surf4grrl
Tomato Gardener
Head Growerouter
Organic farmer
Posts: 99
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Post by surf4grrl on Feb 14, 2011 14:53:40 GMT -5
Maybe this is a really dumb question - mostly it's because I'm too busy to check out anything like this...But does anyone know if there is a tomato seed consortium of growers who getting together and collaborating on grow-out lists for the upcoming year.
For example, I'm a small farmer - I save varying amounts of seed. I see alot of duplication among seed savers etc. Sometimes I think gee, I wouldn't grown that in that quantity if so and so was growing it.
I try to avoid the "hot tomatoes' and go for rare - I had some amazing varieties that I saw no one had. It would be great to share and trial them.
Now I know, there is the Organic seed alliance and NOVIC - but nothing really specifically for tom's.
Does anyone know of anything?
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Post by kevin1962 on Feb 14, 2011 15:31:20 GMT -5
I think that's a cool idea surf4grrl, though I wonder, given the liklihood that few would have the same exact same breeding projects/goals, how much duplicity would actually be eliminated? Still, I'd say it's worth looking in to. I personally don't know of a tomato consortium that exists, but how about a tomato cartel? ;D
Regards,
Kevin
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Post by darthslater on Feb 14, 2011 18:15:45 GMT -5
Hahaha Lope!!!
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Post by klorentz on Feb 14, 2011 18:36:35 GMT -5
An intriguing idea.Considering the several 100's varieties TTG members have it would be interesting to see what can be done.
Kevin
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Post by kevin1962 on Feb 14, 2011 19:12:19 GMT -5
I think this does need to be done. Duplicity is actually a good thing in case of a seed failure, accidental mix ups, disease problems, fires, mice or any other unforeseen circumstances (like vindictive ex's ;D). Well said Mule. I stand corrected. And I should know better, having had a vindictive ex wife myself. ;D |
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Post by stepheninky on Feb 14, 2011 23:32:26 GMT -5
Maybe this is a really dumb question - mostly it's because I'm too busy to check out anything like this...But does anyone know if there is a tomato seed consortium of growers who getting together and collaborating on grow-out lists for the upcoming year. For example, I'm a small farmer - I save varying amounts of seed. I see alot of duplication among seed savers etc. Sometimes I think gee, I wouldn't grown that in that quantity if so and so was growing it. I try to avoid the "hot tomatoes' and go for rare - I had some amazing varieties that I saw no one had. It would be great to share and trial them. Now I know, there is the Organic seed alliance and NOVIC - but nothing really specifically for tom's. Does anyone know of anything? There is no real official one, but there are lots of mini tomato syndicates LOL in the online community. The lady that post the Tomato Addicts blog when she is looking for a rare variety says she will get her tomato mafia on it. Here in Kentucky there is one of sorts, I am trying to figure out where to plant about 6 extra very limited and privately circulated varieties that I have gotten just in the last two weeks. Some are KY family type heirlooms, some world heirlooms, and some are breeding grow outs. i have one from Africa, One from Russia, and one from the middle east. If I had to guess Darth I think is probably the tomato mafia Godfather of America, joking, ok maybe not. ((He does have an impressive collection me thinks)) Though this is all in theory and we know the mob does not exist. I will admit that I have the general public trade list and then I have a special list. |
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jcm05
Administrator
Posts: 1,685
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Post by jcm05 on Feb 15, 2011 6:54:52 GMT -5
I decided years ago variety preservation would not be my quest. I decided this two years ago. Seed preservation however, is a more recent concern of mine. ;D |
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surf4grrl
Tomato Gardener
Head Growerouter
Organic farmer
Posts: 99
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Post by surf4grrl on Feb 15, 2011 12:26:11 GMT -5
I think this does need to be done.
