Big SunGold Select

[carolyn137]

A person at another message site to whom I sent BSS seeds says his were red and he thought they were great and is saving seed and I asked him to send me some.

I spent some time looking at some other BSS threads/posts here and some have said they got something other than orange although most did get orange and most liked the taste very much.

There were three places folks could get seeds. From my seed offer here where I sent out unbagged seed b'c I had more of than than bagged seed which I sent to those who requested it from my SSE listing and Brad Gates was also offering it.

And after Melissa siad she got it from Brad I went to his site and saw this:

BIG SUNGOLD SELECT - Not yet stable, however all sizes and colors had outrageous sweet tropical fruit tomato flavor. Aggressive grower and producer. 75% of plants had orange cherries and the other 25% where a mix of larger yellows, red’s and mahogany. Again, all had exceptional flavor.

So either Brad was offering unbagged seed or BSS is still genetically unstable.

I think the only way I'd know for sure is if someone who requested it from my SSE listing who got bagged seed and set out several plants also got something other than orange.

So if any of you give more feedback, and I hope you do, please remember to give your seed source.

And I think after I hear more it might be helpful to send this thread to Reinhard.

[carolyn137]

A person at another message site to whom I sent BSS seeds says his were red and he thought they were great and is saving seed and I asked him to send me some.

****

And I got a nice look at a picture of those tonight and they sure look reddish orange to me and not red.

All of us don't see colors the same way b'c it's perceptual and personal.

I know one person who posts here who has real problems distinguishing between orange and gold.

So be it.

[sprtsguy76]

Carolyn- I didn't get my seeds from you through the SSE, but did them from you through your seed offer here. I've got what I believe is dead red cherries. Do you want me to post pictures?

Damon

[rsg2001]

I will take a picture of 3 of my BSS's next to the F1 which demonstrate the variance I've been getting. I'm growing two plants. One plant has been getting almost mostly gigantic round orange-red cherries (more orangy than red), circumference 4.5 inches, weight 1 ounce. There have been a couple that have been pointy, a little narrower.

The other plant has a mostly uniform smaller cherry, a darker orange-red, more reddish- 3.75" around. It is still substantially larger than the Sungold F-1s that I grow - around 2.5 to 2.75" around, roughly 1/2 an ounce.

They seem to taste roughly the same to me. Good but not as intense as Sungold F-1. (FYI- 3 Sungold F1s = 1 ounce roughly.)

[dokutaaguriin]

Here is a picture of the fruit from my first truss of BSS:


Very productive plant and the fruit is much larger than I expected (much bigger than a golf ball). I will classify them as a small tomato.


Jeff

[carolyn137]

Jeff, how many plants are you growing and are they all giving you orange fruits?

Just curious.

[dokutaaguriin]

HI Carolyn,
Unfortunately, I only had space for a single plant.

Jeff

[Timmah!]

Very attractive fruit in their color & uniformity.

[rsg2001]

The larger BSS on the left (4.5 inch circumference) is from one of my two plants of this variety, and the smaller ones (3.75 inch circumference) next to it are from the other. I have a Sungold F1 in front just for contrast. The smaller ones are definitely redder than the large one.

[frogwash]

Hi. I'm fairly new here and have mostly reading for tips, but BSS looks really intriguing. Are there any other sources for getting these seeds for next year or is Brad Gates the only choice and hope for the best/orange. Thank you.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by frogwash

Hi. I'm fairly new here and have mostly reading for tips, but BSS looks really intriguing. Are there any other sources for getting these seeds for next year or is Brad Gates the only choice and hope for the best/orange. Thank you.

The major source of Big Sungold Select seeds has been me. Only one person has gotten BSS from Brad that I know of.

If you look in the Seed Exchange Forum here in the trade subforum you'll see my seed offer for 2010 with BSS seeds listed, seeds from Reinhard in Germany.

