There are at least 12 to 15,000 OP varieties, so no way to know a real percentage based on a total anywhere's near that, but from listings in the SSE Yearbook and from the several thousand that I've grown I think I'd estimate less than maybe 10% are PL.

There are, at any one time, probably less than a few hundreds of hybrids, most of them bred for the large scale commercial farmer, but of course some also used by home gardeners, and I know of very few that are PL. I can't even put a number on it and at this very minute I can only remember one, Brandy Boy, but there have to be more than that so hopefully others can up with other PL hybrids.

Just guesstimates as you also noted.

Carolyn, who prefers PL varieties.

Carolyn that's exactly what I was thinking. I could only think of 'Brandy Boy' as the only commercial hybrid with PL. And I wonder if it really is a hybrid since it's a Burpee variety. Has anyone grown Brandy Boy out I wonder? Thanx for the approx 10% on all OP varieties number. I was curious like I said and I too prefer PL to RL because I belive they are a bit healthier and stronger growing on average from my own experience...

Carolyn, who prefers PL varieties...

Somewhat curious given your avowed proclivity for heart toms... there is no heart tom of which I am aware that has a spud leaf habit. I there is, inform me of it.

Reggie

BigDaddy,

WinterSown lists Alan's F6 of Brandy Boy, it's called Pink Floyd ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: The list

Carolyn, who prefers PL varieties...
Somewhat curious given your avowed proclivity for heart toms... there is no heart tom of which I am aware that has a spud leaf habit. I there is, inform me of it.

****

So I'm informing, as you asked, that yes there are a couple of PL heart varieties and a couple in the making but none of them are available commercially so no sense in listing the names as I see it until if and when they become available to the public.

Carolyn, who does like heart varieties, RL or PL. ( smile)

BigDaddy,
WinterSown lists Alan's F6 of Brandy Boy, it's called Pink Floyd ;-)

*****

Which speaks to the question that daddy asked above and I forgot to answer.

Yes, there are quite a few folks who have grown out saved F2 seeds from Brandy Boy and planted them out and made selections and have continued to work with it and they get both red and pink fruited plants, which tends to indicate that it might well be a hybrid.

I think the major question folks are dealing with is the question of red fruits showing up when red is dominant to pink so from where cometh a pink Brandy Boy F1 if indeed there were two breeding lines that led to the F1 as is normal.

I'm not dealing with that question b'c I don't care. LOL

Carolyn, who fell into the trap of using cometh, and could have used mayhap, etc., b'c she's currently reading a series of medieval mysteries when she isn't packing tomato seeds. ( smile)

Trudi, I wonder how different Pink Floyd is in it's present lifeform from Brandy Boy? I like Brandy Boy. I've grown it three years but it's being retired next year because I have too many new varieties to try...;-)

"Pink Floyd Mix ~ Segregating selection of Brandy Boy F6 crops one-pound Brandywine-type. Yummy! IND, 75+ DTM"

Carolyn, the reason I doubted is because everything Burpee I doubt...;-)

Carolyn, the reason I doubted is because everything Burpee I doubt...;-)

**** And I think you have reason to. I was shocked really, when I looked at the Burpee tomato varieties this year b'c they've changed the names of some well known varieties. They bought out Cook's Garden a few years back and the two catalogs are similar now and the same variety that was renamed at Burpee is also at Cooks, picture shown, and yet has yet a different name there.

And despite all the e-mails to Burpee they still have taken BRad Gates tie dye words that they used alst year and are offering the same darn variety again this year. Shameful, as I see it/

Nope, I'm not going to list them, no time, I'm in the middle of packing seeds for a seed offer that I made elsewhere and if you must know, the Australian tennis open is on right now, since it started on Monday in Melbourne.

Carolyn, who has her priorities straight. LOL

BD,

The thing to do would to be grow the Pink Floyd mix, say six of them because of limited home garden space (though, if possible, more would be better), and compare it to six or more of the current Brandy Boy.

Different folks will get different results in their growouts but selecting the best of the best of what grows in your own garden is the best possible outcome for any individual.

Trudi, I am booked full for perhaps the next two seasons! Too many varieties to try along with too many I can't summer without...LOL Only if Pink Floyd were stable would I grow it. I am no longer interested in grow outs. I only am interested in great performing and great tasting tomatoes these days. But thanx for your offer...:)

Carolyn...I thought I read somewhere that PL varieties are more likely to cross-pollinate than RL..

Also, why do you like heart toms? More flavorful?

I hear you Big Daddy! I think that if I were to grow every packet I've got here I would be 'booked' for decades. Instead I can grow what I can and find a good home for the rest ;-)

With an intense passion I do enjoy growouts to see what I will get, most of the time it is all the same, but sometimes you get a winner or two or three. Be well!

T

Blue, the suggestion that PL varieties cross more easily has been in the literature for a long time and I don't know if there ever was any data for it.

But having grown a couple thousand varieties and some of my tomato friends the same, none of us has seen any increased X pollination with PL varieties. There are certain varieties that tend to have exherted stigmas so they're more prone to crossing, and weather can induce exerted stigmas as well so that a variety that normally won't cross can perhaps do that under certain weather conditions and no one agrees as to what those weather conditions are.

But if I grow out the same variety several times and find that most of the time it crosses, well, then I know that. Aunt Ruby's German Green and White Queen are two I can remember that do that for me.

Why hearts? Because I think many of them have the absolute best tastes around. Yield may be lower for many of them, but I don't care b'c I don't grow tomatoes for yield alone and I don't grow tomatoes for large size either, I grow tomatoes for taste.

Carolyn, sorry for any typos b'c I'm not editing b'c tennis from Australia starts at 7 PM Eastern on ESPN2. ( smile)

I just did a quick sort on my tomato database and I come up with between 13 and 14% PL. But I tend to like PL tomatoes so I have probably acquired greater percentage of PL than the "average". Actually I was surprised to see that I have as few PL as I do.

Ah well, it was an interesting exercise. (Now maybe I should count my hearts?)

Betsy

13 and 14%. Thanx Betsy. I'll take PL any day all other things being equal.

Trudi, I truly appreciate all the winners that you and other experimenters and grow-out-ers (LOL) have produced over the years. Many are now my favorites like Gary O Sena, KBX, Dana's Dusky Rose and others. I am growing out a crossed Claude Brown's NOT Yellow Giant that so far I'm fond of but space limits any more than this and still try all my new varieties plus old faves...:)