By William Terry Kelley
University of
Georgia
For a long time, gardeners were unwilling to change tomato
varieties. What worked for their grandfather still worked for
them. And since that variety performed well, this wasn’t a bad
philosophy. Probably, though, many others would have done just as
well or better.
Many old tomato varieties are still in circulation. But in recent
years, many gardeners have adopted hybrid varieties that have
better disease resistance and better yields.
Even more recently, tomato growers have been faced with the
ever-increasing presence of tomato spotted wilt virus.
Transmitted by thrips, this virus is not only the plague of
commercial growers but is actually even worse for
home gardeners.
Only in the past couple of years have varieties been introduced
that have resistance to TSWV. Since then, many gardeners have
opted to go with a resistant variety to be able to grow tomatoes
successfully.
TSWV resistance
Over the past few years, there have been two varieties with
resistance to TSWV: “BHN 444” and “BHN 555.” These have become
more available to gardeners in the past year or two.
This season, for the first time, three new varieties with TSWV
resistance were released: “Amelia,” also known as HMX 0800, from
Harris
Moran Seed Company; “BHN 640,” an improved BHN 444 from BHN
Genetics; and “503,” from Seminis Seed Company.
These varieties are generally only available in large seed
quantities. So gardeners will find it easier to buy plants than
seed.
However, in 2002, TSWV was detected to some degree in resistant
varieties. The resistance in these varieties is from a single
dominant gene. In layman’s terms, this means that the resistance
can more easily be broken by the virus than if it were a
multi-gene resistance trait.
Fragile resistance
The resistance in all of these varieties is the same. Therefore,
when resistance is broken in one it will likely be broken in all
of them.
What does this mean? Primarily it means the resistant tomatoes
available right now will probably only buy growers a little time
before TSWV overcomes this resistance.
In the meantime, we can hope that other types of resistance can
be found.
Other than TSWV-resistant types, there still are an abundance of
tomato varieties available.
Two companies that specialize in tomatoes include Tomato Growers
Supply Company (www.tomatogrowers.com) and Totally Tomatoes
(www.totallytomato.com). In all likelihood, if it’s a variety
that has been grown to any extent in gardens over the past 100
years, you’ll find it in one of these catalogs.
Heirlooms, novelties, hybrids
This is not to say you can’t get many of the same varieties from
other companies. And some have excellent proprietary varieties
only they can sell. However, those specializing in tomatoes have
a long list of heirloom and novelty varieties, as well as many
hybrids.
For instance, have you ever heard of a white tomato? “White
Beauty” is only one of several white varieties available.
“Cherokee Purple” has dusky, rose-purple fruit. “Green Zebra” is
amber green with dark green stripes when mature. “Hillbilly” is a
huge, bicolored tomato that has yellow-orange skin with red
streaking.
There are many beefsteak varieties, oxhearts, brandywines, paste
and grape tomatoes, too, and many imported from other parts of
the world.
‘Mortgage Lifter’
Remember “Abraham Lincoln” (the tomato, not the president)? It
was introduced in Illinois in the 1920s. “Mortgage Lifter” is a
variety Uncle Joe used to grow. Legend has it that the first
farmer that grew it sold enough tomatoes to pay off his
mortgage.
There’s a difference between garden varieties and shipping
tomatoes. The ones for commercial growers have been bred for
shipping (including all TSWV-resistant varieties). They will stay
firm longer than garden varieties. But tomatoes will almost
always taste better when picked vine-ripe.
Whether you’re looking for an old favorite, something with
disease resistance or just a novelty, though, there is a tomato
out there for you.
