Not Wisconsin 55 Gold

Share your breeding experiments and crosses you're working on
Post Reply
User avatar
jmsieglaff
Reactions:
Posts: 294
Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2019 4:07 pm
Location: Southern Wisconsin

Not Wisconsin 55 Gold

#1

Post: # 40864Unread post jmsieglaff
Sat Feb 13, 2021 1:29 pm

IMG_7555.jpg
IMG_7481.jpg
IMG_7624.jpg
So in 2020 we were going to grow Wisconsin 55 Gold. Except it wasn't. What we got was approx 2-3 oz orange tomatoes with green stripes, when extremely ripe they were red with gold stripes. The fruits were delicious notes say, "Delicious, rich old school mater, some sweetness, nice burst of acid, very juicy; 8.0". The plant was fairly vigorous and decently healthy foliage. I do not think this is a seed mix up--I haven't grown a tomato that looks like that. I suspect it is a cross of Wisconsin 55 Gold and an unknown striped tomato--unknown because the year we saved Wisconsin 55 Gold, we had a number of striped cherry tomatoes. I don't have room to grow out even a small reasonable number of plants--only 1, who knows what the single F2 will yield. I have found I'm quite fond of surprises and the unknown of what to expect.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Last edited by jmsieglaff on Sat Feb 13, 2021 6:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
bower
Reactions:
Posts: 5475
Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2019 12:44 pm
Location: Newfoundland, Canada

Re: Not Wisconsin 55 Gold

#2

Post: # 40889Unread post bower
Sat Feb 13, 2021 6:24 pm

Those are really pretty! I hope you enjoy 'the one'. :) And there's always the option, grow another 'the one' another year.
Great thing about tomatoes, the long lasting seeds!
AgCan Zone 5a/USDA zone 4
temperate marine climate
yearly precip 61 inches/1550 mm

Paquebot
Reactions:
Posts: 336
Joined: Wed Dec 11, 2019 1:24 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Re: Not Wisconsin 55 Gold

#3

Post: # 40893Unread post Paquebot
Sat Feb 13, 2021 9:14 pm

Yes, looks like your striped cherry tomatoes crossed with WI55 Gold. The only time that i tried a cross was with its red sibling and fruit turned out with a lighter red color. If you have lost the original WI55 Gold seed, PM an address and I'll send some 2010 seed. Or, if you want to be real certain, from first growout other than Dr. Raabe in 2004.

Martin

Paquebot
Reactions:
Posts: 336
Joined: Wed Dec 11, 2019 1:24 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Re: Not Wisconsin 55 Gold

#4

Post: # 40959Unread post Paquebot
Sun Feb 14, 2021 9:36 pm

If you think that your cross is worth saving, continue to grow it out and select what you think is the best. I never have found a bad red and green bi-color as those colors get along well. Then give it any name you wish that hasn't been used before. Precedent set years ago.

Martin

User avatar
jmsieglaff
Reactions:
Posts: 294
Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2019 4:07 pm
Location: Southern Wisconsin

Re: Not Wisconsin 55 Gold

#5

Post: # 40969Unread post jmsieglaff
Mon Feb 15, 2021 7:33 am

Paquebot wrote: Sun Feb 14, 2021 9:36 pm If you think that your cross is worth saving, continue to grow it out and select what you think is the best. I never have found a bad red and green bi-color as those colors get along well. Then give it any name you wish that hasn't been used before. Precedent set years ago.

Martin
I will grow out an F2, I don't have the space to grow out a decent number of plants, but I always can do it over time opposed to all at once. Thank you so much for the true WI 55 Gold seed--it is important to ensure I have true seed, especially for a variety that isn't widely grown.

