Tiger Tom Tomato
Solanum lycopersicum
Price: $2.95
SKU: 3400191
Tiger Tom
70 days, indeterminate — 'Tiger Tom' has become a favorite in our kitchen garden and enjoyed as a snacking or salad type. It is very early and usually one of the first to ripen in our garden, and is very prolific. The juicy fruit average about six ounces each, are globe-shaped, and have yellow-orange stripes on red-orange skin. The flavor is rich with a very good balance sharp and sweet.
'Tiger Tom' reportedly originated from a Czechoslovakian tomato breeder finding its way into the collection of the late Ben Quisenberry before eventually being shared among seed collectors and seed savers. Our original sample was received from Ray Yoder of Pennsylvania in 1999.
It is similar to, and some believe a synonym for, an old English greenhouse variety known there as 'Tigerella' and 'Mr. Stripey'. This English 'Mr. Stripey' is not to be confused with the large, bi-color beefsteak-type variety also named 'Mr. Stripey'). Each packet contains approximately 20 seeds.
Special Groups: "Epic" Tomatoes
Harvest Timing: Early/Short Season
Harvest Timing: Early/Short Season
Notes and Informational References:
- 'Tigerella' was developed by Dr. Lewis A. Darby of the now defunct Glasshouse Crops Research Institute, Littlehampton, Sussex, England from a cross between 'Ailsa Craig' and an unknown variety sometime in the 1960s. Two other selections from the same cross were introduced as 'Tangella' and 'Craigella'.
- The Glasshouse Crops Research Institute, Littlehampton, Sussex, England, was a world renowned establishment where research was carried out on all aspects of crop production under glass and polythene. It was closed in 1995.
- Lewis Darby came to the Glasshouse Crops Research Institute in 1955 from the John Innes Horticultural Institution and retired in about 1976. [Source: "Annual Report," Glasshouse Crops Research Institute, page 15, 1981.]
- In the 1980s Seed Savers Exchange Yearbooks, there were many listings for "Mr. Stripey (aka Tigerella)" listing the original source as Thompson & Morgan in the UK. In their current (circa 2019) catalog, T & M sells 'Tigerella' tomato with no mention of 'Mr. Stripey'. Some seed savers hypothesized that 'Tigerella' and 'Tiger Tom' are the same variety.
- The American mid-Atlantic heirloom tomato called 'Mr. Stripey', which is not the same as the English "Mr. Stripey," is a bi-colored beefsteak discovered in Georgia and reportedly named and introduced in the 1990s by Wayne Hilton, the former owner of several seed company brands at that time (Totally Tomatoes, Shumway, Vermont Bean Seed Company).
- Ben Quisenberry (1910-1986) of Syracuse, Ohio operated "Big Tom Gardens." He was a seed preservationist and an early supplier of varieties to Seed Savers Exchange when it was first being founded.
Customer Reviews:
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★★★★☆ Lots of fruit
By Mary Kellogg on August 30, 2020
By Mary Kellogg on August 30, 2020
Fun and easy to grow with nearly 100% germination. These abundant fruits came earlier than my other varieties. Somewhat prone to cracking and sensitive to irregular watering. A little prone to early blight in my area.
★★★★★ Our favorite smaller variety!!
By Rich Imholt on February 6, 2016
By Rich Imholt on February 6, 2016
Our favorite smaller variety!! Stunning colors and great texture :)
★★★★☆ small but sweet
By Suzanne Fryling on September 3, 2011
By Suzanne Fryling on September 3, 2011
The tiger toms are small but came out the earliest and have been abundant and tasty! Happy we bought these.
