Got to meet Tom

[feraltomatoes]

Got a surprise last week when I answered the phone.
It was Tom Wagner and he was going to be passing nearby as he was finishing his multi-state treck after speaking at the SSE convention.

Alot of my success can be attributed to Green Zebra and it's many offspring crosses and mutations that I have collected.

Tom is so full of tomato knowledge it was a treat, for several hours we crawled, picked, tasted and talked, lucky for both of us it got dark or I am sure it would have been much longer.

I had my camera so with the last rays of light I put it on a fruit box and set the timer.

Here is a picture of Tom and I in the garden with a few of what was plucked and scribbled on.


Brad.........................................

[dcarch]

I have to blame Tom for LGS.

I had no idea that the plants can be so productive, totally loaded with fruits! Fortunately it's also very delicious. I have been able to give lots to all my friends.

dcarch

[amideutch]

Brad, I can imagine how happy you were to meet up with Tom Wagner and talk tomatoes. Good stuff. How did "Isis Brandy" turn out for you. Mine are just about ripe and will post a picture. Ami

[Rena]

HOW cool was that? Wonderful Wonderful picture. Beautiful garden. I just can't imagine! How long will your tomatoes produce?

[Patrina_Pepperina]

Now that would have been very interesting, for sure! thanks for the pic

PP

[carolyn137]

Brad, could Tom give you any explanation(s) for why Green Zebra has been so adept at crossing in your tomato fields?

Having had the opportunity to talk to Tom for almost a whole day when I was in Pasadena a few years back I know he talks fast, hear that Tom, , and there's lots of information being passed on at a rapid rate.

But did you have any take home lesson(s) as to what's been going on in your fields that's allowed you to come up with so many interesting varieties, so many of which seem to have a Green Zebra background?

[elkwc36]

Brad thanks for the pics and also for sharing your seeds. As of now Red Boar has been the best tasting this year. A real surprise when I popped it in my mouth. So far they have been smaller than I expected. But make up for it in taste. Jay

[Hilde]

That's a great picture, and even better because it was taken with the camera on a fruit box and with a timer.

Hilde

[Tom Wagner]

Lordy, Folks,

How does everyone keep up with all the posts on TomatoVille?

I just today found this post since I read a post from Brad that was five days old, wondering if I had seen this thread. NO!!!

I had to scroll , stroll, (whatever) down 10 pages of the General Discussion to find this post, or about 6 weeks ago, my eyes are tired!! No wonder I am but a occasional poster.

Brad seemed to be quite happy to have me in his tomato field, and i was a bit effervescent myself.

Brad's climate, soil, and the whole terroir (denoting the special characteristics that geography bestowed upon Brad's tomatoes. It was a classic " sense of place" !!!!!!!!!

I believe it was Carolyn who asked why Green Zebra???--the source of so many of Brad's favorite tomatoes, was the tomato unique in some way to impart flavor and color???

My answer is that Green Zebra, probably my most famous tomato out of my Tater-Mater Seed days and breeding work, is a powerhouse of recessive genes. Any cross is going to stick out like a middle finger pointed at a rough biker.
The recombinants are going to stick out again, like a candy store full of taffy flavors.
The flavors are going to stick with you then, like a warm apple pie made by Mom after a hard day putting up hay.

It is easier than you think, picking out the strange chance crosses and recombinants, the cute variations out the Pink Heart Mix, the roma green zebras out of the Far Side row.

Thanks, Brad, for one of the better visits with a fella tomato guy, even though I kinda invited myself to visit with ya.

Brad reminded me that the best way to get the tomato vine gunk off yer hands is to wash your hands with a tomato fruit. Try it, or mess up your bathroom or kitchen sink!!!!

[carolyn137]

I believe it was Carolyn who asked why Green Zebra???--the source of so many of Brad's favorite tomatoes, was the tomato unique in some way to impart flavor and color???


****

Nope Tom, I'm not that interested in taste and color, I'm wondering why it seems to cross so easily with other varieties.

Its' not just Brand who has so many varieties that arose from crossing with GZ for others have seen the same thing.

Exherted stigma? I never looked.

As for washing ones hands with a tomato, I've been doing that since I was maybe 5 yo, b'c my father did and it works. It doesn't get all the green from under the fingernails but it sure does get rid of the greenish black on the hands.

[Tom Wagner]

Like I've said, I think crosses are really noticeable, but I neglected to say------ I don't think it (Green Zebra) is any more likely to be out crossed than another (you name it) variety.

The hybrids of Green Zebra tend to be vigorous, and those plants seem to shout out "Plant Me" among the selfed sibs.

