Help with a name maybe

[starlight1153]

I got some tomato seed in a trade. On the package it says, " Japanese Heirloom, fruits 1 pound, WWII seed, Pink

Anybody happen to have any idea what it might possibly be?

[bammer]

It may possibly be Barlow Jap

[starlight1153]

Thanks Bammer. At least that gives me a possible name to put to the package and a place to start for next year to try and compare to a picture.

[darthslater]

Tatianas Tomato base actually has one named Japanese. If you dont see it in the main base check out Neil Lockharts page.

Darth

[amideutch]

Sounds like Barlow Jap to me also. Who was the trader? Ami

[carolyn137]

I think it's definitely Barlow Jap. Below I cut and pasted the info about it as posted by Maria Stegner( BLue Ribbon Tomatoes) at idig in a thread where she and others were discussing changing the name to something else b'c the word "jap" might be offensive to some. She was posting that she had changed the name but in the end others convinced her to leave it as it was b'c there were other tomato names that could be just as offensive to some.

And it was pointed out that it isn't good to have two names for a variety, Papa Vis posted that, but she said it hadn't been distributed but to a few folks at the time so it might be possible to have the new name be OK.

But clearly Maria went back to Barlow Jap being the name and others followed. As many of you know Maria specializes in varieties from Kentucky and sells her seeds off e-bay.

At the time, which I think was late last year or earlier this year, I forgot to take a look at the date of the thread, she said only three folks had grown it and those were Jay, Brita Barlow and her, but seeds by now have been sent to and grown by quite a few folks.

Cut and pasted:


this is the info I have from Brita Barlow (TooManyTomatoes), some from an earlier post here, some from an email:

"The Barlow Japs are my family heirloom. My PaPaw lived in Shelbyville Kentucky. He was a shop and math teacher by trade, and a gardener by ambition. He had apple and peach orchards, a small vineyard, tobacco fields, cured hams etc. What started as a summer hobby, grew into a thriving business. One of my favorite memories is the smell of his tomato hot house. Yes, he grew so many tomatoes, he needed a separate greenhouse for them. In fact, he developed his own heirloom tomatoes. The story goes like this...

As he told it, this began after WWII. A friend of his came to him and gave him some tomato seeds. The friend said he had smuggled them home from Japan, and that these were the from best tomato he had ever tasted, and he knew PaPaw could do something with them. So he planted the seeds. A month later, he had a dozen of the scraggliest, yellow, weedy tomato vines he had ever seen, and at the end of the summer, he had a couple decent tomatoes. He saved seeds from the best of these, to plant next year, and so on. Soon he had some “pretty good tomatoes”. These “Jap” tomatoes as he called them, were the main crop in his produce business.

They are a potato leafed, pink tomato, and he was right, the plants start out as the scraggliest things you've ever seen. But they improve. The tomatoes often have green shoulders, and they are thin skinned and fussy, but they truly are the best tasting tomato I've ever had. My personal story with the Japs is one of a beginner trying to decide if and how to start tomato seeds, but the fear of letting the strain die out has spurred me on. To my knowledge, only my father and I still have seeds, and I keep mine in a fireproof box. After a few years I can reliably supply the family with decent transplants, and I think the Japs are getting less fussy and adapting to life outdoors. I finally felt confident enough to share some seeds, and I'm thrilled that elkwc shared them additionally so that I will not have to worry so about keeping the legacy alive. Reading Camo's and other's taste tests prompted me to conduct my own last year. I have several favorites, usually large yellow slicers. But, I keep looking forward to each Jap ripening for my sandwiches. My descriptions are neither as scientific, nor as eloquent as Camo's. Quite simply... the Japs taste like my childhood.

PaPaw's name was Roy Barlow. Born in Pellville, (wide spot near Owensboro) and lived most of his life in Shelbyville.

They are quite disease resistant. I had a lot of trouble with bacterial speck last year. The Japs were the last to get it, and barely suffered. This year is a little worse. My one Jap plant picked it up this past week, but it has been horribly wet. 7 dry days in July, and none in August. Besides, its shoulder to shoulder with plants that are really suffering. If I moved it away, it would probably have been OK all year.

I've never timed them. This year they went in May 30th and the first one is just pinking up now. I usually expect them around the third week of August, so about 12 weeks (or at least 84 days) in zone 5a. This year it was the first plant to blossom though, at least a week before the Ananas Noir next to it. "

******

Several of us in that thread wondered about such a tomato even being sourced as Japanese since tomatoes were not part of their cuisine and if they grew any pre WWII they would have been the typical round reds, and it's perfectly possible that the seeds for this variety were brought to Japan at an earlier time by those who lived there and came from other countries where large pink PL varieties were very common


Hope that settles the issue or at least helps, but it does match the possible Japanese origin for the seeds, although most of us in that thread didn't think it was a Japanese heirloom, and the WWII info matches the info that starlight saw on the seed pack.

Carolyn

[starlight1153]

I think your all right and it is Barlow Jap. I had heirlooms on my wish list for the piggy seed swap that I was looking for heirloom tomatoes. I have been growing a few endangered, rare and historic flowers and shrubs, and even a historic Iris which as increases permit I have been sending to historic places and people and they will keeping it going.

After seeing a seed bank due to a bad compressor lose 70 + years of veggie seeds, I decided I wanted to start trying to collect historic /heirlooms tomatoes and some other veggies too.

The person who sent them to me is from Kentucky. Whether she grew them out and saved seed or got from above mentioned folks or a friend , or purchased them to gift to me, I don't know.

After reading the above I am very excited and grateful to have these seeds. I'm also very scared too. I always do a minor panic when I get something special until I get it germinated growing and know I can keep the line going. They will get babied for sure.

Carolyn... Thanks for posting the history. I'm going to copy and print it out to keep with the seed. I love knowing the history and the stories behind the things I grow when possible. : )