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Mary Reynold's Orange Tomato
Solanum lycopersicum
Huge and productive beefsteak tomato with a mango/persimmon orange color, and a sweet rich flavor. Mary Reynolds lived in Natural Bridge, Virginia, where she saved this variety for so long that the original name is gone. She gave seeds to her neighbor John R. Lewis Jr., who in turn shared them with William Woys Weaver through Seed Savers Exchange in the late 1990s. Now we can all enjoy the juicy, delicious, 12-16oz fruits of her labor. For more information and beautiful descriptions of this variety and 99 others, see William Woys Weaver's "100 Vegetables and Where They Come From."
Days to Maturity: 85
Seeds per pack: 25
Germination rate: 84% on 12/28/2023
Planting / harvesting notes
Start seeds 6-8 weeks before the last frost and transplant into garden well after the danger of frost. We recommend you prune the suckers that form in the crotches of the branches by the main stem. Water tomatoes at the soil level, keeping the leaves dry.
Seed keeping notes
Tomatoes are generally self-pollinating, though we isolate different varieties by 35-50 feet, in hopes that flying insects will not cross pollinate them unexpectedly. Tomato seeds are ripe when the fruits are ready to eat! Cut the fruit at the equator and squeeze or scrape out seeds from each of the cavities. In a cup or bucket, add a little water (1/2" is probably plenty) to your seeds and pulp to keep them from drying out, and allow them to ferment away from direct sunlight. Ideally, you will stir the concoction every day for 3-5 days. In the end, add more water to fill the vessel, stir one final time, and allow to settle. Pour off the floating material and then strain the seeds through a strainer. Sometimes, you will need to add more water and pour off the floating material several times until the water is clear and you can see the seeds sunken at the bottom. Squeeze dry the strained seeds in a towel, and then lay out to dry on a labeled screen or paper product in a ventilated place away from direct sunlight for a week or two.
