Messages

1

Tomatoes / Re: Tomato Journal

« on: 2021-10-09, 08:09:26 AM »

Have a few late collections fermenting as of last night. Amongst them aready two of the most vexing of seedless tomatoes. No longer seedless.

This problem hit even my ~fully domestic MMS tomatoes. Though they recovered long ago.

There was one 3/4 domestic plant in the LA2329 crossing block. It finally set some seed at the end of the season. The seedless fruits tasted bad. It had open and exserted flowers. Hopefully the seeds will be hybrids! Hybrids with LA2329 that is though hybrids with other 3/4 domestic plants are also possible as might be selfing.

The final plant is a 3/4 domestic cherry tomato I called little pumpkins. Very tasty fruity flavor with closed inserted flowers and completely seedless till the very end and if there are five seeds I'll be surprised.

So seedless tomatoes may produce a few to a few hundred seeds eventually.

2

Tomatoes / Re: 2022 Tomato Growouts and breeding experiments ideas

« on: 2021-10-09, 07:50:21 AM »

It will be really interesting looking for hybrids next year. I'll plant community flats of seedlings and look for the ones with regular leaves from potato leaf mothers. The ones with exceptional hybrid vigour, and the habrochaites looking ones if any will be successfully fathered by LA2329.

3

Cucurbits / Re: Green-Fleshed Guatemalan

« on: 2021-10-09, 07:46:34 AM »

Underneath it had the light greens indicative of a very young squash and on top the darker green. I picked it the night before the killing frost.

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Cucurbits / Re: Green-Fleshed Guatemalan

« on: 2021-10-04, 06:21:10 PM »

Cool, I hope it works out.

5

Tomatoes / Re: Arthropod and Insect Resistant Tomatoes

« on: 2021-10-03, 08:31:48 PM »

Picked the remainder of the LA2329 habrochaites berries today. Picked whole clusters hoping for some ripening off the plant. Found a few big ones. One of the biggest pictured. Suspect some are ripe or will ripen thus doubling my numbers or better from the few hundred.

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Tomatoes / Re: Breeding for Late Blight Resistant Tomatoes

« on: 2021-10-03, 03:00:10 PM »

After growing it again this year I am certain that what I've been growing as dehybridizing Lizzano is actually a stable early red micro dwarf and I've no idea if it has any relation to real Lizzano F1. It was quite similar to "pinnochio" micro dwarf which I also grew.  Would need to grow out some real lizzano F1 a few generations to know I guess. Not sure but I think we decided that Lizzano F1 does NOT have both PH2 and PH3 homozygous? Which might be the end of my Lizzano experiments.

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Cucurbits / Re: Green-Fleshed Guatemalan

« on: 2021-10-03, 11:24:54 AM »

This is a green ayote. My guess is 30 days old. About four more days before a frost.

8

Tomatoes / Re: Breeding for Late Blight Resistant Tomatoes

« on: 2021-10-02, 03:31:19 PM »

Interesting Galahad F1 is available from Johnnies. Shorter season is a big plus.

https://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/tomatoes/beefsteak-tomatoes/galahad-organic-f1-tomato-seed-4055G.html

9

Tomatoes / Re: 2022 Tomato Growouts and breeding experiments ideas

« on: 2021-10-02, 09:50:28 AM »

One addition might be to grow Iron Lady in the F2 surrounding an exserted bicolor potato leaf.

Another might be:

4. Grow LA 2329 habrochaites with any hybrids of it I capture from the 2021 seeds of plants I interspersed it with AND or R18

10

Tomatoes / Re: Breeding for Late Blight Resistant Tomatoes

« on: 2021-10-02, 09:07:24 AM »

It seems to me that Iron Lady F1 as recommended by Carol Deppe in her book may be our safe bet. My plant had a tiny bit of modest exsertion of the stigma this year which was unexpected. I saved a couple hundred seeds for an F2 this time but did not manage a cross.

It strikes me that a good way to proceed with Carol's schema of systematic late blight protection for heirloom style tomatoes would be to utilize the 100 plus existing OSSI tomato lines. Cross each of those to Iron Lady and release the F2s to growers in late blight prone areas. The resulting F2s would already have OSSI protection from the OSSI parent.

11

Tomatoes / Re: Arthropod and Insect Resistant Tomatoes

« on: 2021-09-30, 05:15:00 AM »

Set the sprinkler on the LA 2329 last night. Hoping it makes it through this mornings frost. Some more berries look close.

12

Tomatoes / Re: Arthropod and Insect Resistant Tomatoes

« on: 2021-09-27, 08:55:56 PM »

I inspected the LA 2329 today. Picked one more berry. Have some seeds drying. Most of the first baggy I now deem not ripe but a few were. There are quite a few on the plants but I think they need some more time. They may not get it.

Still looks like maybe a couple hundred seeds from at least two plants. Interesting. Plants planted out in gardens need more space per plant than potted ones.

Very curious if any of the tomatoes planted in the LA2329 crossing block actually crossed with LA 2329. The bees behavior I observed might indicate crosses will be rare. Hopefully not none existent though! If I don't find any I will surely plant R18 G3 next to LA 2329 next year. It strikes me as having the most habrochaites like flowers of the hybrid lines. I would have this year I think if I could have tasted it in advance.

13

Tomatoes / Re: Arthropod and Insect Resistant Tomatoes

« on: 2021-09-25, 10:30:44 PM »

I picked some more berries yesterday from the Solanum galapagense LA 1410 that Andrew sent me my starter seed on a few years back. It went well this year I got quite a bit of seed from my ~7 plant clump which grew straight up and was self supporting. It has tiny flowers.

Andrew said he thought we should grow out the seed and distribute it. I said oh no, you would need an ounce. The thing is though you could grow far less because the seed is tiny. Some of it washes through when I try to rinse it. I bought some coffee filters but I forgot them at my parents place. Far better though to slowly rinse the seed by letting it sink and tilting the water out. Not sure how many plants you would need or how big. However I can grow an ounce of seed for a regular tomato variety with maybe ten to twenty plants normally. I suspect a similar ratio might be at play with galapagense for the same number of seeds if not the same weight.

The tiny flowers are a nuisance to work with though. Hardly produce any pollen.

I planted a few seeds the other day. Maybe in a couple months I'll have flowers and can make a cross with the four MMS x BH plants.

If not I have plenty of seed and I plan to surround an exserted stigma plant next year. Ideally a PL MMS x BH F2 but who knows?

Speaking of flowers the ones on the current plants frosted off- but the plants in main were fine. All those hairs may be mechanical frost protection. Intriguing no? The nearby plants were not fine and are about half dead.

14

Tomatoes / Re: Tomato Journal

« on: 2021-09-21, 10:02:08 PM »

Just decanted from fermentation and rinsed some Green Zebra seeds and put them on a paper plate to dry before bed. Tom Wagner told the story somewhere of his excitement at finding it for the first time some fifty plus years ago. I think we get to live that same moment every time we grow out an F2. Also a small portion of my garden survived this mornings frost.

15

Nightshades / Re: 2022 Pepper Growouts / Breeding Experiments / Ideas

« on: 2021-09-21, 08:41:37 PM »

I grew Canoncito last year. It was fun. I want to find something to cross with it. Saved lots of seed, which weirdly came from the transplants not my direct seeding experiment. I want to work with it more.