no indigo rose etc?

slugworth · May 28, 2018

I buy tomato plants from about 10 different local sources and it just dawned on me I haven't seen any indigo types for sale this year.Was it just a fad ?

TC_Manhattan · May 28, 2018

Perhaps it's because they lacked something in the taste department..

Old School · May 28, 2018

Not sure whether a fad or not but I didn't care for the ones I tried a few years back. I had the cherry variety. It didn't grow true to whatever they were attempting. I had the small blackish colored cherries (I think they came on later and farther down the plant) as well as larger grape sized more yellowish in color tomatoes towards the top. The larger ones weren't too bad tasting. The smaller indigo ones were quite tart and I didn't eat any beyond sampling them. Maybe others had a similar experience.

**carolyn137** · May 28, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by slugworth

I buy tomato plants from about 10 different local sources and it just dawned on me I haven't seen any indigo types for sale this year.Was it just a fad ?

Lots of comments here at Tville which go back to I think 2012 if anyone wants to do a search here,oops,I think I linked to that in a link below.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Indi...&bih=815&dpr=1

I think it's good to look at the history of who bred it and why, I think that will surprise you..

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Indigo_Rose

I don't like Indigo Rose at all, you couldn't pay me enough money to ever grow it again.

Many years ago a technician from Dr. Myers lab, Dr Myers had bred it, was posting at Dave's Garden, as I was at that time, and she was offering seeds of Indigo Rose which alarmed several of us. Since I knew that Dr. Myers had sent seeds of it to those who were commercial and they had to sign a contract that they wouldn't share seeds with anyone else I asked her about that and all she said was that Dr. Myers hadn't told ANYONE in the lab they couldn't share seeds,so why couldn't she and also said no,she didn't ask his permission...

A tville member whose name I won't mention, got some of those seeds, since he was commercial and grew them out and sent me some fruits and that's the first and last time I tasted Indigo Rose.

At the same time similar varieties were bred in Italy and England. What it was all about was anthocyanin genes and how anthos, other veggie also have them, think purple,are good for you so why not breed an edible form.

And since tomatoes are very popular with almost everyone,why not breed a tomato variety that would put the anthos in an edible form, and that's what Dr.Myers did.

I do like Indigo Cherry Drops,though.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Indi...&bih=815&dpr=1

Carolyn, and Slugworth,if you look at the above link you'll see that many places sell seeds for the Cherry Drops one,also bred by Dr.Myers. Fact is that,not just my opinion, but Indigo Rose itself almost no one liked. And if you want some great antho ones look at Fred Hemple's offerings,he's here at Tville almost every day,I'm speaking to his Artisan Series, which he has placed with many excellent seed companies, also mentioned in a link above,and Sgt Pepper has antho shoulders,it's a pink heart and also excellent. Hope the above has helped .

Fred Hempel · May 28, 2018

Hi Carolyn,

There seem to be some confusion.

We have not released any Antho varieties, and there are 0 antho lines in our breeding toolkit.

**carolyn137** · May 28, 2018

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fred Hempel

Hi Carolyn,

There seem to be some confusion.

We have not released any Antho varieties, and there are 0 antho lines in our breeding toolkit.

Thanks for the correction Fred. I must have looked in the wrong Toolkit.

Carolyn

Fred Hempel · May 28, 2018

We were working on a few things for a brief moment. But no more.

Also, I have really liked Indigo Cherry Drops grown by others. But it has been inconsistent for me, and shelf life (once it reached ripe) was surprisingly short.

MickyT · May 28, 2018

I have grown both Indigo Rose and Indigo Sun, and we also didn't care much for their taste. But I like to have some novelty tomatoes in the lineup. This year I found a Midnight Snack at a local garden center and it's supposed to have improved taste over other indigo varieties and was a 2017 AAS winner, so will see if it lives up to the hype.

slugworth · May 28, 2018

For me they were more of a conversation piece.
The second year I actually put old mirrors under the plants to try to get a more even color.

Fred Hempel · May 28, 2018

I'd rather discuss how great that Cherokee Purple tasted...

Quote:

Originally Posted by slugworth

For me they were more of a conversation piece.
The second year I actually put old mirrors under the plants to try to get a more even color.

slugworth · May 28, 2018

cherokee purple plants I have seen lately along with cherokee carbon.
Didn't buy any tho.

**nctomatoman** · May 28, 2018

We actually have a few possible tasty leads in our dwarf project - they are being pretty heavily tested this year - fingers crossed. A small purple pear shaped with heavy antho (Dwarf Mocha's Cherry), a small long fruited pink with heavy antho (Dwarf Ann's Dusky Rose Plum) are the two main candidates - and I had a large fruited chocolate with antho out of a cross between Blue P20 and Tennessee Suited - needs a lot of work.

We shall see - a few years away for all of them at the earliest.

imp · May 28, 2018

Indigo Rose was a spitter for me, I found it to be bitter to my taste. I hope the dwarf projects will be much much better.

