How can you add Tomato varieties that are not listed?

Hi - just joined tonight, and was hoping as a member I would be able to add some varieties to the search engine for the plant search that are not currently listed.

Is there are way to enter in new information for consideration to have added?

Thank you in advance.

Hi Sly, welcome to DG. Always happy to see someone who can expand the plant database.

Click on the Guides&Information tab in the DG header. Then Click on Plant Files.
Near the top of that page, just under the Guides&Info Tab will be a link (in a reddish brown color) to add a new plant.

Take a look at similar entries first so you know what is expected.
It's disappointing when someone omits some important information, like the Zone or height.
A picture is always welcome.

Have at it!

Just make sure it is an actual variety. ie one that has a vendor.

Dill, is having a vendor one of the rules for entering a variety?

I ask b'c I know hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of tomato varieties that don't have a vendor and are acquired through seed exchanges, the SSE Yearbook listings, etc.

From my own seed offer elsewhere I've tried to have grown only varieties that will be new to all, or most, since I've been chained to a walker since Dec 12th, 2004.

And many of those are great varieties and I send seeds for the best to the seed sites where I know the owners well, and have for many years, but it often takes a few years before they're even offered. Linda, at TGS, a long time friend and has to subcontract out for a lot of OP varieties.

Glenn at Sandhill and Adam at Gleckler's for instance, do almost ALL of their own seed production so can often turn around a variety in one season and offer seeds the next year.

But in the meantime there are many who have grown lots of varieties from my seed offers and those of others as well as the sources I mentioned above and already know them.

So, just curious on my part why entries are limited ONLY to those that already have a seed site selling seeds for a variety.

Carolyn

Not really Carolyn. It just causes problems when many variety names are submitted and are not available. As you are are aware everybody and his half brother is inventing, renaming, and finding in Grandma's cowshed varieties almost daily. If you will vouch for the variety, thats ok by me, But I am concerned that Plantfiles is cluttered with dubious varieties.

I hear you Dill, I really do.

You are so right about renaming varieties and I can give you one recent example.

The variegeted variety Variagata is thought to come from Ireland, relax, I'l make this as short as I can. it's the only variegated one that comes true from seed, others having to be vegetatively propagated.

I was sent plants for what was called Splash of Cream by someone who owns a seed site in TX, or used to, and it too was variegated, when asked, he gave me the name of the man in France from whom he buys flower seed and got this Splash of Cream from.

So I e-mailed the man in France and he said he received it as Variegata BUT changed the name to Splash of Cream for a flower variety he grows which has varieageted foliage.

Do you have any idea how much time I've spent trying to tell folks that Splash of Cream is a renaming of Variegata?

Recently at another website there's a guy doing some tomato breeding and he is naming what he has Splash of Cream/ Sigh. Yes, I think he did know that Variegata was the right name and thus he'd be confusing the issue. I gave him all sorts of links and info on the background and he ended up saying that it was HIS project and he was going to name it whatever HE wanted to.

It isn't the first time we clashed over tomato names, but that was it for me at that message site and I'm not going back. ( smile)

Just one example of many I could give as to renaming.

Carolyn, who never made one entry in the tomato part here but then that's another story as well. And I think I'll let you check to see if Variegata/Splash of Cream is listed here at DG LOL

Dill, I forgot to post one of the problems I see with hopefully having a vendor, or not, and that's there are seed sites with owners who know what they're doing and get things right and then there are the owners who don't know what they're doing and change names to make something look exclusive to increase sales, or whatever. And some change histories as well, this I know personally.

I can give you just one example of that. Andrey in Belarus sent seeds of what's called Orange-1 to several people, me being one of them. And then one day I'm looking at a seed site and see Belarussian Orange and then I see someone getting seeds of the latter, a seed site owner I think, and also listing it as Belarussian Orange.

I could make a list of those sites where I know they change names and histories, and all those sites would fall under what are called "vendors".

And no, I'm not going to post that list. ( smile)

The proliferation of many small family run sites has just increased the chances, in many cases, that what you read and think you know, is not what it's supposed to be.

Carolyn

The only redeeming feature that I can think of is that at least people can get one of these exotics and try them themselves. There is no way to keep These things out of a public database. As an aside Variagata/ Splash of Cream is listed. One listing with Splash of Cream as an alternate name. Orange 1 is listed and has multiple vendors. Personally I don't like to see plantfiles cluttered up with experimental varieties which are not available. Tomatoes are not my interest, just keeping plantfiles as useful as possible to growers. I have watermelons and lima beans that I have stabilized but I would not dream of putting them in plantfiles.

Another aspect of the problem under discussion, is that there are more varieties than there are descriptive names, or words. I am sure it is much worse in the tomatoes than it is in the Flowering Crabapple varieties, with which i am more experienced, but just think of the limited words available to describe a round red tomato variety. So, that in itself leads to a lot of confusion in the named varieties. It is a nightmare trying to trademark a variety because of the names being already used.

Ernie

To even add more confusion, when a tomato comes from another country you can have the variety name both translated and not translated