OSU blue seeds

Began selling tomato seeds 60 years ago, began growing them a few years later.

Martin

Sometimes when I am out in the field...I don't think in scientific terms and I simplify the genes into a one/two punch. I am only concerned with two genes to get the blues I want...I don't think about hp and other genes so much.

Therefore, in the seedling stage I look for F-2's that show good blue stems and leaves...the more the better and those get priority spots in the transplantation process. I figure the atv gene...hard to remember the full name without stuttering/muttering...is recessive...so the most blue plants are most likely to be homozygous....stability achieved!

The second stage of selection usually occurs after fruit set on up to ripening. Does it have a slight blue shoulder? Good..that means it carries the gene on one side...if it is really blue....double good...meaning it is most likely to be among the homozygous...stability achieved.

So here it is....a restatement of the genes....in order of importance and/or selection
Blue gene #1


Blue gene #2





I have a tomato I called OUT OF THE BLUE because it has deep blue/purple stems and leaves but the fruits are a brilliant red without a trace of blue. One's eyes gravitate to the ripe tomatoes to unselfconsciously pick and eat those little red morsels.

The link that Darrel shows is one that has blue fruits but green leaves. Hmmm...Does that mean it doesn't carry the atv gene?

Reminds me that everyone unacquainted with blue tomatoes automatically wants to pick them immediately without a second thought. I tell them...."Wait a minute...Is the bottom of the fruit red?...They look at me like I am out of my mind......No it is a blue fruit and it has to be ripe!"
I don't need to remind anyone here that most folks can't wait the number of weeks necessary for the fruits to ripen up and Boy Howdy, are they disappointed when the shoulder turns brownish purple when it ripens and the fruit is only red inside with just the slightest margin of the pericarp a bit blue.

The segregation of Green Zebra and P-20 blues gives me many striped fruits and even Black Zebra types with its smokey brown-black flesh co-mingling with the blue genes...talk about intense! The green stripes are like the green shoulders of the tomatoes that pick up the blue colorings with the direct sunlight and even the stripes are part blue. I know Dr. Myers is working with blues crossed to Striped Roman which has my Banana Legs creation in it. But he says I am further ahead of the stripe/blue breeding work than he is.

If I get more of my blues sent out for next year or whenever....I am not worried about stability per se....lets work together for that...and have fun.

Tom Wagner

And therein lies a long and rather troubling story. OSU had at least 3 grad students work on the blue tomato lines making crosses and selecting from among them for the darkest colors. Then, about 4 years ago, a woman who uses the ID Byndeweedbeth got some seed from someone in the program and offered them on davesgarden. She sent seed out to at least a dozen people I know of direct and likely quite a few more.

At the same time, several articles were published that caused significant interest in the breeding stock. Dr. Myers started releasing breeding stock under Material Transfer Agreements. About 50 people got the P20 stock under those MTA's.

A couple of years down the road the "OSU Blue" was being offered in SSE's catalog and it was widely available via seed trades on numerous gardening forums. This was derived from seed that had been sent out by Byndeweedbeth and has been inconsistent in several traits.

So what is wrong with this? Several grad students worked hard to develop the breeding lines and Jim Myers put in a lot of time and effort to characterize and stabilize the traits. They have not had the opportunity to name and release a variety, yet the genetics have become so widespread that anyone can get a few seed with no more effort than sending an email.


Tom, The plants I linked above are just a trick of lighting. the leaves and stems are all deep blue/green. Your climate is a relatively cool maritime where mine is an intense hot humid deep southern. The photo was taken after those plants had been through over a month of blistering hot 100+ degree days with no rain and very few clouds. The intensity of sunlight under those conditions changes the color expression to what you see in the photo. If I grow the same plants in early spring or late fall when temperatures and light intensity are lower, I get lots of pretty purple leaves and blue/purple fruit vs the almost black color you see in the photo. I dug this photo up of some plants that I culled earlier this spring for various reasons, mostly because they were not dark enough or I already had better plants set out in the garden. Note the heavy expression of atv in the leaves.
www.selectedplants.com/gardenphotos/ph.crosses.jpg

Here is one of the segregating lines that just did not color up enough to make the final cut plus it was very susceptible to septoria.
www.selectedplants.com/gardenphotos/PHXP20001.jpg

DarJones

Could've been tax dollars. Could've been foundation or private enterprise grant monies. I don't know. Do you know? Just sayin' ...

Martin's a friend of mine. I have some of his garlic in my garden, as well as some seeds waiting to grow. I have a great perennial onion that came from him too! He's one of the most active people I know involved in promoting and distributing biodiversity. He offers his tomatoes via my blog, and they are among the most requested seeds.

With everyone else off to play Burbank and use the OSU Blue for crosses, I think that it's going to be more fun to just play with what I have. Being in charge of an almost 2-acre community garden complex, I can plant a 400' row along one side if I so desire. I've been using that to plant pairs at 15' intervals but could plant about 125 plants and see what happens. Maybe 125 different combinations!

Martin

I've just planted my F3 green zebra/OSU blues out. I found about 4 out of 22 plants had purples stems/leaves even though I did no notice any of this on the plant they were saved from. these were from the largest fruit and I also noted one of the 22 was already flowering at transplant. Now if they survive the strong wind of the next few days/weeks....