An interesting article I just read and thought I’d share:
I’ve grown tomatoes with purple tops or bottoms but never an entirely purple tomato. I didn’t care much for their flavor but maybe it wasn’t the anthocynanin to blame for that.
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I have mixed feelings over this. High anthocyanin tomatoes tend to have very poor flavor. We already have high anthocyanin conventionally bred tomatoes so it is just piling on to add a GMO high antho variety. At the same time, the potential of GMO is off the charts. I want a tomato that produces antifungals in the leaves and hosts symbiotes to produce nitrogen like legumes and, and, and…
I’m going on memory with this so please verify accuracy if interested. Tomatoes contain the entire anthocyanin biopath which means all the genetic machinery is there to produce high anthocyanin tomatoes. There is not a gene in tomatoes that turns the anthocyanin biopath on which leaves normal tomatoes producing caroteinoids which are on another biopath. This tomato was developed by pulling a gene out of snapdragons that produces the anthocyanin precursors that turn the biopath on. Once enabled, the existing biopath proceeds to make the compounds that give the color to this fruit. There is a very good opportunity to improve this tomato by increasing sugar and/or by increasing flavor compounds.
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if they get around to selling seeds, here’s their website:
I meant to get seeds for this current season (gmo approval wasn’t needed to sell them if I remember their NYT article correctly, so they planned to start selling without that) but they never listed them
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I want better texture. Don’t want runny around seeds or those drips.
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Find Tennessee Britches. It is the closest I’ve ever grown to a dry tomato.
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yeah I don’t really like tomatoes… I just want to grow it as a curiosity. I made sure to buy a rainbow papaya in hawaii (gmo, sold at farmers markets), same reason
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Thanks for the recommendation. With our short season, I usually look for things that are 80 days or less. Maybe when I’m retired I’ll better manage vegetables from seed.
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If these plants are being sold to your average Joe I can see this complicating things with your starter gardener. Up till now we were able to say all plants were are growing are GMO free. It will give those people who are against hybrids because they think hybrids are GMO a leg to stand on. That being said I do wonder if this is the start of a new way of gardening. I wonder if they could start making rootstocks of plants that are GMO to not have animals attack the fruit trees. A interesting idea none the less.
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Interesting. I was under the impression no GMO products were available on the market for your home gardener.
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This is another article about Purple tomato that Baker’s Creek thought was non-GMO and found out that they probably was wrong and had to destroy the seeds.
It is also interesting to read about how some new creations “escaped” from the labs.
@Fusion_power - your thought on this?
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Escapes are not just GMO. A few years ago, Jim Myers at OSU had a conventionally developed blue/black tomato bred with 3 genes from a wild relative. Someone in his lab gave a few seed to a friend and voila we had an outbreak of blue/black tomatoes spreading through the U.S. The problem with it was that the breeding lines Jim Myers was working with were nowhere near good enough to release. It should have stayed in a closed population for a few more years until traits were better developed.
What is my take on the purple GMO tomato? IMO, there is no reason not to consume it. Two snapdragon genes for anthocyanin were moved into the tomato genome. Anthocyanins are probably the most common compounds produced by plants world wide. Apples have them, pears have them, tomatoes have them, blueberries have tons of them. Anthocyanins are noted antioxidants that we need in our diet. Plants use anthocyanins to protect from sunburn, deter pests, and attract seed spreading animals.
Bakers Creek created a monster when they obtained Purple Galaxy seed. Bakers Creek has a very clearly stated policy of not selling GMO seed and spends a lot of money on tests yearly to ensure none of their seed are contaminated. Corn for example is easily contaminated by GMO pollen. Due diligence was required for a purple tomato which suddenly appeared on the scene on the heels of a GMO purple tomato. Bakers Creek did not do due diligence.
One thought I’ll add is that I have some tomato breeding lines that likely could produce a purple tomato if the right traits were combined. I have several tomatoes that are shades of blue and lavender. Blue Fruit is one such. Combined with the chlorophyll accumulator from Cherokee purple and the atv gene from Jim Myers breeding lines likely could result in a purple fruit.
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Have you been on gardening forums on places like Reddit? People were losing their S on baker creek over it. You were like me and defended them on it and you were downvoted to oblivion. I think the thought process of making them is they were supposed to be more healthy while providing a different color. It is the same reason people grow yellow watermelon or pink lemonade blueberry. It is a nice novelty and cool to say you are growing something a different color and like I said it appeals to the health nuts for the anti cancer causing piece. I have legit seen people categorize the best fruit based on health and nutrition info to these where clearly meant to appeal to that crowd.
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The dialogue here seems much healthier than Reddit. The upvote/downvote system can promote echo chambers. I’m excited for GMO cold tolerant trees: avacado, mango, etc but am weary about others.
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I would be curious on how cold tolerant those could go with GMO. Mango and avocado are some of those trees of think of as heavy tropics.
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Thank you, Darrel. A friend of my daughter gave us seeds of her own tomato creation. The top where the fruit get stronger sun turned purple. The bottom remain yellow. It tasted mild. Unfortunately, I did not save the seeds.
@Shout-rattans - this forum is quite small and admins have tried hard to be vigilant about not allowing uncivil discussion or nonsenses to get out of hand.
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Exactly. I was very dubious when I saw that Baker Creek was introducing an all-purple tomato so soon after the GMO was announced. I’m actually surprised something like this hasn’t happened before with them. I like them for some things, but I’m much more skeptical of Baker Creek than a lot of folks are. They have some interesting varieties and do a decent job of giving back, but they don’t do a good job of educating consumers on how to grow their varieties (planting instructions are slim to none), use a lot of sensationalism and mildly deceptive business practices, and their seeds often don’t perform as well for me as the same variety from other suppliers. Their business model is centered on splashy photos, fetizitation of “foreign” varieties, and a mythologized version of heirloom varieties rather than real crop performance, so I’m not surprised they jumped on an all-purple tomato without doing proper due diligence.
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I share some of your feelings in regards to Baker Creek. On the one hand, I appreciate the variety of things they offer, and its enjoyable to see photos of so many varieties. On the other hand, their marketing smacks of some mildly distasteful things, much of which you pointed out. Its sort of John Boy from the Walton’s meets PT Barnum. On some level, I think that type of sensationalism is endemic to the seed and nursery trade, though they seem to push the boundaries in some ways. I also agree that their seeds are not always “all that”, Ive had a number of varieties not come true to type, etc. I do think the reality is growing seed crops is uniquely challenging. I remember spending a ferry ride chatting with the head grower for Johnny’s Seed co. in charge of Curcurbits. The isolation distances and other trickery needed to keep all of those varieties pure and in circulation seemed quite harrowing.
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Best description of Jere Gettle I’ve seen yet. While I don’t grow seed for Bakers Creek, I do grow for Sandhill Preservation. Glenn Drowns is a far more conscientious seed grower and seller.
I grow 1 variety of watermelon, 1 variety of cantaloupe, 1 variety of cucumber, 1 variety of gourd, and 1 variety of luffa each year. It is the only way to maintain stable breeding lines. I grow dozens of varieties of tomatoes, peppers, and beans because they are self-pollinators with low crossing levels.
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Will other types of melons also strongly cross pollinate or is this list definitive, does gourd mean just gourds or other squash as well?
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