Mutant tomatoes.

[esbo]

This plant was in a pot them I later put it in the soil where I had dug up a potato plant, then I noticed the tomatoes which were strange. Ie a bit squashed and ribbed, apart form one, the biggest one.








Note these are all different angles of the same plant, note in the last picture
you can see a normal un-mutant tomato, which is how I expected the otters to be.

In the first pic notice the difference between the smooth round tomato and the deeply
ribbed tomato above it (to the right in the pic).

I know some of the big tomatos are ribbed this is most definitely an Alicante tomato
which is a round smooth one.

[Thelma Sanders]

There's nothing wrong with them - many varieties are ribbed like that

[veggiechicken]

What variety is it Esbo? Mine are all shapes and sizes - on the same plant. I expect your shiny one is getting ready to ripen and was the first one to be pollinated.

[esbo]

What variety is it Esbo? Mine are all shapes and sizes - on the same plant. I expect your shiny one is getting ready to ripen and was the first one to be pollinated.

Well I planted, cherry, plumb, tigerella (which had striped skin), and Alicante.
I lost all the labels but it must be Alicante judging by the un-mutated one.

This is an alicante from last year and what it should look like (one does)



and from this year



Note no sign of that ribbing, I wonder if a virus might be doing this.
My first thought was that planting it in the ground where a potato plant
had just been removed affected it. But it is possible there were mutant before that but I never
looked at them until very recently so would not have noticed.

My only only other thought is that they are in a lot of shade were they are planted
now so maybe they are not getting enough light to pump the fruit out.

I do notice that it tend to be the bigger varieties of tomato which tend to be ribbed
ie beefsteak.

[daviddevantnhisspiritwife]

I am growing outdoor girl tomatoes - some in the greenhouse, some outside. Some of the tomatoes are round like what the supermarkets sell, some are irregular shapes.

As long as they are not visibly diseased, rotting or splitting I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. I am sure they'll taste great.

The supermarkets have a lot to answer for.

[rustylady]

Esbo, please stop editing your posts - it's very confusing when you put additional information into a post that I've already read.

Just add another post please, it's late and I've been looking after four young grandchildren all day.

[esbo]

I am growing outdoor girl tomatoes - some in the greenhouse, some outside. Some of the tomatoes are round like what the supermarkets sell, some are irregular shapes.

As long as they are not visibly diseased, rotting or splitting I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. I am sure they'll taste great.

The supermarkets have a lot to answer for.

Well I am not too worried, they probably will not ripen anyway as it was one of my 'spare' plants after all the best ones had gone in the ground. So it was in a pot but when I pulled some potatoes up I though it would be better of 'pretending' to be a potato plant in the gap left.
But I have grown over a dozen Alicante and none have been anything like this, so I just thought it was interesting that this plant had 'morphed' for some reason.

[binley100]

Why won't they ripen ? Plenty of time still............

[Vince G]

It's interesting you've posted this. I'm growing Fantasio toms, which are what I call normal tomatoes, i.e. spherical and generally about 3" in diameter.

My plants got affected by late frosts, even though they are in a polytunnel, but although I replaced a few with seedlings bought off the interweb, I left a couple in the ground and just trimmed the frosted leaves off when it warmed up a bit and I though they might be able to start growing well again. These frosted plants have produced ribbed fruit just like yours, they look like smaller beefsteak toms. Could the frost have affected their development and cause a mutation, or am I just getting a bit frankenstein??

[esbo]

Why won't they ripen ? Plenty of time still............

Yes but also plenty of time for disease to wipe them out as happened last year.

It went right through the lot and I had not harvested many.

[vikkib]

Well, you could hedge your bets by finding some green tomato recipes!

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...pes_21898.html

[esbo]

Well, you could hedge your bets by finding some green tomato recipes!

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...pes_21898.html

Thanks, I have a feeling I may be needing those!!

[esbo]

I have also been reading about blossom end rot and it say it was not caused by lack of calcium (in the soil) but more my irregular watering or over/underwater but it was not to clear on which.
Will have to see if I can find the link again.

[rustylady]

Esbo, blossom end rot is caused by erratic watering. If you let the plants dry out too much they can't absorb calcium from the soil.

Erratic watering can also cause tomatoes to split, because the skin starts to "set" when they're dry and then when they get a good drink the fruit swells rapidly splitting the skin.

[esbo]

Esbo, blossom end rot is caused by erratic watering. If you let the plants dry out too much they can't absorb calcium from the soil.

Erratic watering can also cause tomatoes to split, because the skin starts to "set" when they're dry and then when they get a good drink the fruit swells rapidly splitting the skin.

Yes a lot of my cherry tomatoes split last year, I think maybe I though oh great they are ripening I better give them a load of water!! Perhaps anyway I can't remember too well really.
I have been watering a good bit in the warm weather but now there is less sun the soil seems damper so I an easing off it a bit. But is seems a tricky business getting the watering right as I seem to had symptoms of both under and over watering, however it was the cherrys that split and the bigger toms that got what I think was blossom end rot. Complicated stuff!!!