Montana Tomato Project

[William Schlegel]

I believe I just put an adequate supply of #651 seed in to ferment in order to get a really decent population size in 2027. 651 is LA0410 x 294. The fruits have half strength anthocyanin, faint striping, and are red and of a good size. Most remarkably they have superior flavor in the F1!

I think the F2 will be a lot of fun. Not quite as exciting as the Mission Mountain Morning x Brad's Atomic Grape F2 that led to 294 but I think I can expect some excellent flavor, color, and fruit variations.

[William Schlegel]

Saved Seed 08-30-2026

298
F3?
Small
Ok
Is a blue bicolor MMM X PZ X MMM X PH5

523
F2
Large Packet
More
294 GWR Antho Stripes x PI 129143

533
F2
Medium
Ok
EO X ET x LA0410

544
F2
Medium
Ok
310 Yellow Bicolor Good Flavor X 129143

550
F2
Large
Ok
321 Sunviva X X LA 1385

551
F2
Medium
Ok
321 (Sunviva X) X 129143

569
F2
Large Packet
More
339 Blue Bicolor Dwarf from Promiscuous Project Cross Best Flavor x LA1385

570
F2
Medium
Ok
339 mild x 129143

583
F2
Large
Ok
365 Blue Yellow Heart Reed Collaboration with some Purple Zebra x 129143

587
F2
Medium
Ok
4-124 x 129143

610
F2
Small
Ok
499 (Dwarf Moby's x 303) Yellow Antho x LA0410

623
F2
Large
Ok
501 Blue Bicolor x LA0410

635
F2
Small
Ok
515 (358 (Payette x MMM x Sweet Cherriette)X 319(MMM x Galapagense X X MMM X LA2329))Antho Bicolor x PI 129143

636
F2
Small
Ok
5-66 orange? X 129143

643
F2
Medium
Ok
Fisher's (Benewah x Beefmaster) x EO X PI 129143

649
F2
Large Packet
Ok
LA0410 x 284 gonna be red

650
F2
Small
Ok
LA0410 X 286

651
F2
Medium
More
LA0410 X 294 has light stripes and antho and excellent flavor

654
F2
Small
Ok
LA0410 x 339

655
F2
Medium
Ok
LA0410 x 366 Dwarf

659
F2
Small
Ok
100%

662
F2
Medium
Ok
Marchenengel x LA1385

663
F2
Medium
Ok
Matt's Wild x 314

664
F2
Medium
Ok
129143 x 283

665
F2
Medium
Ok
129143 x 303

669
F2
Small
Ok
SH13 X LA 1385

Sunsugar
F2
Small
Ok

[William Schlegel]

https://victoryseeds.com/products/dwarf-eagle-smiley-tomato?srsltid=AfmBOoqLVjpXxoK-dSaOlwKFlYFMeeN1yxVzsA_Y4ayOGsJ2VEtkjOtE

I was wondering how my crosses between my green when ripe 294 line and red wild and indigenous tomatoes might segregate next year. I was also wondering about a larger question of which tomato crosses might result in maximum morphological diversity. So I searched for examples from the dwarf tomato project.

Dwarf Eagle Smiley is Summertime Green x Mexico midget. So likely I can add yellow to the array of expected segregants I'll see next year.

[William Schlegel]

Cross takes 2026

294 RL round x Punta Banda large
294 x 390717 very small
294 x 128445 large
294 x 158164 very small
129129 x 303 small
Andrew's pimp x 303 small
PH5 x 303 large
Chiapas x 303 large
Galahad x 129143 large
Stupice x LA1385 small
Black Cherry x LA1385 small
Texas wild cherry x 303 medium
294 PL plum x Punta Banda large
298 x Lyc859
298 x 390714
576 x 303 large
523 x 303 large
569 x 303 medium
550 x 303 large
662 x 303 large
669 x 303 large & small
655 x 303 large
587 x 303 large
635 x 303 large
667 x 303 large
Galx x 303 large
656 x 303 medium
650 x 303 small

Hopefully frost waits for these cross takes

It's supposed to freeze tonight. I picked green about 16 of these crosses. They may yet ripen and have viable seeds. Or some of them may. It's also possible I lost some out in the garden. They are close to 6 weeks old.

[William Schlegel]

I asked AI Copilot what fruit morphologies I might be missing in my program for a step after next. It suggested I had most possible morphologies already but that Brandywine, San Marzano, and L. Piriforma (pear shape) all already in my collection would complete things. It also suggested Geranium Kiss and microdwarfs but I think those are for plant morphologies. I would substitute BrandyFred for Brandywine though as it is already an OSSI dwarf. I am not entirely sure about said AI advice vs. an analysis I could make myself or advice from others. I agree that I need some kind of pear. Though I also want to breed in some of the traveler's tomato type at some point.

