I collected a couple of tomatoes from the yellow ones that were supposed to be Gardener's Delight as they have some visual appeal in salads. They germinated very well and are producing yellow tomatoes identical to last year.
After several years of disappointment from various suppliers, to ensure obtaining genuine Gardener's Delight I decided to abandon the large seed producers and sought out a smaller one producing organic seed. I decided on Groseeds and after contacting them, they said -
"Groseeds has been
trading for just over two years. We have in this time sold hundreds of
Gardeners Delight tomato seed packets. I can confirm (to date) that we have not
received any complaints from a customer regarding supplying the incorrect
variety for Gardeners Delight (or any of our other 700 varieties)."
My plants grown from their seeds are healthy and producing genuine GD tomatoes and I shall be collecting my own seed.
Perhaps a similar approach may work for other members also?
@snowman Good to hear your self-saved seeds 'germinated very well and are producing yellow tomatoes identical to last year.' That's what I would expect, and is consistent with my own experience and knowledge of tomato seed saving.
If course, all of the above only applies to 'heritage' varieties. Seeds grown from F1 hybrid varieties will be F2 at best. Some seedlings may resemble the mother plant and some may resemble one of the parents of whichever 'heritage' varieties were cross-pollinated to produce the F1 seeds. If you only have room to grow a few plants, don't rely on seeds taken from tomatoes of F1 varieties or you may be disappointed.
However, I suspect many tomato seeds sold as F1 are actually from a stable breeding pool and should really be reclassifed.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
Chris, after 35 years of witnessing cross-pollination regardless of flower structure, I have to respectfully disagree. At absolute best you could say flower structure should reduce the chances of cross-pollination. But it doesn't prevent it. Which is why "bagging" is so widespread amongst seed savers.
@Italophile you seem to be replying in very general terms, rather than the specifics of tomatoes. If you think the chances of cross-pollination are largely unaffected by flower structure, then you're in major disagreement with long understood basic plant biology.
'Bagging' or other isolation methods might be widespread for certain plants that are more likely to cross pollinate, but what plants are you referring to? We're talking about tomatoes here, so where is your evidence that it's 'widespread amongst (tomato) seed savers'?
I'm pretty sure that what I've previously said is correct. Tomatoes are definitely at the self-pollinating end of the spectrum, and
the overwhelming majority will rarely cross-pollinate. There are exceptions, certain varieties
with a particular flower structure and protruding stigma, but these are
not common.
I really don't want to see anybody put off tomato seed saving without good reason.
The big question is which variety these yellow plum tomatoes are? They are up to 1.5 in long (35mm) sweet, meaty and delicious and prolific, It seems that many on the post seem to want to plant them again so an answer is required!
I have looked and there are a few contenders such as Peardrops, but these plants we have been sold as Gardeners Delight have grown as cordons and are not a bush tomato.
Any ideas out there? We are going to keep some of the seeds!
A possibility I've seen is this one, called Yellow Delight. Supplied by Kings Seeds. The picture on the front of the packet looks similar to what people have described on this thread. Doesn't look like Kings are selling them now, so maybe it was a trial variety of some sort. They're not labelled as F1, so anybody with saved seeds should be able to keep them going.
I grew Gardeners Delight last year for the first time and they were yellow plum tomatoes and I have to say they were the most sweetest tomatoes I’ve ever tasted,absolutely delicious. They were Kings F1 I’ll be growing them again this year and so hope they’ll be the same ones again.
Posts
After several years of disappointment from various suppliers, to ensure obtaining genuine Gardener's Delight I decided to abandon the large seed producers and sought out a smaller one producing organic seed. I decided on Groseeds and after contacting them, they said -
"Groseeds has been trading for just over two years. We have in this time sold hundreds of Gardeners Delight tomato seed packets. I can confirm (to date) that we have not received any complaints from a customer regarding supplying the incorrect variety for Gardeners Delight (or any of our other 700 varieties)."
My plants grown from their seeds are healthy and producing genuine GD tomatoes and I shall be collecting my own seed.
Perhaps a similar approach may work for other members also?
'Bagging' or other isolation methods might be widespread for certain plants that are more likely to cross pollinate, but what plants are you referring to? We're talking about tomatoes here, so where is your evidence that it's 'widespread amongst (tomato) seed savers'?
I'm pretty sure that what I've previously said is correct. Tomatoes are definitely at the self-pollinating end of the spectrum, and the overwhelming majority will rarely cross-pollinate. There are exceptions, certain varieties with a particular flower structure and protruding stigma, but these are not common.
I really don't want to see anybody put off tomato seed saving without good reason.
Are you sure they were GD?
Here's the page from Kings Seeds
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.