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Tomato Worlds Smallest Solanum Pimpinellifolium Seeds
Packet of 75+ seeds from this awesome little wild tomato breed!
It is actually Solanum pimpinellifolium not Solanum lycopersicum .
Check out the tiny size of the seeds and fruit compared to a normal cherry and the narrow point of the seed.
As this is the original wild type, it is much hardier and more disease resistant than any other varieties.
It never ever gets virus’s or disease like the others do from time to time and is very resistant to “Leaf mould”, “Botrytis”, “Didymella”, “Blossom drop”, “Green back” “Hollow Fruit” “Blossom end rot” or even boring old splitting like so many of our modern cultivars are so prone to!
That’s why it is a common choice for grafting onto in cool European or American climates, and as a cross for breeding more hardy traits into the weaker disease susceptible “supermarket” hybrids.
It can take slightly longer than normal to sprout than the other varieties as the seed coat is slightly thicker, and the seed it self has a fine downy velvet on it which helps protect it from fungi and from acid when in the gut of birds etc…
Germination is generally 3weeks to sprout but occasionally it takes a couple months.
Found the following on a research paper online “The gene called Cf-9 makes Solanum pimpinellifolium resistant to the leaf mould fungus Cladosporium fulvum. When a fungal attack happens, a chemical encoded by Cf-9 recognizes a chemical produced by the fungus, and the plant kills living tissue issue around the infection making sure it cannot spread and infect the rest of the plant.
This gene has been used in breeding programs to make other tomatoes resistant to leaf mould. Some populations are also resistant to the bacterial spot pathogen”
It’s a great tasting tomato in its own right, really sweet, and its got nearly twice the natural sugar content of regular tomatoes!
Cool plant that is VITAL in any garden in my opinion, especially for us self-sufficiency types!
Grows like a weed once established, as it gets spread around by the chooks etc, but be aware the Kangaroos love it, fruit, stem, root and all!
We grow it like any other tomato we grow, but we generally use it only in the rockier unloved patches of soil where we are struggling to get things established.
First we prepared the soil by weeding and mixing in a little compost.
We then sprinkle the seed on top and lightly water them in. As soon as the seedlings have got their 8th leaf total we removed the bottom 6 leaves.
Then the little fellas are replanted in the same bed in neatish rows, burying them all the way except the top couple centimeters.
Instead of 2cm below the ground and 5cm above, now they are 5cm below and 2cm above the ground.
While not at all necessary, this massively increases the total root mass, which in turn massively increases hardiness and yield later on.
That extra buried stem sprouts roots giving the plant a real jump start.
We water them well in this stressful transition period, and maybe add a little chicken manure and guinea pig manure when they start to flower, if I get around to it.
That’s it, and from that first month on wards they are pretty much self-sufficient.
Easiest tomato to grow that exists I reckon, and I am yet to kill one from neglect.
Wish I could say that about any of our other plants…
Anyway, there it is, world smallest tomato fruit, on the worlds toughest tomato plant!
Grown by us organically, no nasties, no chems, no problems!!!