Green Zebra is a variety people have tended to save their own seed from. The next row is usually another variety with smaller growers and whammo. ...even a 1% cross is significant if a grower plants a hundred seeds. If you only transplant 10 seedlings out of the original hundred, the chances of having that crossed seed goes way up. Do the dumb math, you now have a 10% cross factor, simply because one of those strong seedlings was yelling Pick Me.

Green Zebra seedlings are dark green to start with, and the hybrids show it too. Evolution of a variety has unintended consequences.

[Rena]

OK guys stop wasting tomatoes on washing theee hands.. sheshhhh I would be happy to make you some garden soap that will scrub the funk off You need some homemade soap
Tom- I will add you to my Christmas soap list but will need your address

[Fusion_power]

I haven't seen any more or less tendency of Green Zebra to cross than with other varieties such as Eva Purple Ball. The thing with Green Zebra is that a cross sticks out like a sore thumb. As Tom noted, the number of recessives is very high so any outcross will result in a noticeably different plant/fruit.

Since I mentioned Eva Purple Ball above, let me add that this variety tends to cross about 3% of the time in my garden. The crossed seedlings are usually very vigorous so it is easy to "pick the best plants" when transplanting and inadvertently set out a hybrid.

DarJones

[Tom Wagner]

I haven't seen any more or less tendency of Green Zebra to cross than with other varieties such as Eva Purple Ball.

Thanks, Darrel. I don't know if this is me agreeing with you, or you agreeing with me. In any event, agreements tend to shut down the argument. Too bad...

The thing with Green Zebra is that a cross sticks out like a sore thumb. As Tom noted, the number of recessives is very high so any outcross will result in a noticeably different plant/fruit

Hey now, we could ghost write for each other!

...it is easy to "pick the best plants" when transplanting and inadvertently set out a hybrid.

When it comes to tomatoes to select and plant you gotta know your type ...
and quit ogling the pretty tomatoes not of your type or your pay scale....


Rena,

OK guys stop wasting tomatoes on washing theee hands.. sheshhhh I would be happy to make you some garden soap that will scrub the funk off You need some homemade soap

There is no waste in the garden, the ones I have used are the ones with blossom end rot; it is a pleasure to find a use for those pluckers. Thanks for reminding me to remind folks that I am not one of those guys that pick the prettiest tomatoes and treat them like dirt, or on dirt.


Darrel.

You've given me an idea or two for tomato naming. A good name for one of my newer tomato varieties--Green Thumb---I like it.

A bit of Posthumous humor, or is it the Antonymic : bring forward humor? There has got to be word for this.

Green Thumb tomato, a variation on the Green Sausage or Greensleeves tomato variety crossed with a well known potato leaf tomato known for its acronym of three letters. What tomato is that, you ask? Well, think of a fella with a thick German accent saying he is laying off the juice of the grape. Selfed out for 8 generations, (or until you can't find you field maps and lost count), fixing the traits for green flesh, black epidermis, green stripes, potato leaf and a near perfect 98% blossom end rot (BER) percentage rate. An inky extract of the bottom ends of the tomatoes (the part with the black BER stuff is then mixed with ample parts of organophosphates. Organophosphates are the basis of many insecticides, herbicides and biochemicals such as DNA.


Organophosphates are known as OP, just like Open Pollinated tomatoes are known as OP. Appropriately blended the mix is called OP/OP combining the Green Thumb tomatoes and these organophosphates. It is sometimes called by detractors as OOPs/OOPs but is marketed as Black Potato leaf tomato & Vegetable Insect Killer. Marketed by the Tomato Bee Gone company. The TBG company was erroneously brought up for charges of trying to kill bees from cross pollinating tomatoes which resulted in new heirloom tomatoes. The German who ran the company is still in rehab for being Off The Wine (pronounced vine).



This product kills only Black Potato Leaf strains of tomatoes and all vegetable insects. The DNA of the Green Thumb variety of tomato is a chance DNA with odd messengers made up of RNA organophosphate molucules that synergistically meld with the chemically derived organophosphates, killing only Green Thumb tomato varieties and insects.



Why would you want to kill all of your Black Potato Leaf Green Thumbs? Wouldn't you when you discover that all the tomato plant produces is but BER fruit? When people ask what happened to all your Green Thumbs? you simply answer, I don't have a green thumb, i kill plants; they're all dead.




Tom Wagner

[Fusion_power]

Are you by chance a bit "off the vine" this evening Tom? Or is is a bit "On the Vine" spoken in a thick german accent.

Lol, laugh and have fun. Life is too short to be sour all the time.