Pip, didn't see your post, sorry. But, know that it's not a "3-in-1" grafted tree. What he has are three rooted cuttings stuck into one pot. Three completely separate trees growing in one pot, one of which is very vigorous and will crowd out the other two and eventually kill them (so, I guess it will probably end up with your recommendation, if punky tries to continue to grow 3 trees in one pot). No need to kill anything. Punky really should remove two of the cuttings and re-pot them in their own pots. And, what Kippy said. It really is a very perfect example of "you get what you pay for". These are cuttings of more ornamental types of citrus trees, which is fine if that's what you want - a pretty plant that is rather high-maintenance inside, and produces pretty, but either inedible or marginal fruits. And, punky, again, Kippy has given you some good advice - don't shoot the messengers you asked us about these cultivars we've told you what they are, where to go to find out more about them, and what we, as experienced citrus growers would do. It is entirely up to you as to what you wish to do with your 3 cuttings. Wishing you well, whatever it is you decide. Patty S.

Well, if not stories, I'd love to hear/read about some of the legal stuff involved myself. My eldest child went through a variety of labels/diagnoses, eventually they settled on "developmental delay" - no one ever bothered to tell us that it was actually a milder form of autism. It's certainly been a challenge at times. It remains up for debate on whether Pitocin tried for inducing labour was the culprit or mercury in his first vaccination series - we nearly lost him after his first series of vaccinations and ended up first getting a letter from a doctor to say he wasn't to receive the standard DPT (his symptoms were assumed from the pertussis part of the vaccine) but later I got a religious exemption for all vaccinations and with our other three children we avoided the vaccinations altogether for fear of a "repeat"... scary stuff... too bad it can't be reversed. Breaks my heart. It could be worse, truly, but I found that the public school system additionally made it worse - he wasn't affected enough to fit into their available "special education" classes yet he couldn't keep up or stay on track with regular classes - so the PS system had him falling between the cracks, passing him on due to size and age alone... ended up pulling him (and the others) out of PS to homeschool instead. But, back on topic... yes, any info on the hoops to jump through for new strains, introduction, etc. would be great. I'm not keen on plant patents myself and I'm pro-OP.

Anney, I crossed Indian Stripe x Sun Gold in 2007 and a fellow who posts at T-ville crossed Cherokee Purple x Sun Gold, I believe in 2008. As you can imagine, the results have been reported as similar but not identical. I've sent F2 seeds from that cross to several people, including JayTee and AmiDeutch, who both got some fantastic brown cherries. The fellow from T-ville distributed his F2 seeds to several folks who are also reporting some great little tomatoes. We both, independently, sent F2 seeds of our two crosses to a professional grower in Wisconsin who is growing them out in large blocks. I also sent lots of those seeds to a commercial market gardener in Michigan who is growing out a block of about 50 plants this summer. So, we should be hearing about an assortment of results from those two crosses. Enough about that. There are also folks with crosses of Sun Gold and all sorts of heirloom type varieties. Mulio hit on one that reportedly is the tastiest tomato that Fusion ever ate. There's another guy in Belgium or France or somewhere in that area who crossed Sungold with Romeo (a huge, pepper shaped paste tomato from Peters Seed Research) and some other far out crosses. I did another one in 2007, Juane Flamme x Sun Gold, which is yielding some nice stuff. Whole point being, if you really want some wild and crazy results in the F2s and F3s, cross Sun Gold with varieties that are significantly different from Sun Gold. And BTW, when you do, you will not get consistent conformity in the F1 because Sun Gold itself is a complex hybrid in a heterozygotous state.

On the OP tom seed saving bidness, an obvious but largely unaddressed issue here is one of proper identification. This is important if one wants to reprise the same cult from one's own saved seeds. I am no paragon of virtue on it, but I try to keep track of the tom cults. ***** Reg, I'm not following you entirely on this but I think you are saying be sure that you have properly IDed the variety ( not cults, aka cultivars) that you are taking fruits from to save seed. If so, time after time I have urged folks to NEVER plant a tomato plant unless the person knows the variety traits as to plant habit, indeterminate or determinate, leaf form, RL or PL or other, fruit shape and size and color. A lot of casually traded seed turns out not to be what the seed recipient expected either b'c of crossed seed or b'c the person who saved the seeds did not properly ID the variety being used for seed saving and the seed traded is pure but not the right variety. Carolyn