Browse Tomatoes Stories

42 results found for Tomatoes
In the spring, crape myrtles add color with flowers. In the fall, they add color with brightly colored leaves. CAES News
Crape Myrtle Care
Southern gardeners love crape myrtles, but many don’t know how to care for them to realize the full, gorgeous blooms they expect in the summer.
Tomato lovers will attest that homegrown always tastes best, even if they don't always win beauty contests. CAES News
Summer Tomatoes
During the summer growing season, the love many have for a homegrown tomato approaches obsession. In fact, some people love tomatoes so much that they struggle to grow them — because they give their plants too much care.
Qian Feng, a second-year doctoral candidate in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, has mapped additional genes responsible for volatile production in order to offer a more complete picture of the biochemical pathways in tomatoes. She hopes that other researchers can introduce the desirable genes into current or new varieties to breed a tastier  tomato. CAES News
Tastier Tomatoes
Why have tomatoes lost their flavor? Why do some dishes call for ketchup when cooking with tomatoes? These are a couple of the questions that Qian Feng, a second-year University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences doctoral candidate, seeks to answer through her research.
Blossom-end rot, which manifests in the first few weeks of growth after tomato flowers are pollinated, causes black, rotted areas on the blossom end of the fruit, opposite the stem. CAES News
Tomato Research
Home gardeners and commercial farmers alike can attest to the disappointment of seeing a beautiful tomato ripening on a vine, only to discover that the fruit has dark, sunken pits at the blossom end of the fruit. Called blossom-end rot (BER), this physiological disorder is prevalent in fruit and vegetable crops, including tomatoes, and can cause severe economic losses.
Researchers at the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences have recently found the genetic mechanism that controls the shape of tomatoes also controls the shape of potatoes and may control the shape of other fruits as well. CAES News
Making Tomatoes Safer
When vegetable farmers harvest crops, they often rely on postharvest washing to reduce any foodborne pathogens, but a new University of Georgia study shows promise in reducing these pathogens — as well as lowering labor costs — by applying sanitizers to produce while it is still in the fields.
Horticulture Professor Esther van der Knapp of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences worked with a team of geneticists around the world to create a fuller inventory of the genetic diversity of the tomato. They release a pangenome for the tomato in the May edition of Nature Genetics. (photos by Merritt Melancon) CAES News
Tomato Pan-genome
 It’s summer, and Georgia gardeners are anxiously awaiting their first tomato harvest. Just in time for those first tomato sandwiches, researchers at the University of Georgia have helped unlock the mystery of what separates today’s tomatoes from their inedible ancestors.
Researchers at the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences have recently found the genetic mechanism that controls the shape of tomatoes also controls the shape of potatoes and may control the shape of other fruits as well. CAES News
Fruit Shape
From elongated tubes to near-perfect spheres, vegetables come in almost every size and shape. But what differentiates a fingerling potato from a russet or a Roma tomato from a beefsteak? Researchers at the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences recently found the genetic mechanism that controls the shape of some of our favorite fruits, vegetables and grains.
Esther van der Knaap, professor of horticulture, was one of the many UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences researchers who helped the college break its external research funding record in fiscal year 2016. CAES News
Tomato Size Regulator
Ever wonder how that slice of tomato on your summer BLT got to be so perfectly bread sized? Geneticists at the University of Georgia have found the gene variants that control a tomato’s size. They published their findings recently in the open-access journal PLOS Genetics.  
Photos of seeds available at a recent seed swap at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia. CAES News
Save Seeds
Every variety of seed has a story. Some seed varieties can be linked to important historical figures, like Thomas Jefferson. As the growing season for summer favorites comes to an end, consider saving seeds from healthy, vigorously producing plants and begin a seed legacy of your own.
GM crops chart CAES News
GMO Safety
Genetically modified foods are tested for safety testing before they reach the marketplace. It can take over a decade and cost tens of millions of dollars, and as a result, GMOs are the most safety-tested foods in history, says University of Georgia plant breeding and plant genetics expert Wayne Parrott.