Comments on: Potato-leaved tomato

By: Potato-leaved tomato II « In the toad’s garden

Potato-leaved tomato II « In the toad’s garden — Sat, 10 May 2008 18:29:46 +0000

[...] Potato-leaved tomato I [...]

By: skrubtudsen

skrubtudsen — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:22:59 +0000

Rebsie: Look at the flowers, to decide if you need to bag them or not. I guess there could be some potato-leaved tomatoes where the stigma doesn’t protrude. These small significant details are interesting to notice.

By: Rebsie Fairholm

Rebsie Fairholm — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:24:14 +0000

I’m growing a couple of potato-leaf varieties at the moment and I didn’t know they had a protruding stigma. Thanks! I shall be careful where I plant mine … and maybe put a bag over one flower truss to keep it pure for seed saving.

But as you say, whether it’s a “risk” or a “chance” is a matter of perspective!

By: skrubtudsen

skrubtudsen — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:52:13 +0000

Mainstream tomato flower have a shorter style, so short in fact, that it ends inside the anther barrel. As the pollen sheds from the anthers it drops directly to the stigma at the end of the style, inside the barrel. I guess it can be quite dusty in there. Potato-leaved tomatos with the longer style holds the stigma out of the barrel, out where pollinating insects rule, in the world of cross breeding. Since the tomato flower usually points downwards, it’s still very likely to selfpollinate, but insects are not excluded. A risk or a chance?

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:57:25 +0000

The other thing about potato leaved tomatoes is apparently they have more open flowers and can cross more easily. Have you heard this too? I recently purchased some tomato seeds from the Seed Savers Exchange website, and printed on the back of the packets is the following:

“Seed Saving Instructions: Cross-pollination between modern tomato varieties seldom occurs, except in potato leaf varieties which should be separated by the length of the garden…”