Can you find out from the grower if they are hybrid varieties or open pollinated varieties? If they are hybrids it is most likely a waste of your time but if OP then by all means, save those seeds. ;)

Dave

You can always grow one out and see if they come true. Some hybrids are stable but that is never stated or you wouldn't continue to buy seeds. When I find one I like I grow at least one or two plants to see if they are stable. The oxhearts sound interesting. JD

I'd try a few seeds if you have room in the garden for a trial ... especially if you found the plant and the tomato worth growing again.

Glory is a hybrid I find interesting, flavorful and having a great growth habit. I sprouted a couple dozen F2 seeds trying to find a potato leaf seedling since the vendors say it's a Brandywine cross. No potato leaf seedlings appeared.

But of the two transplants I kept, one grew into a very short bush determinate setting a whopper of a concentrated set. The tomatoes have the same long countertop keeping qualities as the F1, and a reasonably good taste. But the plant itself looks nothing like the F1 ... and absolutely nothing like a Brandywine. The tomatoes are more globe shaped than the F1 too.

Unfortunately, I don't have the kind of space for a proper growout of post-hybrids, but I will continue to look at this particular tomato as "single seed selections."

unfortunately i cant know more
i could reach the grower of the pinks, but he was quite proud of what he achieved, and not likely to share his secrets with me
no way to know anything about the reds
i seem to understand that all commercial varieties are hybrid, so i guess the reds are too
not so sure about the pinks, could be just family selection, or f1 hybrid as well, or maybe a dehybridization on the way
i will try to post some pictures

pictures:

What do you have to loose? Except maybe a little space for a plant or two next year. Some of the best I ever grew was fron a Supermarket hot house one that tasted and smelled good. I think it was a Gurney comercial variety.

Everything in the pictures is definitely an OP. You can tell by looking at them. I will guarantee they are OP.

really? that sounds like good news!
does it mean there are good chances to replicate with seeds?
how do you know they're OP? is it because of the irregular shapes?

The second picture "could" be Costoluto Genovese. It's a fluted version and pin/red in color.

Seedsavers.org lists an "Italian Heirloom" that goes over a pound each and your picture appears to be a pink.

Carpi, Save some seeds from each of those. I agree with the others here that they are NOT typical commercial varieties, most of which are round, red, and easy to pick by hand or machine, and generally go about 6 to 10 ounces. The "Italian Market Wonder" is listed for 4-8 oz.

A question I would have for you is whether or not the fluted one in the second picture is hollow or filled with juice or ...?

Seedsavers.org lists an "Italian Heirloom" that goes over a pound each and your picture appears to be a pink.

*****

Italian Heirloom is red, not pink, although it's hard to decide on the color from the pictures of it in the Public SSE catalog and the website. And a beefsteak.

But SSE is also listing it in the Yearbook and says it's red and it's in the red color section.

There is one called Italian Heart listed in the Yearbook and that one is heart shaped and is pink.

In my experience it's really quite rare to have a pink oxheart from Italy since most of them that I know of are red and there aren't even many red heart shaped varieties known.

But of course you don't really know of the origin of any of those that you have and they could be as yet, not named and not yet known.

Try as we might I think it's not going to be possible to ID the variety from the fruits you show. Once fruits are separated from their label or name they become orphans. ( smile)

So by all means assume that what you have are OP ( open pollinated), and I agree based on the pictures, non-hybrid ones and just enjoy. ( smile)

Carolyn

I completely agree with elkwc; there is profit in stability--save seeds and grow them out. I have no doubt you will be delighted with what you grow.

well, i can tell you they are definitely not costoluto genovese
here they are all called "cuore di bue" (which simply means ox heart), and you can buy them almost everywhere
i suppose that "cuore di bue" is just a loose definition (something like "beefsteak" in us), actually covering more varieties under the same name
first picture are pink, from a tomato enthusiast probably developing a special strain on his own
second pic are orange-red, of the normal "cuore di bue variety you can buy everywhere,they are just unusually big and misshapen (the upper two)
also consider that, due to globalization, i wouldn't be surprised if actually they were grown in Spain, or somewhere in Africa
below you can find a link of what a normal cuore di bue looks like
here there are a couple more:
http://www.radisa.it/seedsaver.php?p=cuore_bue http://www.ortofrutticola.it/tesoridalbenga/4dalbenga/pomodorocuordibue.php
but the link below is the more rapresentative of what i see everyday

PS Ted, what do you mean for "fluted one"? they're all fluted :) if you tell me which one you're interested in, i can take a picture when i will cut it
right now, i've eaten just two of the first picture, they were very meaty, with small holes full of seeds (not hollow); meat was pink, and seeds gel was orange (quite strange looking); also, there were some big seeds, and a lot of very small seeds (just in case it means anything to the experts)

Here is a link that might be useful: cuore di bue

Bad choice of words by me. By "fluting", I was referring to the second picture and the heavy "ribbing" shown. Sorry to have confused the issue.

you mean second picture top right (the one which looks like a butterfly)?

I'm embarrassed. I failed to note that you're actually in Italy and didn't pay enough attention when you wrote that they were "oxhearts". Again, sorry for the confusing post.

I planted 4 Better Boy Hybrid Tomato seeds, and they have done fine. Two are bigger plants than the other two. I think the smaller plant does best, and I have saved itÂs seeds .

ItÂs really hard to tell which plant is best, because where ever you plant them they are planted under different conditions.

I would think that commercial tomatoes would be determinate as they all ripen together. I would plant a seed or two every couple of weeks or more apart so you donÂt have all your tomatoes ripen at once.

Karyl
====

"Everything in the pictures is definitely an OP. You can tell by looking at them. I will guarantee they are OP." [dangould]

I disagree that one can automatically determine open pollinated vs hybrid tomato simply by viewing a picture. While the tomato in the first photo posted above by Carpi has the appearance of a heritage type tomato, there are breeders now trying to recapture that appearance in hybrid tomatoes.

Here's One and Here's Another . There are several more new hybrids that look like open pollinated old timers.

Bill

i did some search, and found that "cuore di bue" can be both OP and hybrid (see link below), so all i can do is keep the seeds, and see what happens next year

btw, this morning i went back to the market, an found another 2 pounder, even stranger:

and, for containerted, here's how it looks inside:

also, i have somebody in the south of Italy saving me seeds from a 4 pounder :)

now i just need to figure out where to plant all those seeds :)

Here is a link that might be useful: oxheart hybrids