When you're the garden columnist for a daily newspaper, you hear all sorts of things.
One woman once told me about a problem with a tomato plant that didn't produce tomatoes, only yellow flowers, which were diligently removed because they were "ugly." A coworker complained about a grape vine that for years has produced tons of grapes that never, ever ripen. All the usual suspects, sun, etc., apparently aren't the problem. Reporters and editors and photographers and artists approach me at work with their questions. I like to help, especially if I know the answer. But sometimes, I'm just stumped.
When I got into the newsroom this morning, I found a "gift" left on my desk by my friend Bernadette. It was one of the weirdest things I'd come across, even though I can pretty much figure out what's going on. I don't have the back story because I wasn't in the office yesterday when she left it, and she was out today. Check this thing out:
There are tiny pin-prickly things just below this tomato's skin, and running my finger over them reveals there's some pressure in there, like they're just waiting to burst out, Alien style. Some already have emerged, and they look like -- sprouts.
Could the tomato's seeds actually have germinated and sprouted from within the tomato? I brought that baby home with me tonight so I could investigate further.
Then, on the way home, some idiot driving perpendicular to me runs a stop sign, forcing me to slam on my brakes and sending everything on my front passenger seat hurling to the floor. The tomato, which was overly ripe, smashed open, spewing juice on the carpet, my backpack, my canvas lunch tote, cell phone, water bottle and travel mug. So I don't travel light. Don't judge me.
Anyway, when I got home and looked at the smashed specimen, its insides were revealed:
Freaky, right? Here, take a closer look:
So I cut it in half to get an even closer look:
It's clearly a case of the seeds sprouting. This tomato wanted to give birth. I wonder what would have happened if it had remained on the vine.
Anyone have a clue what's going on here?
Comments (1)
Is this tomato a hybrid or an heirloom? If it's a hybrid, all kinds of funky things are done to the seeds, (depending on the supplier - you'd be very surprised at what happens!) sometimes mutating the genetic material. I would hazard a guess that the seeds are probably tomato seeds that sprouted but the plants that are/would grow from this plant would be either sterile, not true to type or a combination of mutations. You actually can't grow seeds from hybrids true to type, and the seeds aren't worth saving.