Tomato Funky 'Variegation'

@Fusion_power @thepodpiper

Hi all,

(2) of (2) ‘Tasty Evergreen’ have what I believe to be variegation. Am I wrong? :crossed_fingers:

Thank you,

Dax

Dax, given that there is no real pattern to it I would have to wonder for now- it’s interesting and provocative but it’s just not clear that what we’re seeing there is genetic. For now I would look for a temporary physical cause. The little white fringe on the edge of the downwards-pointing leaf, for example, looks like some kind of physical stress to me.

But it would be fun to root that leaf and see what happened. I’d love to see it work!

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There isn’t any scorching. There doesn’t appear to be a virus because only a few leaves of many show the pattern. It looks like variegation and I’ve seen a lot of variegation in my years of grafting. Thanks for your 2-cents.

Dax

If I were to hunch a guess, I would say virus. I would keep it away from others and not plant it in ground that you plan to plant tomatoes in next year. Maybe it’s just a cool genetic variant, but virus is more probable. And many variegated ornamentals are variegated on account of a virus which is why they are often sickly lookin. They are sick. God bless.

Marcus

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You might want to try and remove the leaf and then see if it spreads to the rest of the plant. Maybe you got it in time. God bless.

Marcus

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I think you should plant it out (the leaf, I mean), and see if you can keep it going. Spontaneous variegation is how it works! No matter how it plays out we all get to benefit from your observations. So please do, and keep us posted.

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It is normal although you do not see it often, or ever for most gardeners. I have had a few plants show this over the years and have noticed no other abnormalities in plants or fruit. I have found no articles that suggest it is anything other than a mutant trait. I too would like to see the results of rooting just that leaf and see where it goes.

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What the podpiper said! Rare to see. Variegated plants are often weak because they are not making enough sugar due to lack of enough chloroplasts.

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