Hello everyone,

After some peculiar thoughts from the day, and, doing some googling I just had to ask...

I've been pulling Solanum carolinense (horse nettle) from around my tomatos and eggplants for the last several weeks. Some of the horse nettle growing just outside the garden area are now in bloom. Are there any known instances of S. carolinense hybridizing with any of the cultivated Solanums or Lycopersicoides?

Granted, the addition of spines would not be welcomed... although, creating a perennial tomato with disease resistance to local pathogens would be stellar.

I also wondered about the toxicity of S. carolinense being transferred in to the tomato genome. How would one test for this without causing himself undue harm? This also came to mind years ago when I had heard mention of eating the "tomatos" produced by some potato plants after they'd flowered. It seemed pretty un-nerving to think of eating the fruit produced by a potato, I was always told it was toxic so saw no point in "taste testing" for myself.

Anyone privvy to Solanum hybrids and the results?

Regards,

Dan