Sungold volunteer...what to expect?

pooklette · May 30, 2007

I spotted an interesting volunteer in my garden today and I'm pretty sure it has to be a Sungold sport. Last year, Opalka, San Marzano Redorta, Amish Paste and Sungold grew in this area. Now, I have a darling little 6" tomato plant with at least 6 flowers on it. In my zone 5 garden, without the benefit of a greenhouse for extra-early starts, I wouldn't expect to see flowers for another few weeks. Yet, there they are on that bushy little plant.

So...I suspect I'm accidentally dehybridizing Sungold. I think it's pretty reasonable to assume that this isn't one of the paste varieties unless there was some kind of spontaneous mutation involved (which I think is highly doubtful.)

This plant's early nature has really peaked my interest and I'm wondering what else to expect. I know that quite a few people have tried to find a stable OP version of Sungold that was just as tasty as the original. I am certainly going to save seeds and am really curious about what kind of flavors I might run into with this line. Any thoughts? Any comments about previous discoveries when dehybridizing this variety?

May 30, 2007	#1
pooklette Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Zone 5 Posts: 262	Sungold volunteer...what to expect? I spotted an interesting volunteer in my garden today and I'm pretty sure it has to be a Sungold sport. Last year, Opalka, San Marzano Redorta, Amish Paste and Sungold grew in this area. Now, I have a darling little 6" tomato plant with at least 6 flowers on it. In my zone 5 garden, without the benefit of a greenhouse for extra-early starts, I wouldn't expect to see flowers for another few weeks. Yet, there they are on that bushy little plant. So...I suspect I'm accidentally dehybridizing Sungold. I think it's pretty reasonable to assume that this isn't one of the paste varieties unless there was some kind of spontaneous mutation involved (which I think is highly doubtful.) This plant's early nature has really peaked my interest and I'm wondering what else to expect. I know that quite a few people have tried to find a stable OP version of Sungold that was just as tasty as the original. I am certainly going to save seeds and am really curious about what kind of flavors I might run into with this line. Any thoughts? Any comments about previous discoveries when dehybridizing this variety?