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rainbowgardener
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Although listed as heirlooms, most of the striped tomatoes were invented recently, most notably Tom Wagner's Green Zebra (bred in the 1980s) and striped tomatoes bred from it (several "zebras", and several very recent varieties from Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms).
Tigrella (a.k.a Mr Stripey, not the larger bicolor heirloom beefsteak Mr Stipey commonly sold in the US) is an older English variety (1950s-1960's?).
One of the worst reviewed ones is the Burpee poster child, Red Lightening hybrid.
The conditions is from a single gene mutation called green stripe (gs) that affects coloring of the fruit's epidermis. The gene was identified from a mutated plant from a field of normal plants (possibly Gulf State Market), in 1948.
One of the more interesting varieties is a compact determinant plant called Fuzzy Wuzzy, which is covered in long white fuzz.
Tigrella (a.k.a Mr Stripey, not the larger bicolor heirloom beefsteak Mr Stipey commonly sold in the US) is an older English variety (1950s-1960's?).
One of the worst reviewed ones is the Burpee poster child, Red Lightening hybrid.
The conditions is from a single gene mutation called green stripe (gs) that affects coloring of the fruit's epidermis. The gene was identified from a mutated plant from a field of normal plants (possibly Gulf State Market), in 1948.
One of the more interesting varieties is a compact determinant plant called Fuzzy Wuzzy, which is covered in long white fuzz.
I don't have that much more to say about them
Green Zebra is over hyped because it was chosen by what's her name, Chef of Chez Paniche restaurant, (who was involved in getting the Obama's to put in a garden --at least that is what I saw on TV flipping channels). Give me a recommedation from a grandmother living down a dirt road over a California chef any day if you want to talk about good eating, because she is not overly concerned about putting a bicolor swirly design in the gravy to set off the composition of the slice of free range organic passion fruit garnish....Sorry, I'm a bit jaded after moving from south Louisiana to Los Angeles and seeing how Cajun cooking was reinvented by California cuisine.
Green Zebra has different flavors depending on how ripe it is. You may like one or the other or neither. Black Zebra pretty much has to be really ripe in order to taste as good as most other Black tomatoes. If it is not quite ripe enough it is not very exciting.
Green Sausage (another Tom Wagner creation) is a fun plant with striped fruit, it has extremely wispy leaves (commonly seen with heart-shaped tomatoes), is a determinant variety, and the fruits are shaped like miniature yellow and green anaheim peppers, so if you have never seen these characteristics in a tomato plant before it is fun to grow. It only gets a few feet high so can be grown in a pot. It is also a dry paste tomato without much flavor so you don't have to worry about using a big pot to ensure productivity.
From what I hear the ones developed at Wild Boar Farms are pretty tasty so you can Google the farm name and see what they have, finding them for sale may be more difficult. Going to Burpee's sight and reading customer reviews on Red Lightening is also fun. It seems that they took a perfectly average tasting "heirloom" (Red Zebra?) and hybridized it to make it worst, so that they could say it was an improvement and charge more for the seed.
Green Zebra is over hyped because it was chosen by what's her name, Chef of Chez Paniche restaurant, (who was involved in getting the Obama's to put in a garden --at least that is what I saw on TV flipping channels). Give me a recommedation from a grandmother living down a dirt road over a California chef any day if you want to talk about good eating, because she is not overly concerned about putting a bicolor swirly design in the gravy to set off the composition of the slice of free range organic passion fruit garnish....Sorry, I'm a bit jaded after moving from south Louisiana to Los Angeles and seeing how Cajun cooking was reinvented by California cuisine.
Green Zebra has different flavors depending on how ripe it is. You may like one or the other or neither. Black Zebra pretty much has to be really ripe in order to taste as good as most other Black tomatoes. If it is not quite ripe enough it is not very exciting.
Green Sausage (another Tom Wagner creation) is a fun plant with striped fruit, it has extremely wispy leaves (commonly seen with heart-shaped tomatoes), is a determinant variety, and the fruits are shaped like miniature yellow and green anaheim peppers, so if you have never seen these characteristics in a tomato plant before it is fun to grow. It only gets a few feet high so can be grown in a pot. It is also a dry paste tomato without much flavor so you don't have to worry about using a big pot to ensure productivity.