But it needs to be done with strict guidelines for saving where that is the goal. This could mean caging, isolation distances and close coordination and documentation of what defines specific lines so you don't have the issue that Seed Savers has with mix ups different "strains". Yeah, strains - nice word for it. Anyway, I cage my peppers - it's a pain - I have a PVC pipe/tulle set-up. It works because they are much smaller in size than tomatoes. I don't know about caging tomatoes - distance is more do-able. Mule and jcm05, I am assuming both of you gentlemen are trying preserve seed from angry ex'es? & just out of curiosity - why isn't variety preservation for you? |
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jcm05
Administrator
Posts: 1,685
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Post by jcm05 on Feb 15, 2011 13:44:33 GMT -5
Mule and jcm05, I am assuming both of you gentlemen are trying preserve seed from angry ex'es? & just out of curiosity - why isn't variety preservation for you? Who me? Nah. ;D I preserve the varieties I believe are worth preserving. I just don't see a need to preserve 10,000 varieties of tomatoes when 9,950 of them suck.  |
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surf4grrl
Tomato Gardener
Head Growerouter
Organic farmer
Posts: 99
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Post by surf4grrl on Feb 15, 2011 14:14:29 GMT -5
I just don't see a need to preserve 10,000 varieties of tomatoes when 9,950 of them suck. Blasphemy! I will appeal to the tomato gods so they do not smite you. |
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landarc
Global Moderator
FORUM HERMIT
Posts: 326
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Post by landarc on Feb 15, 2011 19:55:51 GMT -5
Smite him, Smiiiite Him!
Personally, I think the decentralized system of random seed preservation works fine. It actually has it's own level of diversity built in. I am not so sure that organizations such as SSE serve diversity well within the context of how it operates now. The frequent think I have seen is the introduction of the new hot tomato, which often seems not a lot different from so many others. Who would determine which ones gets to stay?
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surf4grrl
Tomato Gardener
Head Growerouter
Organic farmer
Posts: 99
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Post by surf4grrl on Feb 15, 2011 20:11:16 GMT -5
I like SSE too, I think it's equally and important vital.
I just see problems in mislabelling, crosses, no roguing, passing off crosses as true to type etc etc.
That's a problem.
A very big problem.
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Post by stepheninky on Feb 16, 2011 1:47:40 GMT -5
IDK I am not a big fan of SSE, their focus is way too broad and its ridiculous for regular folks to be a member. 4 issues at $40 a pop is $120 dollars a year. I can see the appeal if you sell seeds or plants etc... but thats a lot of money. I can buy a lot of stamps and do seed trades for $120.
I have thought about setting up a seed exchange site modeled after Craigslist, To sell seeds you would pay a token amount to place a sells listing ( like a quarter) , SASE and free seed offers would be free, and trades would be free to list. The ideal would be that hopefully the site would at least make enough to pay for its self. If it made more and became like the facebook of seeds yeah me, but the thought and goal really is just to make seeds more available to everyone. I honestly do not think SSE does that any more.
I mean seriously for $120 bux all four SSE listings should look like the Baker Creek Catalog and have a half naked super model on the cover planting a tomato plant or something.
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Post by joseph on Feb 16, 2011 4:35:33 GMT -5
I like SSE too, I think it's equally and important vital. I just see problems in mislabelling, crosses, no roguing, passing off crosses as true to type etc etc. In other words, they are just like the commercial seed companies. Giggles, Joseph |
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Post by joseph on Feb 16, 2011 5:03:37 GMT -5
& just out of curiosity - why isn't variety preservation for you? Variety preservation isn't for me because I don't care if a variety exists or not, or whether it is pure or not. As long as I have some seeds that grow well in my garden I don't care where they came from, or what their pedigree is, or who developed them, or what they used to be named. I don't care if they are F1 hybrids, or if they are heirlooms. Variety preservation isn't for me because it's too much work to label seedlings, and label garden plants, and keep records, and isolate plants. If more work is required than scribbling a description of the tomato on a seed packet after I've fermented the seeds, then it's too much work: "2010. First of season slicers" is sufficient record-keeping for me. Anything else gets overly complicated. I don't care if I'm growing 20 different varieties of early slicers all jumbled together. And if a variety comes to me from somewhere else, and it has a label on it, I may or may not be able to tell if it is "mislabeled". The growing conditions in my garden are an outlier, so far out of average that catalog descriptions for things like days-to-maturity and disease resistance rarely match what actually happens in my garden. (Every tomato I grow is essentially immune to blights and wilts and mildews regardless of what the catalog says.) I'll grow whatever arrives, and if it works well in my garden I'll save the seed from it into one of my land-races. If it doesn't grow well I'll never know since I don't keep a record of what varieties I plant. |
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