**nctomatoman** · May 28, 2018

I agree - the early anthos (including P20) spitters indeed! We are beyond that with our project selections in our early looks - the worst are bland, but we are not finding the odd bitterness.

Fusion_power · May 28, 2018

Since Carolyn mentioned already, I got P20 from Jim Myers back about 2005 or 2006 and sent her a sample fruit. As she stated, it was very poor in the flavor department. Fortunately, some breeding work has been done which combined better flavor and higher sugar into some high anthocyanin fruit. I don't advertise it yet because there is still a lot of work to do, but I have a very good flavored high anthocyanin potato leaf variety that will eventually be released.

I can add that I sold included exactly two plants of Indigo Cherry Drops and one plant of Indigo Rose this year. I still have a few dozen plants in the greenhouse but will let them die out in a few weeks. I have plants in the garden for fresh seed.

We could also have a conversation about sharing genetics from breeding programs. Jim Myers was very much in the "work in progress" phase of developing high anthocyanin tomatoes when a grad student gave a few seed to a friend. That friend then listed the seed on a website and distributed them to several people. Another person who visits this forum got seed and shared them still further. Jim Myers contacted this person and politely asked him to stop sharing the seed. I give Jim a lot of credit for ethical actions when people were taking advantage of his breeding work.

May 28, 2018	#1
slugworth Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: connecticut,usa Posts: 1,150	no indigo rose etc? I buy tomato plants from about 10 different local sources and it just dawned on me I haven't seen any indigo types for sale this year.Was it just a fad ?

May 28, 2018	#3
Old School Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2014 Location: Central PA, Zone 6 Posts: 93	Not sure whether a fad or not but I didn't care for the ones I tried a few years back. I had the cherry variety. It didn't grow true to whatever they were attempting. I had the small blackish colored cherries (I think they came on later and farther down the plant) as well as larger grape sized more yellowish in color tomatoes towards the top. The larger ones weren't too bad tasting. The smaller indigo ones were quite tart and I didn't eat any beyond sampling them. Maybe others had a similar experience. __________________ -Frank

May 28, 2018	#12
nctomatoman Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Hendersonville, NC zone 7 Posts: 10,385	We actually have a few possible tasty leads in our dwarf project - they are being pretty heavily tested this year - fingers crossed. A small purple pear shaped with heavy antho (Dwarf Mocha's Cherry), a small long fruited pink with heavy antho (Dwarf Ann's Dusky Rose Plum) are the two main candidates - and I had a large fruited chocolate with antho out of a cross between Blue P20 and Tennessee Suited - needs a lot of work. We shall see - a few years away for all of them at the earliest. __________________ Craig

May 28, 2018	#14
nctomatoman Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Hendersonville, NC zone 7 Posts: 10,385	I agree - the early anthos (including P20) spitters indeed! We are beyond that with our project selections in our early looks - the worst are bland, but we are not finding the odd bitterness. __________________ Craig

May 28, 2018	#2
TC_Manhattan Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Ohio Posts: 457	Perhaps it's because they lacked something in the taste department..

May 28, 2018	#5
Fred Hempel Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Sunol, CA Posts: 2,723	Hi Carolyn, There seem to be some confusion. We have not released any Antho varieties, and there are 0 antho lines in our breeding toolkit.

May 28, 2018	#8
MickyT Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2017 Location: North Vancouver, BC, Canada Posts: 46	I have grown both Indigo Rose and Indigo Sun, and we also didn't care much for their taste. But I like to have some novelty tomatoes in the lineup. This year I found a Midnight Snack at a local garden center and it's supposed to have improved taste over other indigo varieties and was a 2017 AAS winner, so will see if it lives up to the hype.

May 28, 2018	#13
imp Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Wichita Falls, Texas Posts: 4,832	Indigo Rose was a spitter for me, I found it to be bitter to my taste. I hope the dwarf projects will be much much better.

May 28, 2018	#15
Fusion_power Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Alabama Posts: 2,250	Since Carolyn mentioned already, I got P20 from Jim Myers back about 2005 or 2006 and sent her a sample fruit. As she stated, it was very poor in the flavor department. Fortunately, some breeding work has been done which combined better flavor and higher sugar into some high anthocyanin fruit. I don't advertise it yet because there is still a lot of work to do, but I have a very good flavored high anthocyanin potato leaf variety that will eventually be released. I can add that I sold included exactly two plants of Indigo Cherry Drops and one plant of Indigo Rose this year. I still have a few dozen plants in the greenhouse but will let them die out in a few weeks. I have plants in the garden for fresh seed. We could also have a conversation about sharing genetics from breeding programs. Jim Myers was very much in the "work in progress" phase of developing high anthocyanin tomatoes when a grad student gave a few seed to a friend. That friend then listed the seed on a website and distributed them to several people. Another person who visits this forum got seed and shared them still further. Jim Myers contacted this person and politely asked him to stop sharing the seed. I give Jim a lot of credit for ethical actions when people were taking advantage of his breeding work.