'Rutgers 250 Schermerhorn' Tomato

Solanum lycopersicum Origin: New Jersey Improvement Status: Cultivar Seeds per packet: ~30 Germination tested 10/2024: 76% Life cycle: Annual Habit: Indeterminate EFN EXCLUSIVE. This is a "new heirloom" released in 2016 by Rutgers University as an homage to the original 'Rutgers' tomato, which has been the very definition of the term "Jersey tomato" since the 1930s. The story actually begins at the Campbell's Soup Company in 1928. Based in Camden, NJ, Campbell's has long had an active and impressive plant breeding program, and it was in 1928 that someone working for Campbell's crossed a sour-tasting but disease-resistant tomato called 'J.T.D' (after John T. Dorrance, who thought up Campbell's condensed soups) with a sweet, popular, but disease-susceptible tomato called 'Marglobe.' Soon after, in collaboration with Campbell's, a Rutgers vegetable breeder named Lyman Schermerhorn began working with the results from that original cross. After years of selection he finally had a tomato wor