Hello pbs friends, I need your help so please don't get upset about the subject matter. We recently picked up some vine ripened tomatoes at the Super Market which are sold with the vine still attached to the tomatoes. They are expensive but I had a taste for the real deal. The tomatoes sat around for a while and I noticed that they looked as if something was bulging out of the sides. I left it sitting on the counter and finally decided to perform surgery. The inside looked like worms or maggots at first glance but closer scrutiny showed little vines; the tomatoes looked as if they had been pumped full of vines or roots. I let this tomato sit on the counter to see what would happen and the sprouts kept sprouting toward the light and getting leggy like my Oxalis plants. Meanwhile the other tomatoes had what looked like branches growing out of the tomatoes. I put these sprouts on top of dirt in a yogurt cup, put the lid on ( clear plastic) I had to remove the lid because the sprouts were getting to high and are turning into little tomato plants. I also did an experiment by putting the sprouts into a yogurt cup and adding water. I gave up this idea because it really smells like fish.and turned brown. The long and short of it is... what the heck are they doing to grow tomatoes? I have a few experiments going on because i want to see how fast the vines will grow out side and I am dying to see the end product. This could be easier than planting seeds because I just pull out a clump of of vines and plant them in dirt, water, or leave them sitting inside of the tomatoes. Usually there were vines and no seeds. I saw three seeds in one tomato. Please humor me, I am curious about the possibilities because I just started to pay attention to how things are grown recently. Take Care Friends and please send your comments to the list or my personal address scamp@earthlink.net. Cheers, Scamp the un - Earth lady. --- Christine Council --- scamp@earthlink.net --- EarthLink: The #1 provider of the Real Internet.