Forum Ogrodnicze Oaza

deltoro wrote: Hello Tomek,

It is nice to meet you - thanks for the message. You have some good questions.

Dwarf is a distinct genetic tomato type - it first appeared in the mid 1800s as a mutation - the variety de Laye. Dwarf growth type is a gene that creates the thick central stem, the growth that is half of the vertical rate of indeterminate varieties, and the crinkly, dark bluish green foliage. Between 1850-1900 a very few dwarf varieties were in existence - probably selections from de Laye - such as Dwarf Champion, Golden Dwarf Champion and Dwarf Stone. The term "dwarf" was used very early on when that type of tomato was found - right from the 1850s.

What is good about them is the compact growth form, but the gradual fruiting, as well as potential for large fruit and excellent flavor. When we started our project the goal was to cross the existent dwarfs with large, colorful heirlooms and, after years of selection, create our new varieties, which have been grown to become open pollinated (genetically stable).

All of the varieties in our project are from our breeding and selection work. There are certainly others working on dwarf tomato varieties, but they are not part of our project.

so - there were dwarf varieties prior to our project, but there were not that many and they were not particularly interesting (at least in the US) - our project greatly increased the number of them, in addition to expanding the colors, shapes and sizes.

I hope that this helps!

Craig