There were about 80 folks who participated and most asked for the maximum five varieties so I ended up packing up and sending out around 400 packs of seed.

And many of those folks asked for BSS.

If folks have enough seed to share they will post that in the seed exchange Forum and there should be plenty of folks here at Tville with seeds.

I'll probably offer it in my 2011 seed offer here as well.

I do think it's best if folks not ask for seeds in threads but wait until folks start making their seed offers in the Seed Exchange Forum, or even for varieties in the Wanted subforum.

And I say this b'c I know from past experience that it can get awkward if someone asks for seeds in a thread, that request is acknowledged and then others start to do the same thing. Drives me crazy, to be honest.

Which, is why there's a separate Seed Exchange Forum.

And BTW welcome to Tville for I see you just joined.

[frogwash]

Hi Carolyn,

Thank you very much for your reply. I apologize if I came off like I was asking you for BSS seeds. I meant to ask if there were other sources to buy these from, because I didn't want to be perceived as a mooch. I'd seen the Seed Exchange Forum, but since I don't really have any seeds to trade with, I kind of thought that that didn't really apply to me. Exchange seemed to be the imperative word here. I do have have some Mortgage Busters that have been my best plant for last year and this year, but they came from Gurney's (from whom I'll never order again, but that's another story) and I have no idea which strain of MB they are so I never thought that this would be something that I should be trading, other than the fact that they have been very nice for me.

Anyhow, I really appreciate all that I've learned here and wish that I'd have found this site 4 years ago as that would have saved me quite a bit of frustration, etc...

Best,
Theo

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by frogwash

Hi Carolyn,

Thank you very much for your reply. I apologize if I came off like I was asking you for BSS seeds. I meant to ask if there were other sources to buy these from, because I didn't want to be perceived as a mooch. I'd seen the Seed Exchange Forum, but since I don't really have any seeds to trade with, I kind of thought that that didn't really apply to me. Exchange seemed to be the imperative word here. I do have have some Mortgage Busters that have been my best plant for last year and this year, but they came from Gurney's (from whom I'll never order again, but that's another story) and I have no idea which strain of MB they are so I never thought that this would be something that I should be trading, other than the fact that they have been very nice for me.

Anyhow, I really appreciate all that I've learned here and wish that I'd have found this site 4 years ago as that would have saved me quite a bit of frustration, etc...

Best,
Theo

Right now there's just Brad Gates where you can BUY BSS seeds and there will be other seed sites offering it for 2011 I'm pretty sure but I don't see why you need to buy them when I said , I think, that I'd be offering them in my seed offer here and I'm sure others here will also be offering them in their seed offers here as well from seeds they got from me this past Spring.

There are two subfoums to the Seed Exchange. The top one is the Wanted subforum where folks ask where they can either buy seeds or if anyone has what they want, and sometimes they say they'll trade for seeds and sometimes not.

The Trade Forum is for folks who have a list of varieties they want to trade for ones they're looking for. It's also used by folks like me to make seed offers when NO trade is wanted in return.

We're in the process of tweaking the guidelines for those forums now so that folks don't come to Tville primarily to get seeds. We like to see new members become part of the community and read and hopefully post in some of the many Forums here before participating in the Seed Exchange Forums.

Does that answer your questions or have I missed something?

Mortgage Buster? Surely you mean Mortgage Lifter.

[matertoo]

Carolyn: I got BSS seeds from your seed offer. I posted earlier concerning getting two sizes and stated that the fruit was orange with a nice fruity taste. That's true, but if they stay on the vine longer, they turn red.

I guess it just depends on when you pick them.

Happy Matering,

Paul

[frogwash]

Methinks that answered it all and yes I probably do mean Lifter.

Can the BSS seeds be ordered from Reinhard/Manfred. I went to this page and tried translating it but it just looks like a list. Do you happen to know how to go about doing so or do I just email Manfred?

http://tomaten.bplaced.net/tomatenhahm.html