Old Tomato, Centennial

Hey'all,

When I was a kid, my Dad used to grow an OP tomato that his extension agent brother in coastal Maryland gave him called 'Centennial'. It was a medium sized, red slicer with smooth skin. Has anyone heard of it? I haven't seen it on the web anywhere. I've posted this in the heirloom section as well.

Centennial (Ind. 68-46) - Breeder: Purdue University. Vendor: Agric. Alumni Seed Improvement Association. Parentage: (VF145 x V564) x Roma. Characteristics: VF145 with improved crack resistance and earliness, firm, oval with slight nipple, small stem scar, good color fruit, machine harvest. Resistance: verticillium wilt race 1, fusarium wilt race 1. Adaptation: midwestern United States. 1969.

The above is the only reference to an OP named Centennial that I can find, except for one called Centennial Rocket. a/k/a Rocket, which was bred by the CA Dept of Ag.

Since the Centnnial at the top was released in 1969 I doubt highly that it is still available commercially. I looked at both my recent SSE Annuals and also at Glenn Drown Seedlist since he tends to preserve many older OP's but he doesn't have it either.

The only other thing I could do would be do check to see if it's on the USDA list but if it is that means filling out applications and justifying why you want the seed.

Aha, I just went back to my 1993 SSE Annual and see that an SSE member who is still an SSE member listed it back then. I have no idea if she still has it, but if you find no other reference to it I could call Dorothy and ask her if she still has it, and perhaps request it for you next year. She gives no description, just says it doesn't like the cold. LOL

Another thing you could do if you wanted to would be to contact Purdue, if any leads fail, and ask about it.

Carolyn

Thanks Carolyn,

I've done Net searches for it before and came up dry, but just ran a Google search with some of the text you provided and found the exact same reference on the NCSU site. Dr. Wehner is in charge of a lot of breeding projects out there and he sent me some Luffa seeds that I requested last spring. Maybe he can come up with Centennial. I'll send him an email.

The reference I gave is from the NCSU site; it's an excellent reference site for this and that.

I don't know a Dr. Wehner at NCSU, but NCSU does not maintain the varieties listed, they have similar lists for all veggies as reference lists only, not stock seed lists.

The only person I know at NCSU is Dr. Randy Gardner, who is head of the tomato breeding section. The Mountain series and all that. (smile)

There's always a chance that Dr. Wehner might have it in his private collection, though, or possibly the departmental collection. Otherwise, my offer still stands.

Carolyn, and if you do find it please do let me know in case a question should come up in the future re Centennial.

Sure will. Dr. Wehner has a teeeny little link at the bottom of the web page. I can also try Randy Gardner if Dr. Wehner can't find it. I think he's in Fletcher, NC, about 45 minutes from here. I'll keep you posted.

Why not just grow Burpee's Beefsteak hybrids? LOL LOL LOL and I do mean OL!!

LOL is right. I believe that Centennial was released more as breeding material for producing hybrids, but was an attractive and flavorful tomato in itself. Since Purdue no longer has a tomato breeding program (*sigh*) Dr. Wehner suggested that I contact Dr. Gardner as well. According to his response, Dr. Wehner maintains the NCSU cultivar list that Carolyn and I were referring to, but his actual projects are currently isolated to cucummber and watermelon breeding, though he seems to have a handle on Cucurbits in general. We'll see where this goes.