Garry2009
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Another Mystery Plant...

Hi everyone:

This little fellow (picture on the link below) came from a package of Beefsteak tomato seeds; can anyone here identify what it might be? The stem is kinda "spindly", but it seems to be growing well otherwise. I hate to toss it out...but I haven't a clue what it is.

https://www.lewisaire.com/plant.html

Thanks in advance,
Garry

The Helpful Gardener
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Me either, yet...
Anybody?

HG

elevenplants
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Looks like one of the potato-leaved tomatoes to me. Perhaps a Brandywine? I'm doing several varieties this year that are potato-leaved. The Brandywine, the Bloody Butcher....they look like that when they put their first true leaves on.

Rebecca

elevenplants
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Here is a pic of a young Bloody Butcher so you can see what I mean:

[img]https://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww13/elevenpictures/photo-7.jpg[/img]

Rebecca

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I think elevenplants is onto something...

HG

Garry2009
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Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to pay resepects to my recently departed Mystery Plant.

Hi Rebecca:

Well, I have terrible news. I had just taken a current picture of the plant to show you (top half of the picture in the link below). I stood up to put the camera away on a shelf, and when I sat back down, the bottom half of the picture is all that was left...My cat, Wilbur, had eaten all the top leaves! I mean, in two seconds they were gone!

https://www.lewisaire.com/plant.html

They say tomato leaves are toxic to cats...hopefully we won't be back in here paying respects to poor, departed Wilbur. (Just kidding...the official word is that tomato leaves "may" give cats an upset tummy)

Garry

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He was a good plant... kept to himself...sort of...mysterious...

He will be missed...

HG

cynthia_h
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Hmmm...maybe it was catnip, and we were all asleep at the switch? (except, of course, for Wilbur, who took his shot when he had the chance :lol)

Cynthia H. (who lives with cats, can you tell?)
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

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Cats sometimes eat plants to engage vomiting; perhaps Wilbur knew it was a tomato all along?

HG (2 human, three feline houshold)

elevenplants
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Too bad, Garry. From the looks of that second pic, it was def a tomato.

....one more reason I prefer dogs! Not that they don't come with their own share of issues, but my dachshunds turn up their nose at anything green....unless it's a pet treat, o'course! :lol:

Rebecca

Garry2009
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Hi Rebecca:

Yeah, too bad is right. I've been nurturing that little thing for several weeks, wondering what it would grow up to be...then Wilbur demolishes it in two gulps! At first I wanted to strangle him, or maybe put him in exile for the rest of his natural life. But then I relented...how can I punish him for doing something that's the most natural thing in the world, for a cat?

I tell you one thing: He won't be allowed near the rest of the plants!

As for dogs...I'm sure they're great pets, for those who prefer dogs. My kids had dogs while growing up, and unfortunately all I remember are the bad experiences, which were frequent and often costly.

Take care, thanks for the reply.
Garry

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Rob
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I think you should gently grub down into the dirt a little and see if you can find remnants of a seed. It honestly doesn't look like a tomato to me, potato leaf variety or otherwise. It looks like the first shoot of the Ailanthus Altissima trees we get around here.
I wonder if it was in the dirt, and not the seed...

So many questions...

[img]https://www.lewisaire.com/Whatzit2.jpg[/img]

The Helpful Gardener
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There's one Tree of Heaven that can go to the devil... :evil:

[url]https://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/aial1.htm[/url]

HG
Last edited by The Helpful Gardener on Mon Apr 13, 2009 2:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Garry2009
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HOLY smokes! If that's what it was, I'm sure glad it's a goner! I see some differences from the one in the link, though...hard to tell if it's the same thing.

Was it a seed or did it come with the soil? Good question, but I have to say it was a seed, for two reasons. One, the soil was potting soil from last year; I had planted flowers in it. Two, I planted the tomato seeds in a cottage cheese container at startup, four seeds per container, evenly spaced, and the Mystery Plant came up right where one of the seeds were, about the same time the other three seeds broke ground. I know that isn't rock-solid conclusive, but it would be a pretty big coincidence otherwise. Question is...how did it get into the pack of tomato seeds?

Garry

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Rob
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Darn that Wilbur, darn him!!!

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!potatoes!
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if 'tree of heaven' seems to stately a name-of-thing to disrespect, take note that another common name for Ailanthus is 'stinktree'.

The Helpful Gardener
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There ya go... 8)

HG



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