Purple Galaxy Tomato Controversy

Baker Creek Heirloom seeds company has gotten themselves into a quite a pickle by promoting a potentially GMO tomato seed they were calling "Purple Galaxy". Let's look a little more closely into this controversy.
#smithsgardentown #purplegalaxy #bakercreek #gmo #purpletomato #heirloomtomatoes #controversy #plantnews #plantdrama #gardening #tomatotalk

[@floridacoder]

To each their own. But not in my garden.

[@IAMGiftbearer]

I just bought some. The cut-off date for this year's seeds is tomorrow so I'm glad I caught it before they were no longer available. I guess they don't want the market to become saturated. I have heard all kinds of good things about them, and I want to compare them with the other purple varieties I have seeds of.

[@smithsgardentown]

Let us know how they grow for you!

[@MsLisaLisa89]

Aww I didn't know they had a cut off date. Guess I gotta wait until next year. I just learned about them and was excited.

[@sluttyankles]

I just got my packet in the mail, here we go.:)

[@sluttyankles]

100% germination, started 6

[@tnijoo5109]

I don’t understand why it would be hard to test. I think Baker’s isn’t being fully transparent about the results of the genetic testing. It’s not that hard to figure out.

[@smithsgardentown]

I agree.

[@markregan7639]

Honestly the only way to "test" for a "GMO" tomato is to test its genetics and compare it to known GMO genetic strains. It's not like GMOs show up positive on breathalyzer

[@Appophust]

I'm buying some seeds this month. They look delicious.

[@kathyw6226]

Honestly they probably didn't want to get sued

[@davidgray1515]

If Baker Creek can be so easily fooled how many other of their seeds are suspect??????

[@inharmonywithearth9982]

Look into the beit alpha cucumber so many are selling as a heirloom SEEDLESS cucumber supposedly from an unknown Israeli kibbutz farm. If you search you will find the laboratory research papers on its MODERN laboratory genetically modified development. It didn't take me very long to find its a GMO just by searching past all the websites lying to sell it as an heirloom.

[@tnijoo5109]

Yes, I’m wondering about the rest of their tomatoes and if I should still order from them.

[@hbinfinity]

Snap dragons are edible. If it was crossbred with a snap dragon to produce that color, it should be just as edible as a tangerine.

[@floridacoder]

My problem is that open pollinated GMO plants can cross into heirloom varieties. Bees have a several mile range and we can't guarantee that your frankenplant genetics remain only in your garden. I think GMO plants should be outlawed globally. Especially food. Perhaps it is too late for corn and cotton, but let's not risk everything else. We can already produce really good hybrid varieties without modifying a plant's DNA. I realize the pros of GMO and it's a way to get results simply not possible in nature - including amazing yields and disease resistance. But the risk is not worth the reward. We shouldn't shortcut thousands of years of natural evolution and be playing God.

[@DukeGMOLOL]

Thousands of years of nature did not give us corn from teosinte, Mexicans interfering with nature gave us corn. Thousands of years of nature did not give us the 2,000 plants and crops that radiation and chemical mutagenesis did, scientists did that. Regards.

[@floridacoder]

@DukeGMOLOL yes, but that was selective breeding. Very different than splicing DNA. GMO is not the same as selective breeding.

[@DukeGMOLOL]

@@floridacoder We all know that sir, the point is that you extolled "natural evolution" but if we had stayed with natural evolution we wouldn't have corn or any of the other crops we have.

[@jamesJohnson-qe4gw]

WHAT OTHER WEIRD STUFF IS GOING ON THEN

[@tnijoo5109]

I’m wondering that too!! I’ve been nervous about everything in the bakers creek catalog since this came out.

[@animalsdignity]

Black Krim is not a good example because it contains a green color to appear black. Black Beauty on the other hand contains anthocyanins for a dark purple almost black color and it is also non-GMO. Mutations happen. I believe that it could be possible. Increase not vitamin levels, anthocyanin levels.

[@fitztastico]

Let's assume BK seed does have a GMO origin for a minute - I'd be curious what the origin is and the changes that were made considering it would be only 1 of only 2 such tomatoes on the market. I'm guessing the snapdragon tomato people were pissed since they assumed they were first to market with this type of tomato

[@garrettsgardenplants9818]

Theres likely hundreds of purple tomatoes being made. Norfolk Healthy Produce made theirs in the early 2000s. Others just aren't out in the public yet. Bakercreek seemed to confirm that it wasn't Norfolks. But yeah, they could just be afraid of being sued. My assumption from what friends have said, is that they need to prove that they didn't make a GMO. The tests showed that it would've needed to have a very unusual mutation, to exist. That's what I've heard.

[@GardeningWithCoffee]

Great information 😊

[@HELLRZR-nm3vv]

Every tomato in every garden was genetically modified. Every one. Baker Creek sells heirloom tomato seeds, open pollination is the key there. Each one of them at one time was 'genetically modified' from two different plants to produce what there is today. That purple inside looks disgusting too. I don't care how much antho it has. Imagine what that would do to a grilled Cambozola cheese sandwich, ugh, lol.

[@craig4830]

I can't help but notice that you are not expressing your personal opinion on this matter but am instead asking the viewers to do so. No doubt your position on the matter is a safer one to make regarding liability in a defamation lawsuit but I'm not sure if the viewers understand the legal complications of "weighing in" on this issue.

[@Appophust]

I don't understand why everyone is so upset about GMO crops. They're crossing an edible plant with another edible plant in order to add nutrients it's lacking.

[@JDog801]

That's not how they did it. They modified the genes in a lab.

[@Appophust]

@@JDog801 yeah. That's what I'm trying to say. They spliced two pigment genes from a purple snapdragon. Those are entirely edible. Every part.

[@Appophust]

@@JDog801 what's wrong with crossing two plants in a lab?

[@johnbrzenksforearm8295]

I honestly do no care about the GMO boogie man. I use to fall for that stuff for many years but realized that most of the major foods I consumed growing up was GMO and would not have been possible organically on a global scale. The World would starve if the big farms had to grow organically. The only way organic farming works is on a smaller scale or in controlled environments like Greenhouses, or in your back yard. I use to think GMO was about greedy corps trying to make the biggest profit possible but realized as an adult that with pest, disease, etc on a grand scale it's not possible to grow 1000's of acres without some form of man made protection such as GMO or Pesticides unfortunately. Larger organic farms use "organic pesticides" on their fields that are just as bad as synthetic for the environment because it ends up in streams, water ways and in our ground water.

[@Appophust]

Definitely. And this time it's more absurd. It's a pair of edible snapdragon genes spliced into an edible tomato. To be honest, 90% of the tomato plant is already toxic. I'd personally complain about an unaltered tomato first.

[@DukeGMOLOL]

Bravo 8295!!!

[@TShirtAndReeboks]

I do trust Baker Creek.