From what I hear the ones developed at Wild Boar Farms are pretty tasty so you can Google the farm name and see what they have, finding them for sale may be more difficult. Going to Burpee's sight and reading customer reviews on Red Lightening is also fun. It seems that they took a perfectly average tasting "heirloom" (Red Zebra?) and hybridized it to make it worst, so that they could say it was an improvement and charge more for the seed.
I just read some of the reviews: whoa, this tomato (red lightening) must be terrible for sure! Hardy har, seems a waste to grow a great looking tomato that's not good for anything else.TZ -OH6 wrote: Going to Burpee's sight and reading customer reviews on Red Lightening is also fun. It seems that they took a perfectly average tasting "heirloom" (Red Zebra?) and hybridized it to make it worst, so that they could say it was an improvement and charge more for the seed.
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applestar
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Here's another one from Kitchen Garden Seeds:
#4245 Lyn's Mahogany Garnet Tomatoes: 70-80 days
New! From our good friend Lyn Brown at the famous Forni Brown Gardens in Napa Valley, comes Lyn’s Mahogany Garnet. A new cross between Black Russian and Green Zebra, it is a rare mahogany-garnet tomato with faint dark green stripes. Its determinate vines produce loads of 8-ounce gems with a mildly tart yet sweet taste and a tender thin skin. They hate to travel (except into your mouth). (OP.)
Seeds were started in mid-March and initally transplanted in WOW's in late April. Their leaves are all curled upwards, but the plants are otherwise healthy and the streaky green fruits are 1-1/2~2" diameter at this point. Can't wait!
#4245 Lyn's Mahogany Garnet Tomatoes: 70-80 days
New! From our good friend Lyn Brown at the famous Forni Brown Gardens in Napa Valley, comes Lyn’s Mahogany Garnet. A new cross between Black Russian and Green Zebra, it is a rare mahogany-garnet tomato with faint dark green stripes. Its determinate vines produce loads of 8-ounce gems with a mildly tart yet sweet taste and a tender thin skin. They hate to travel (except into your mouth). (OP.)
Seeds were started in mid-March and initally transplanted in WOW's in late April. Their leaves are all curled upwards, but the plants are otherwise healthy and the streaky green fruits are 1-1/2~2" diameter at this point. Can't wait!
petalfuzz wrote:Hardy har, seems a waste to grow a great looking tomato that's not good for anything else.
naaaaahhh. not so crazy. if I had ground space that got enough sun, I'd be veggie gardening there, instead of on my patio... so, if I had all my veggies in the ground, and my patio was veggie-free, then it would make a lot of sense to put in a purely ornamental tomato plant during the summer months... lots of people plant purely ornamental pepper plants. why not tomatoes?
Silvery Fir Tree is a tomato alot of people grow more or less as an ornamental, for its foliage; Stick is one that people grow just because the plant looks so strange, so I guess that makes it an ornamental. I guess Silvery Fir Tree tastes pretty bad (I wonder if it is still better than grocery store rocks?
From what I've heard I don't think any of the striped tomatoes is sweet like some of the cherries, and I don't think many (any?) of them are what you would call acidic like some of the reds.
From what I've heard I don't think any of the striped tomatoes is sweet like some of the cherries, and I don't think many (any?) of them are what you would call acidic like some of the reds.
Where I live in North Texas, the tomatoes (Better Boy) typically become dormant during the hottest part of the summer. They don't die. They don't bloom. They don't grow. They just sit there. When the weather cools a little, they begin growing new foliage and blooming. The fruit that sets is striped light and dark green like the Zebra Stripe variety. The fruit doesn't grow as large as the early season Better Boy, but it tastes really different and I believe better. It has a more tart and sweet taste. They make until the first frost. In some ways, I look forward to the second growth tomatoes more than the first growth tomatoes.
Ted
Ted
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!potatoes!
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