A Rare Vintage Tomato

Edit: 29/03/2018 The attached link to Lancaster University seems to be unavailable now.

'MANX MARVEL' came to light early this year, 2013, after a request from Penny in Ontario for any available seeds here on Gardeners Corner. Having spotted that request, I did my own research on the internet about 'Manx Marvel' and then made a search of the island for seed to no avail. What I did find was the following article:

http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/sci-tech/news/000334/

Realising that if the seeds could be located and then announced on GC in any form, this could have dire effects for the site regarding an overload of new members worldwide joining just to gain them. For this reason and having asked Zigs to oversee the situation regarding the administration side, Penny agreed we should take this to 'Private Conversation'. Since then, through chance, a handful of other members became involved.
All names as follows: Penny in Ontario, Sheal, Zigs, "M", Vince, Spruce, JWK.

Far from their original home, Penny located and obtained seeds in Canada and kindly distributed the few that she had amongst us to grow, we had just five each. Zigs then suggested that we grow the tomatoes in isolation to stop cross pollination and keep any prospective fruit 'true' to it's name. Germination was slightly slower than it's more recent rivals and success was lacking for some. A couple of us only had one seed germinate and in view of this we grew on side shoots to obtain further plants.

As the plants grew we had no idea what to expect, whether to grow inside or out, whether they would be cordons, bush etc. I think most of us would agree now that 'Manx Marvel' is better grown outside, in the ground or pots after the initial stages inside. As the fruit developed there was no consistency in size although they were all standard to large. Ultimately, on harvest, the general opinion is that the fruit is fairly bland regarding flavour. Pictures will be available in further posts from those involved.

Now at the end of the growing season, we have collected seed to pass on to other members of GC who would like to grow 'Manx Marvel' next year, albeit from either a serious or novelty point of view. Going 'live' with this thread on GC we have had to think about how to distribute seed regarding present members and restricting the aforementioned 'overload' from at present, non-members.

1)........Approximately twenty seeds will be available to each member of three months and more, allowing leeway for members close to that time.

2)........Seeds will be available for two months from 1st December, 2013 to 31st January, 2014.

3)........Please request seeds from the named members below via 'Private Conversation' (PM).

4)........To obtain seeds, members are asked to enclose a stamp addressed envelope please unless otherwise stated at the time of request.

5)........Thank you to GC for backing this little venture. As seeds are available free we would like, if possible, for members to make a small donation to the upkeep of this wonderful site of ours but this is by no means compulsory. Thank you!

Zigs opted out of growing, owing to his current personal situation. "M" has kindly offered to distribute Spruces and my own seeds, for which I thank her. My postal situation on the island functions independently of the mainland, therefore I wouldn't be able to return sae's with English stamps.

Both Vince and Penny are currently unavailable, their names will be added for distribution when they return to GC.

Names available for seed at this point are: "M" and JWK.

Any questions or issues regarding 'Manx Marvel' or seed availability can be placed on this thread.

On a lighter note.......now you see what members of GC get up to behind the scenes. It has been difficult for us to keep this under wraps at times but we've succeeded, well done everyone! Special thanks to Penny in Ontario for making this possible. Now hopefully we can help retrieve 'Manx Marvel' from extinction!

 

Wow...Congratulations to all involved and thanks for your hard work in researching and growing the Manx Marvel It must have been a very interesting and exciting project seeing how they faired....I'll look forward to seeing the pics

Brilliant idea for the donations to GC too...everyones a winner

 

Stupid me has somehow managed to delete my main pictures of 'Manx Marvel', but here's a couple for an idea of how it looks.

 

No rush John...but hurry up i can't wait....

Wow Sheal...looks like a good cropper

When you say "fairly bland" have you a comparison?
What were the differences with growing outdoor to indoor?
Apologies for the questions....i'm curious i'm sure they'll be more

 

You sneaky jiggers!

 

Loli.....with the frustrations we've all had with growing again this year it did very well cropping. In fact even though my plants are long finished I'm still ripening the remaining tomatoes and harvesting seed.

I can't give you a comparison with regards to it's blandness, there is just very little flavour but it's neither a sour or sweet fruit. It's not a 'stand alone' fruit that you would eat straight from the plant, but would be okay mixed in salads or for cooking.

From the time the plants were ready to flower and crop I kept mine outside in isolation. At one point I returned them to the greenhouse but as the weather got warmer I put them back out as they were unhappy in the heat. Remembering these tomatoes were originally grown in 1949 they would almost definitely have been grown outside, particularly here on the island. They would also have to be fairly tough, knowing the weather conditions here and the fact we don't get the high temperatures of the mainland. The leaf curl you see on my plants I believe was due to heat. The later side shoots I grew on outside didn't develop this.

 

That's interesting Sheal....thanks for that...sounds like Yorkshire might be a good place to grow them

 

Did no-one grow them under cover?

 

Give them a go Loli, it'll be interesting to see how they grow in different areas.

 

Freddy, I think "M" may have grown hers in a blow-away and I would think Penny may have grown in a polytunnel but I can't be sure, sorry.

Penny is unavailable at the moment as she can't post on GC although I believe she can see what's going on. I've hopefully made contact with her via PM to try and help her out.

 

Hiya Sheal.

I noted this part...

I was wondering how you came to this conclusion?

 

I'm so glad that the growers have "come out" at last. Looking forward to seeing more feedback on this tomato. Personally, I haven't the space to grow many tomatoes so I may well decline the offer of seeds for next year.
Congratulations GC though for bringing this rare tomato plant back from the brink of extinction,
Jenny

 

Too late, Penny's just said she's sent you some.

 

Like those who grow for the supermarkets?