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Growing Tomatoes

Orange Volunteer Tomato ID

14 years ago

Hi everyone. I was hoping one you gurus out there would be able to help me identify this tomato. I'm at a community garden and this plant popped up as a volunteer from the previous gardener. I moved it to a better location in my plot and eventually these babies started growing.

The second image shows green shoulders on the tomato. That one is still ripening so the green shoulders aren't permanent.

They taste pretty sweet and have quite a lot of meat on the inside.

Many thanks!

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Comments (8)

mulio
14 years ago
what kind of leaf type did it have?

was it very productive?
boothc9
Original Author
14 years ago
I knew I should have taken a picture of the leaves! I want to say they were somewhat potato like, but not completely.

The plant produced about six or seven equal sized tomatoes similar to the ones shown in my original post. However, I just noticed today that it had another cluster of three more that are still very small and very green.

After googling a few orange tomato varieties it looks like a Kellogg's Breakfast, Kentucky Beefsteak, or possibly Yellow Brandywine. Can you tell?

Thanks again!
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I imagine you'll get tomatos from your volunteer ;-) I live down near San Antonio, and I was a little late with getting my tomatos in ;-( so I had quite a number of volunteers pop up (had no idea what they were) so I just caged them, fert. them, and started watering them...they all have fruit now ;-) of course they were all the same variety, Coyote tomato, which are really tasty, but I have no big tomatos now. I did go ahead and plant some larger tomatos a week or so ago..I've had fair luck with getting fruit even if I did get them in kind of late, in the past....so I'd go for it ;-)
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yeah, that's what i thought, too. but over on the tomato forum, they id'd it as leaf-footed stink bug nymph. check out the color plates: http://ftsg.ifas.ufl.edu/LFBIBC.HTM i sprayed some pyrethrin and smushed the ones i could find. at this point in the game, the tomatoes are pretty unhealthy. if this does the trick, great. i'll count my blessings to have had fresh tomatoes from march to july. if not, hello fried green tomatoes and southern peas!
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I love volunteer tomatoes :) True they normally germinate later than the store bought plants because they need to wait for the soil to warm. However, comma - if they are not transplanted the root structure excels so they need far less watering and can better withstand dry spells. IF you can allow them to grow where they sprout, I would do that. As recommended cut with scissors those you want to remove. The downside is they are always a surprise and you just don't know what the fruit will be until it is time to harvest (which also can be a bit later). Cherry tomatoes can reproduce like weeds. I have managed to go several years on just volunteers until the venison family found my tomatoes and ate all the fruit before it was even ripe so none ever hit the ground :( The finger smell test is the way to determine.
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Comments (6)
Grace, I am sure you will be swimming in tomatoes before you know it, especially with your long growing season. Pupilla, Cool! I have never heard of that strain. I just looked it up. Looks like you may be getting some whoppers. The info I just read says 1 to 3 pounds each. Sey, I cut one open and tried it. The interior tasted great and very similar to Sungold and Sunsugar but unfortunately the skin was really tough and hard. I cut open a Sunsugar because I thought it might be interesting to observe the similarities and differences. I didn't grow Sungold this year so I couldn't compare it with that variety.
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noinwi
14 years ago
Persimmon is another possibility.
carolyn137
14 years ago
I know it's sometimes hard to distinguish between a final color of orange or gold, but KB would be orange and Yellow Brandywine would be gold, not orange.

it really gets back to the question of leaf form as mulio asked b'c if gold and PL it could be Aunt Gertie's Gold, which is PL, and if PL and gold it could also be Yellow Brandywine except I think the fruits you show don't resemble YB as much as they do AGG, since the latter has more irregularly shaped fruits.

And there's always the possibility that the volunteer was the result of natual cross pollination.

Given the huge number of possibilities as I see it, gold or orange beefsteaks, PL or RL, I don't think there's any way that you can ID it, but you can at least save seeds and plant out a few plants next season to see if it's a cross or it comes true for whatever it might be.

Carolyn, who isn't going to suggest checking to see who was growing what in the plot where you found it last year b'c it could also be a "bird" donation as well. LOL
boothc9
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for your help everyone. If I get a chance, I'll get a picture of the leaves.

I didn't even think of the possibility of a gold.

For now, I'll just pretend it's an heirloom :)
compost_pete-grower
14 years ago
cut one in half and get the leaf or ideally the whole plant pictures- then I'll guess kellogs if it fits but it is a wild guess
deanriowa
14 years ago
Could be a Dr Wyches Yellow.

Dean
John A
14 years ago
The color and size look very much like Djena Lee Golden Girl.
John A

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