1/2 mule possible?

piegirl · July 13, 2009

My main production crop is Jet Stars. This year I have two plants that quite different - there are several toms at the base - about 3-4 fruits each. The plant is now about 3 1/2 ft, extremely healthy dark green leaves and absolutely no flowers, very brushy. All were planted the same, no addition fert. etc. The others are doing their jet star thing, about 5-6' with good fruit set, loads of flowers, yet these two stuck? piegirl

**carolyn137** · July 14, 2009

I certainly have had mule plants, from both hybrids and OP's, but at no time did they ever produce blossoms so I'm not sure what might be going on with those two plants since you say both did produce blossoms and set fruit.

And your other Jet Stars I assume are merrily producing blossoms and setting fruit normally.

WVTomatoMan · July 14, 2009

My experience with "bull" tomato plants is different that what you're describing. In my cases they were huge plants, bigger that any other surrounding plant and they had zero fruit. I seem to recall seeing one that actually got a few blossoms, but it never set fruit.

BTW, historically the "bull" tomato plant had a lot to do with the genome mapping of the tomato plant. A colleague suggested that Dr. Charles Rick should investigate what was wrong with "bull" tomato plants. Apparently this was an issue at the time because "bull" tomatoes not only didn't produce fruit, but they got so big they affected growth and production of the surrounding plants. In studying the "bull" tomato Rick was able to identify many of the mutant or variable genes on each of the tomato's 12 chromosomes. This led to his effort to map the tomato's entire collection of genes.

Randy

p.s. "Mule" and "bull" are terms that can be used interchangeably.

**carolyn137** · July 14, 2009

Randy, I could spy the mules of hybrids being grown by my commercial friends from quite a distance b'c, as you say, they're much larger plants and they'd stick out like a sore thumb and be easily Ided.

The one mule OP I remember quite well was a variety called Limmony at the time and SSE had just gotten it from their contact in Moscow, and I had been sent quite a few from their contct Marie Danilenko to trial for SSE.

I had two plants out there of Limmony from the same seed pack, and one did what it was supposed to do and the other plant grew wonderfully and had no blossoms and obviously no fruit.

July 13, 2009	#1
piegirl Tomatovillian™ Honoree Join Date: May 2006 Location: Lincoln, NE Posts: 791	1/2 mule possible? My main production crop is Jet Stars. This year I have two plants that quite different - there are several toms at the base - about 3-4 fruits each. The plant is now about 3 1/2 ft, extremely healthy dark green leaves and absolutely no flowers, very brushy. All were planted the same, no addition fert. etc. The others are doing their jet star thing, about 5-6' with good fruit set, loads of flowers, yet these two stuck? piegirl

July 14, 2009	#2
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	I certainly have had mule plants, from both hybrids and OP's, but at no time did they ever produce blossoms so I'm not sure what might be going on with those two plants since you say both did produce blossoms and set fruit. And your other Jet Stars I assume are merrily producing blossoms and setting fruit normally. __________________ Carolyn

July 14, 2009	#4
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	Randy, I could spy the mules of hybrids being grown by my commercial friends from quite a distance b'c, as you say, they're much larger plants and they'd stick out like a sore thumb and be easily Ided. The one mule OP I remember quite well was a variety called Limmony at the time and SSE had just gotten it from their contact in Moscow, and I had been sent quite a few from their contct Marie Danilenko to trial for SSE. I had two plants out there of Limmony from the same seed pack, and one did what it was supposed to do and the other plant grew wonderfully and had no blossoms and obviously no fruit. __________________ Carolyn

July 14, 2009	#3
WVTomatoMan Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: West Virginia - Zone 6 Posts: 594	My experience with "bull" tomato plants is different that what you're describing. In my cases they were huge plants, bigger that any other surrounding plant and they had zero fruit. I seem to recall seeing one that actually got a few blossoms, but it never set fruit. BTW, historically the "bull" tomato plant had a lot to do with the genome mapping of the tomato plant. A colleague suggested that Dr. Charles Rick should investigate what was wrong with "bull" tomato plants. Apparently this was an issue at the time because "bull" tomatoes not only didn't produce fruit, but they got so big they affected growth and production of the surrounding plants. In studying the "bull" tomato Rick was able to identify many of the mutant or variable genes on each of the tomato's 12 chromosomes. This led to his effort to map the tomato's entire collection of genes. Randy p.s. "Mule" and "bull" are terms that can be used interchangeably.