OSU Blue Tomatoes and the other Blueberry one.. growing comparisons.

[Jeannine]

 It has become apparent with the odd word here and ther that there are several, maybe even many folks who are growing one or the other of these tomatoes.

I wold like to be able to compare notes, ideas and progress, so am inviting other growers to join me here,

But right up front I am stating.. I do not have seeds to spare, nor will I say where I got mine from as I don't want that person contacted through me.. is that fair. I suspect that there are other folks out there with them who might agree.

Now having said all that. I am keen to hear how others are getting on.

Mine are very tiny as they were planted only recently but even very small there is a shade of blue in the foliage, I know all toms have a tint but this is much stronger. Is it usual to see this at this young stage?

Please join me, these are very unusual and deserve a spot if folks feel they can join in.

XX Jeannine

[Jeannine]

[amphibian]

I am growing OSU blue, but not blueberry, which is GM I believe.

I am also growing Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge, which definitely has anthrocyanin visible in the stems and leaf veins.

I've only had the OSU blue for a few days so they are yet to germinate, I got very poor germination and slow growth of the OFPS.

[Jeannine]

I have the original Purple Smudge but haven't grown it yet.

Blueberry GM..I was not aware of that, may I ask where you got the info as I would like to check it out.

Thank you for posting.

XX Jeannine

[brownowl23]

Im not growing either but am going to watch this thread with interest as im intrigued by a blue tomato

[amphibian]

I have the original Purple Smudge but haven't grown it yet.

Blueberry GM..I was not aware of that, may I ask where you got the info as I would like to check it out.

Thank you for posting.

XX Jeannine

There is discussion of Blueberry and the confusion over its name and whether or not it is GM in this thread here. It seems there is a European GM tomato called blueberry and a renamed strain of OSU blue called blueberry, confuses issues somewhat.

[ruud]

Here is something to read
http://hort.oregonstate.edu/faculty-staff/myers%20

[Jeannine]

Thank you Brown Owl, I doubt if any of us know very much and your imput might be useful. XX Jeannine

[Jeannine]

OOPS, posts crossed..off to read ,welcome Ruud XX Jeannine

[Jeannine]

Yes, I have read both the links before and see no evidence that there is GM involved anywhere. XX Jeannine

[ruud]

http://www.microsofttranslator.com/BV.aspx?ref=BVNav&from=&to=en&a=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.groentennieuws.nl%2Fnieuwsbericht_detail.asp%3Fid%3D41791

[Jeannine]

Thia last article didn't help much but the picture was interesting as I understand it the blue in the tomatoes is onky in the skin and then onky if given unshaded light, the picture shows a blue tomato through and through, is this one of the enhanced photos I have read about,,,why is it blue right through. Is it the OSU or the European Blueberry?XXJeannine

[Baccy Man]

I have seen numerous references to 'OSU Blue' aka 'blue tomato', 'P20', 'Blueberry #1', 'blueberry #2' which is definitely not GM.
People keep renaming them so it makes it difficult to keep track of names. The primary reason they are being renamed is because some people are obtaining the OSU seeds from multiple sources & they are under the illusion it makes it easier to identify which one is which if they give the seeds from each source a different name when in reality it just confuses things.

To confuse things further a lot of people are obtaining seed for Blaufruct (a well known although difficult to locate heritage variety) & believing it is another new blue tomato & again that is getting renamed too.

The only other blue tomato I have seen references to are this GM one which has snapdragon genes to give it it's colour. There are some people who believe this is actually crossed with a blueberry gene even though it is categorically stated that it was crossed with a snap dragon then again the same thing was believed about OSU Blue before accurate information about it's heritage was circulated. In any case this is a GM strain kept under lock & key which has not & hopefully will not be released around the world.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/oct/27/cancer-gm-food
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7688310.stm

[Jeannine]

Interesting..maybe we should all start eating snapdragons too..thank you XX Jeannine

[amphibian]

Thia last article didn't help much but the picture was interesting as I understand it the blue in the tomatoes is onky in the skin and then onky if given unshaded light, the picture shows a blue tomato through and through, is this one of the enhanced photos I have read about,,,why is it blue right through. Is it the OSU or the European Blueberry?XXJeannine

Ruud's article refers to a GMO anthocyanin rich tomato, which is blue all the way through, as opposed to just in the skin as in OSU blue.

Here is another article on the GMO John Innes tomato.

http://www.jic.ac.uk/corporate/media-and-public/current-releases/081026martin.htm

Though apologies, the blueberry doing the rounds does not seem to be related to the John Innes tomato which was running under the same working name previously, the Blueberry doing the rounds seems to be a strain of OSU Blue.

[Jeannine]

How would we know?? The seeds are much smaller than the OSU..I guess I will have to grow it out and see!!

Anybody else got anything called Blueberry.

Not BlueFruit(Blaufruct) or Blue..which I have also

XX Jeannine

[ruud]

The only thing we can do is grow blueberry,if the toms are totally blue we know enough do we.

[amphibian]

How would we know?? The seeds are much smaller than the OSU..I guess I will have to grow it out and see!!

Anybody else got anything called Blueberry.

Not BlueFruit(Blaufruct) or Blue..which I have also

XX Jeannine

It would seem the GM fruit was never released in any way so it is unlikely you have seed for the GMO tomato. My apologies for adding the confusion to the subject.

I am not sure how significant seed size is, if I compare my home saved seed of almost anything to the original commercially sourced seed, mine are nearly always a lot bigger.

[Baccy Man]

To give an example of the renaming that goes on this post explains that 'Blueberry #1' & 'Blueberry #2' are simply names invented for 2 of the 3 lots of OSU Blue seeds this person had obtained from 3 different sources.
http://idigmygarden.com/forums/showthread.php?p=440497#post440601
Unfortunately there are several people doing this & these seed get distributed labelled with the new names which confuses the issue for other people.

As you can see in that thread people are also still under the illusion that the GM snapdragon one is in fact crossed with a blueberry which is complete & utter rubbish so that rumour may persist for a while yet.

[Jeannine]

Yep you are right Ruud, well mine are growing well so  I shall continue to call them   European Strain Blueberry for now which is what I was told they were..

No apologies needed , it is already confusing and I have read pretty much everything I could before I planted, this was the reason for the post...interesting to see others views.

Quite exciting too..if we get a blue skinned one taste it to rate it,if it is blue all through...don't suck it to see!!

XX Jeannine

[amphibian]

So looks like we've cleared that up then.