Berkeley Tie-Dye

[MarcVillet]

Hello,

I'm currently a bit confused regarding the variety "Berkeley Tie-Dye" from Brad Gates.
A long time I thought that "Berkeley Tie-Dye" is identical with "Berkeley Tie-Dye Green", because they seem to look quite similar and I also read this in another gardening forum.

Also all German shops just sell "Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye" and "Green Berkeley Tie-Dye", nobody is selling here just "Berkeley Tie-Dye" like Brad Gates does in his shop. So until this day I always just grew the Pink and Green variety, seeing no need to try the original "Berkeley Tie-Dye".

But latetly some users in a german gardening community told me that they are not identical and both are different varieties.
Sadly I had never the opportunity to grow "Berkeley Tie-Dye" from Brad Gates for myself to compare it with the Green variety.

Since I still was quite unsure I sent an e-mail to Brad Gates, but sadly he did not answer me.
I also contacted Secretseedcartel but got an even more confusing answer that "Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye" is in fact identical with "Berkeley Tie-Dye".
I just really doubt this because the Pink variety looks quite different to the photo of "Berkeley Tie-Dye" Brad Gates is showing in his shop.
Also he is selling both the pink and original in his shop seperately, this would make no sense if both there identical.

So finally I wanted to ask this community here about this confusing topic to hopefully get a correct solution.

[MissS]

I have never heard of Green Berkeley Tie-Die before. Berkeley Tie-Die is a green striped fruit with some purple striping. Brad Gates has never listed a Green Berkeley Tie-Die on his website but has listed Berkeley Tie-Die and Pink Berkeley Tie-Die. I think perhaps a seed company has renamed Berkeley Tie-Die to make it easier for people to differentiate between the two of them, but has actually caused some issues. I find that it is always best to use a varieties given name by it's producer.

[MarcVillet]

Thank you for the answer,

unfortunately, I also suspect that someone simply added the "green". I'm also absolutely not a fan of renaming varieties, which is why it's important to me to be well informed about what i grow.

[Shule]

@MarcVillet

I hadn't heard of the Berkeley Tie Dye Green, either.

Pink Berkeley Tie Dye is definitely a different variety than Berkeley Tie Dye.

You might be pleased to know that Summer of Love is said to be an improved version of Berkeley Tie Dye; so, if you can't find that, you can try it instead.

I've grown Summer of Love (while ignorant of the previous paragraph's contents). It was nearly green-when-ripe, but was a bicolor. It was extremely prolific, and had large fruit. The fruits cracked heavily as they ripened; I had to harvest them unripe and let them ripen indoors to save them. The taste didn't thrill me, but they were tomatoes, and I was happy that they were so prolific and vigorous.

[Nan6b]

Berkeley Tie Dye is the one that is technically a green with stripes or other colors. I find it less confusing to call it "Berkeley tie dye green" but that isn't its real name. BTDPink is different.

I loved the green one, btw.

[MissS]

BTW @MarcVillet I would like to extend to you a warm welcome to the Junction!

[Nan6b]

Yes, welcome!

[mama_lor]

Berkeley Tie-Dye is the 'brown' version (yellow skin), while the Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye one is the one with clear skin. I only grew PBTD, a very good variety, with high acidity and high flavour, but very very soft.

All info I can find about Green Berkeley Tie-Dye, which is different, is that it was an accidental discovery among Beauty King (a much newer variety the the tie dyes). Now who made the discovery, no idea, but it would make sense to be Brad Gates from the naming.

[Shule]

@mama_lor
Everything I'm seeing is saying Green Berkeley Tie Dye and Berkeley Tie Dye are the same variety. At least one says says that the original Berkeley Tie Dye came from among Beauty King F2s in the year 1999 and/or 2000. Beauty King was stable by 2003 or so, according to Brad Gates (so, it stands to reason that he could have had F2 seeds in 1999-2000). He might still have some, and could breed new varieties from it still.

Here's one source (the others were on Tomatoville):
* http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Berkeley_Tie-Dye

Here's what Brad Gates had to say about Beauty King in 2007:
http://tomatoville.com/showpost.php?p=78017&postcount=8

Here are some other pages on Beauty King, if they help:
* https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3A ... %22+tomato
* http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Beauty_King
* https://wildboarfarms.com/product/beauty-king/
* https://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/129463/#b
* https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3A ... %22+tomato
* https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3A ... %22+tomato

[Dawn]

I think the "Green" in the name comes from Baker Creek. They have both varieties, probably named as such to distinguish between the two. Kinda like how they sell 2 tomatoes from Fred Hemple, named Jazz and Orange Jazz, as Pink Jazz and Orange Jazz. I'm pretty sure there are only Berkeley Tie Dye and Pink Berkeley Tie Dye.