The Man Behind the World of Unusual
Seeds
An Interview with George Gleckler of
Gleckler’s Seedmen
The first time that I flipped
through a Gleckler’s seed catalog, back in the mid-1980’s, it struck me that my
gardens up to that point were much too normal! Not for long, though. That
catalog was my entry into life beyond Burpee and Parks, outside of the realm of
the dark purple eggplant, green bell pepper and red round tomato. The pages of
the unassuming, modest (and free!) catalog printed in green ink on white paper,
with the pictures of Peron sprayless
tomato and Aconcagua pepper on the
front cover, held such wonders as purple artichokes, red carrots, pink celery,
white cucumbers, and a rainbow of unique and unusual eggplant, peppers and
tomatoes. Some of the first open pollinated vegetables that I tried came from
Gleckler’s Seedmen. It was right at that point when I took the plunge headlong
into heirlooms and involvement in the Seed Saver’s Exchange. A few weeks ago,
when pondering the next OTV interview victim, it seemed like a perfect
opportunity to speak with George Gleckler, who currently runs the business in
George and I enjoyed a wide-ranging
hour and a half telephone conversation, and covered lots of territory. Mr.
Gleckler came across as a man of high ethics who, because of his love for
gardening, continues the business of offering the rare and out of the ordinary
that his father Merlin started in 1947. Prior to that, Gleckler Sr. was a
contract grower for large seed companies such as Burpee. For example, he would
grow acres of a particular tomato variety and sell the seed to the large
companies. Believe it or not, he would get paid 3 dollars per pound of tomato
seed back then in the 1940’s! Due to such underwhelming financial recompense,
the logical step from there was to enter the business, which is what he did.
One thing to note is that he was not particularly fond of eating tomatoes;
however, he did find it a very interesting crop to grow, due to the large
visual variation, and in addition, tomatoes were, and still are, perhaps the
most widely grown home garden vegetable, resulting in a large and captive
audience.
In the 1980, Merlin Gleckler
suffered a stroke, after which he understandably lost interest in his seed
company. George decided to take over his father’s business, but was dismayed to
find that many of the varieties could not be propagated, due to loss of
viability of the seed. Eventually, thanks to donations from long time
customers, and even some members of the Seed Saver’s Exchange who had been
maintaining the varieties (Pink
Grapefruit is a good example), George managed to get the majority of the
tomatoes and other crops back in good shape, and the company persevered.
Interestingly, two tomatoes that were listed years ago but were considered lost
are Lutescent and Stick. Both of these were located in
the USDA seed repository, and are (or will be next spring, in the case of Stick) available in the Seed Saver’s
Exchange collection to members of the organization. When asked about the
sources of the various tomato varieties listed in the Gleckler catalog, the
response was that, in many cases, various gardeners sent the company their
favorites over the years. Others, such as Peron,
were bred in
Many of you are aware, and
disappointed, that there was no 1995 Gleckler catalog. You will be happy to
know, however, that there will be a new catalog next year. (Gardening
enthusiasts should send their catalog request to Gleckler’s Seedmen,
We talked about heirloom tomatoes
for a while. We did not talk much about the SSE, since George, although he is
supportive of the organization, is concerned about the fact that all sorts of
gardeners, even inexperienced ones, are offering seeds, which could lead to
crossing problems. One of the issues that George brought up was that many
heirlooms of different names may be the same tomato. A good example is of the bicolored
beefsteaks, such as Georgia Streak, Pineapple, and Marizol Gold. The only way to determine without a doubt if they are
different would be to do genetic analysis. Another group of tomatoes he noted
as possibly the same are the German pink skinned tomatoes, such as Mortgage Lifter, Watermelon Beefsteak, and Giant
Belgium. It makes alot of sense, actually, when you consider that despite
the fact that there are over 3000 named tomatoes in the SSE collection, no more
than 250-300 open-pollinated tomatoes have been actually “developed” throughout
the years. When asked what his favorite
eating tomato is, he replied that he loves the flavor of Evergreen, because it has “real tomato flavor”. I asked him about
the tomato Great White, since it
just appeared out of the blue in his catalog a few years ago, and no one seems
to know the history of it. It turns out that in 1987 or 88, a woman sent George
seeds of an orange and a yellow oxheart. George planted all of the seeds of
each variety, and in the grow out, one plant of a white beefsteak tomato showed
up. George called the woman and asked if there was any way a white tomato could
have been sent accidentally, but she replied that she did not grow white
tomatoes. So, whether it is a cross or a mutation, what resulted is one of the
best white tomatoes aound. I asked about specific histories of other famous
Gleckler tomatoes, such as Goldie
and German Head, but he confessed
that he did not know the exact origin of these, repeating that many of these
have been sent to him by other avid growers of heirloom tomatoes that are
anxious to share their good fortune.
One of the things that interests
George is growing out hybrids to get distinctive, stable, open pollinated
varieties. The issue of hybrids turned out to be a rather hot topic with him,
as he does not see any real need for hybrids outside of the profit that they
generate for seed companies and the creators of the varieties. He noted that
many gardening magazines and seed company catalogs warn against growing
non-hybrids due to the potential for disease problems, but stated that the
origin of disease resistance in plants comes from open pollinated varieties.
And, these heirlooms have been around quite a long time, which is a testament
to their ability to survive. George once grew Big Boy hybrid next to Peron,
and found that there was no comparison. Peron
was superior to the hybrid in all respects. He also told of the outrageous
prices for hybrid seed. Gleckler once carried a hybrid tomato from the 1950’s
called Mandarin Cross. The seed,
which was developed by and purchased from a Japanese company, cost one thousand
eight hundred dollars per pound! And, he said that some of the Japanese hybrid
cherry tomato seed costs three to four thousand dollars per pound! To anyone
who has noted the enthusiasm with which cherry tomatoes self seed and
volunteer, this seems outrageous. And, those volunteer cherry tomatoes are more
often than not just as good as the hybrids from which they originated!
Finally, I asked George which tomato
is the weirdest that he has seen. His response was at first Green Zebra (not an heirloom, but a
fairly recent creation by Tom Wagner of the former Tater Mater seed Company),
but then followed with the answer that I expected, Purple Calabash. However, this tomato, which is closely related to
wild tomatoes in his opinion, is quite popular with many of his customers,
though he considers it as “worthless”! I have not yet grown Purple Calabash, but I suppose that one
day it will find a place in my garden. One thing is for sure, though. If you
are a tomato enthusiast, please order a catalog from Gleckler’s Seedmen and try
some of the wild, weird and wonderful varieties that he offers. And, while you
are at it, be sure to try some of his unique eggplant, and peppers, and melons.
The gardening community should do all that it can do to ensure that seed
companies like this one survive.