Long-shot Tondo di Manduria

In late July I started a planting of Tondo Manduria from some seed my friend Angelo provided me with in 2013. It is amazing how well his seed has germinated all these years later. In any case, my desire to get the fruit to seed was pretty futile, due to the prevalence of Powdery Mildew. By the time I got around to the plot, the disease had established itself so firmly, that there was little I could do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like all other populations of the Tondo Manduria, this variety expresses multiple phenotypes in the same population. The term we often use for this is “polymorphic”. The Tondo di Manduria generally has two expressions for vine length, fruit shape and color. The vines can be long or compact, the shape can be round or cylindrical and the color can be light or light with splotching. I personally prefer the compact vines that produce round fruit with splotching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Within this population, the vines and fruit expressed all the regular traits correlated with the commercial strains of this variety. In the end, the fruit I picked didn’t mature any further, but just began to rot – so I was forced to harvest mostly immature seeds that I had to toss.