a taste tonight and see what I think of it.

Bill

[Nan_PA_6b]

The yellow is puzzling as pink is dominant over yellow. If the cross happened last year, the F1's would be red. So if the yellow is the result of a cross, that would mean it happened at least two years ago and your last year's FLO would have been red. The alternative is a mutation in both color and shape.


Nan

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Nan_PA_6b

The yellow is puzzling as pink is dominant over yellow. If the cross happened last year, the F1's would be red. So if the yellow is the result of a cross, that would mean it happened at least two years ago and your last year's FLO would have been red. The alternative is a mutation in both color and shape.


Nan

Bill, Nan,thanks Nan for reminding about the alternative explanation of a mutation of both color and shape at the same time. They are called somatic mutations.There are several examples of that that I don't have on the tip of my tongue although I think one was Dix Doight de Naples.

The best example was an old English variety, an OP, but would send out trusses of yellow fruits one year seed saved from the yellow sown again from those saved seeds and you'd get the other version. Again, I'm talking about usually just one truss on a plant, not ALL trusses.

Carolyn,it just came to me that that English tomato one was called Green Gage, same name as the Green Gage plums which also originated in England..

[rhoder551]

This is exciting! Is the shape correct?

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by rhoder551

This is exciting! Is the shape correct?

For which variety since several varieties have been mentioned in this thread to date.

If it's what Bill described if he saves seeds,and he said the fruits were just ripening,and if he sows seeds from ripe ones for next season,he'll know better if it might be a stable somatic mutation or cross pollination,or not.

Carolyn

[b54red]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

For which variety since several varieties have been mentioned in this thread to date.

If it's what Bill described if he saves seeds,and he said the fruits were just ripening,and if he sows seeds from ripe ones for next season,he'll know better if it might be a stable somatic mutation or cross pollination,or not.

Carolyn

I sliced it and ate the first one and it was better than any gold tomato I have grown in the past. As a matter of fact I quit growing golds and yellows because I found the flavor slightly too mild for my tastes. This one I would grow again if I can. I will be saving seed and trying it next year if I can get it survive the grafting.

I now have picked four fruits off the plant and they are all beefsteaks. If it is a cross I would say there is a KBX in the woodpile. The fruits have that perfect symmetry that I remember from KBX but the flavor is richer and more balanced. The fruits are not as large as KBX but they are medium to large.

I myself can't believe this is a mutation because it is so unlike Fish Lake Oxheart but I guess anything is possible in the tomato garden.

Bill

[Nan_PA_6b]

You could clone this plant so you can keep it over winter and compare it to its seedlings next year.