On another note, I am interested in using more of the varieties I've obtained from Triple Divide Seed Coop and curious if I should get packets of the few that I don't have. I've already made crosses with a few. They carry Stupice so I made three crosses last year with Home Stoop an OSSI tomato descended from Stupice. I've made a past cross with Idagold- though it might be extinct. I've also made past crosses with Glacier and with Flamenco itself a Silvery Fir Tree cross. I have but still need to make crosses with Mandarin Mini, Pink Princess, Golden Princess, Ararat Flame, Northern Ruby Paste, Tigerella, Black Cherry, and Juanne Flamme. I have yet to obtain Black Russian, Peace Vine, or Raspberry Lyanna. Though I do have a considerable back log and seem to be running lower on time and energy for big tomato gardens. Still future goals!

[William Schlegel]

Finally saving seed for correctly colored #303 tomatoes a antho blue bicolor. Not a cherry tomato its surprisingly about the same size as 339. Fun thing, it seems to have some parthenocarpic fruits.

[Carol Deppe]

Congratulations!
I like tomatoes that are the right size to eat out of hand. Not cherry tomatoes.
OSU vegetable breeder Jim Baggett bred parthenocarpic tomato varieties to get earliness. However, there are varieties that are earlier than his that are not parthenocarpic. I suspect that the earliness-limiting factor(s) in tomatoes is/are not fruit set. So the main thing parthenocarpy gets you is more difficulty saving or producing seed. In Willamette Valley we can save seeds of parthenocarpic Baggett varieties by just planting late. That may not be an option in Montana.

[William Schlegel]

Thank you, I suspect this was heat induced parthenocarpy from our long 2026 heat wave. I hadn't previously noted any parthenocarpy in it or it's parents. Though I suppose there is always the possibility of a undetected cross with a related line. We have noted parthenocarpy before in Joseph Lofthouse's promiscuous project descendants including individuals of #339 which shares most all of the same domestic parents including the tomato Joseph calls Brad, Jagodka, and Hillbilly. In my lines domestic parents also include Blue Gold. #339 is interesting because it's a rugose dwarf but apparently arising independently. The wild parents of #339 are Joseph's crosses with habrochaites and the penellii cross Andrew Barney introduced into the project.

Jim Myers came out to a field day of the Triple Divide Seed coop once that I attended. One of the growers was trying to grow the OSU parthenocarpic cherry Gold Nugget and its seed content was abysmal for seed production.

In recent years Triple Divide has adopted the OSSI pledged Pink Princess and a yellow segregate from it they are calling I think Golden Princess. There are a couple other varieties from the same Sunsugar F1 dehybridization project. I attended a recent field day and one of the growers was asking me about the parthenocarpy in it they had noted. Concerned about seed production. It's an incredibly sweet cherry tomato. It's also interesting that parthenocarpy can come from Sunsugar F1. I attempted some Sunsugar crosses this year and ended up with a oddly shaped dropped fruit with two seeds that may be a cross with one of the indigenous tomatoes from Native Seed Search named Punta Banda. Not sure if I'll be able to tell if the seedlings that result are hybrids for sure though. Though the odd shape of the fruit and it containing only two seeds make me think it was a cross as those sorts of things occasionally happen when hand crossing- also it looked kind of familiar.

When I took Jim Myer's online organic plant breeding course a couple of winters ago he incouraged me to make some crosses with Jim Baggett's parthenocarpic tomatoes because of the shortness of season here and I've intended to I just haven't yet managed one. So it's interesting to see the trait kind of pop up on its own. Though the tomato I've been most impressed by of those, that I've tried, is Siletz because it sets large tomatoes early. I'm not sold on parthenocarpy but I'm not seeing a need to exclude it entirely from my breeding program. Though the fact that I've used #303 and it's domestic parents in perhaps most of my breeding lines could mean that if it shows up in 303 it could show up in lots of its descendant and part sibling lines at some future point.

[William Schlegel]

I just picked a Sunsugar x Mexican Midget cross off the same Sunsugar plant previously mentioned with the possible Punta Banda cross. The garden in the backyard has yet to freeze. It is still green but I think it will ripen with the other crosses. Given that Pink Princess is parthenocarpic and a Sunsugar Dehybridization it may also have that trait amongst its offspring.