Paquebot
Reactions:
Posts: 336
Joined: Wed Dec 11, 2019 1:24 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Re: Not Wisconsin 55 Gold

#6

Post: # 41063Unread post Paquebot
Mon Feb 15, 2021 7:45 pm

The seed you will be receiving is 2014. They were grown out from first 2 fruit to ripen in 2004. Did the same for 2018 but Kim Lund has those seeds. That was the most difficult variety to share against so much opposition. If the Wayback Machine still has old Garden Web catches, search for Y55. Even naming it was a battle. Didn't need a new name, already had one. Just needed "Gold" to distinguish it from the original. Then claims that gold is not a color. By default it was an heirloom all the way by being only grown by a single person for 50 years while the original red one was not.

Martin

User avatar
jmsieglaff
Reactions:
Posts: 294
Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2019 4:07 pm
Location: Southern Wisconsin

Re: Not Wisconsin 55 Gold

#7

Post: # 41314Unread post jmsieglaff
Thu Feb 18, 2021 11:18 am

Hi Martin,

Thank you again, I received your seeds in the mail today.

Also, thank you for the extra 'Prairie Star'. I admit I have not heard of that variety before, a quick Google search didn't turn up anything. I did find this on the SSE listings:
Large yellow with pink star, potato leaf. Perfect fruit to 1¼ pounds. Good shelf like with the pink bottom not falling out of it when ripe. Origin thought to be a mutant of BKX, in turn a mutant of Black Krim. May not be 100% stable. Seed received from Michelle Weidman of WM Farms.
Indet. potato leaf plant with a good yield of 8-18 oz bi-color beefsteak fruit with great flavor.
Curious of your experience with this tomato?

Thanks again!
Justin

Paquebot
Reactions:
Posts: 336
Joined: Wed Dec 11, 2019 1:24 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Re: Not Wisconsin 55 Gold

#8

Post: # 41329Unread post Paquebot
Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:15 pm

I have had a little experience with Prairie Star. This is where it started and is named for The Star, Sun Prairie's local newspaper. Description is mine. The seeds offered by MI LU K were those which I transferred to her last fall. I kept some to grow out for the local toxic dump/community gardens. The mention of maybe not stable is due to some variance in fruit size. Latest seed only from largest fruit. All previous seed was discarded. I do have one request to save seed from any RL plant so that can become another variety. I plan to start 62 plants so may get one to play with.

Martin

User avatar
jmsieglaff
Reactions:
Posts: 294
Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2019 4:07 pm
Location: Southern Wisconsin

Re: Not Wisconsin 55 Gold

#9

Post: # 41334Unread post jmsieglaff
Thu Feb 18, 2021 6:14 pm

I should have guessed! I like the name. I’ll have to grow it this year, pretty exciting to be one of the first to try a new tomato! Thanks again for sharing it. I’ll start a handful of seeds, should I get a RL I’ll grow it instead of a PL.

Your comment on the community garden sure made me chuckle. Unreal how often it seems people pillage whatever they’d like from them.

Paquebot
Reactions:
Posts: 336
Joined: Wed Dec 11, 2019 1:24 pm
Location: Wisconsin

Re: Not Wisconsin 55 Gold

#10

Post: # 41351Unread post Paquebot
Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:13 pm

If you get RL, the fruit should be identical to PL. I think that one RL had more of a red blush instead of a star but no seed saved. Whatever is produced is going to be worth the effort of growing it. You would now have at least F4 or F5 so stability should be about there.

Yes, I am on official record as calling our community gardens a toxic dump. I seaside it in a courtroom and an editor of The Star asked if she could put that in print. I did not lie either time! (Long, long story!!)

Martin

User avatar
jmsieglaff
Reactions:
Posts: 294
Joined: Tue Dec 10, 2019 4:07 pm
Location: Southern Wisconsin

Re: Not Wisconsin 55 Gold

#11

Post: # 45533Unread post jmsieglaff
Sat Apr 24, 2021 8:55 am

Hi Martin,

Curious if you've started any Prairie Star seeds this year? I started 6, 100% germination, potted 1 up the other day. To my surprise all 6 are RL. Possible bee cross?

FWIW, they are very vigorous and large seedlings relative to the rest of the indeterminate lot of the same age.

Justin

Post Reply

Return to “Tomato Crossing/Breeding”