Vermont Short & Sweet Tomato Project

[Cathy A]

I planted my first tomato seeds of the season today, launching the Vermont Short & Sweet project. The goal is to identify or breed a variety that produces a large quantity of tomatoes suitable for both fresh eating and canning over as much of the Vermont growing season as possible.

The initial varieties started today were Uluru Ochre, Glacier, Siberian Red, and Alaska, about a half-dozen seeds of each.

Once these have a chance to germinate, I will start the next batch, including Sungold F2, Sub Arctic Plenty, Panamorous, and other types.

[William Schlegel]

Sounds great! I got a packet of Uluru Ochre to try this year for the first time.

[Steph S]

Nice project.  I look forward to hearing how they do for you.

[Cathy A]

All four varieties, Uluru Ochre, Glacier, Siberian Red, and Alaska, have sprouted at the same time and with similar germination rates.

I'll wait a few days to confirm these seedlings are getting well established, and then germinate the next batch.

[Cathy A]

Today I planted Earl's Jagodka (from seeds supplied by William), Exserted Orange (from EFN), and Wildling Panamorous (from EFN). I have seeds from other strains of Jagodka that will be tried later.

The Siberian Red and Uluru Ochre had the highest rate of conversion from seed to germination to seedling. I now have 3 Siberian Red and 4 Uluru Ochre that look like they will survive and develop.

Glacier and Alaska only produced one viable seedling each. I know that my germination methods and conditions are not ideal, but this still seems very low. I plan to try germinating more seeds from the same packs soon.

My typical procedure is to plant the seeds in potting soil, water well with a spray mister, seal the containers in ziploc bags, and place on the oil furnace in the dark. Once germination has clearly occurred, I move the containers under grow lights, giving them less warmth but much more light. I'm sure this technique could be improved, but I'd like to identify and breed strains that are tolerant to less-than-perfect seed starting techniques and conditions.

I can see that I am going to run out of space under the grow lights before I start the large number of varieties I'm hoping to trial.

[Cathy A]

Good initial sprouting on the Earl's Jagodka, Exserted Orange, and Wildling Panamorous.

Planted Sub Arctic Plenty, Sweet Cherriette, and some additional Alaska seeds today.

[Cathy A]

As part of the Vermont Short &Sweet project, I will need to cross domestic tomatoes with Wildling Panamorous.

Is there a preferred direction for the cross? Wildling Panamorous pollen on domestic stigma, or domestic pollen on Wildling stigma?

[William Schlegel]

As part of the Vermont Short &Sweet project, I will need to cross domestic tomatoes with Wildling Panamorous.

Is there a preferred direction for the cross? Wildling Panamorous pollen on domestic stigma, or domestic pollen on Wildling stigma?

The wild parents of the crosses that led to Wildling Panamorous only cross from wild to domestic. However that may likely not have carried over this far. I would attempt the cross both ways. I struggled last year to make crosses with the strain of Joseph's project I've been calling "The One!" For its good flavor. It was difficult to work with. The wild parents on the other hand produce more pollen and so are easy to work with as a pollen donor.

[Cathy A]

I'm already seeing signficant differences in germination rates and early growth rates. Some of the seed I am using is performing very well under my seed-starting conditions, others not.

Uluru Ochre produced three strong plants from the first batch planted 3/3. They are the largest and best-looking so far.

Siberian Red produced three strong plants from the 3/3 planting. If all three survive to transplanting, I'll give at least one away locally, but I usually lose some plants in the late indoor and hardening-off phases.

Alaska produced one reasonably healthy plant from the 3/3 planting, though it is not as large as the Uluru Ochre or Siberian Red plants. I added additional seed a few days ago and it looks like about four additional plants are on the way.

Glacier seeded 3/3 produced a single plant which looks large and healthy. It's potato-leafed, which I did not expect.

Exserted Orange from EFN seeded 3/15 had the highest germination rate of any seeds I tried. I count at least twelve small plants growing well. Some of these are going to be culled, because I don't have room to bring that many to the transplant stage given all the other varieties that need started.

Wildling Panamorous from EFN seeded 3/15 produce four plants that seem to be growing a little slower than the Exserted Orange. I'm planning give a lot of space to the Panamorous strain to create an outbreeding bed, so more plants here are useful.

Nevsky was planted only a few days ago and has already caught up in size to the Panamorous. Seven Nevsky plants have sprouted.

Sub Arctic Plenty was planted before the Nevsky, but the four plants that sprouted are growing more slowly and remain very leggy despite being under low grow lights. I have grown Sub Arctic before, so I know it will do fairly well outside in the garden.

Earl's Jagodka produced only one plant from the 3/3 sowing, and it is growing very slowly. It hasn't caught up with the Nevsky planted much later. I seeded a new batch of it yesterday 3/27 to see if I can get a few more plants.

Sweet Cherriette was planted 3/19 and only produce a single, tall and leggy plant. I will probably have to reseed to be assured of having at least one plant for the garden trial.

William's Mission Mountain Rising x Aztek Blue cross (F2) was planted only a few days ago and already has at least four tiny seedlings up.

Sungold F2 from my own saved seeds are struggling. I don't think I fully removed the protective layer, as some of the seeds were still stuck together when planting. About three or four have germinated, but I am seeing signs of fuzzy mold on some of the seed. I removed the moldy ones this morning, leaving the germinated, unmoldy plants to grow.

Krainy Sever was planted very recently and hasn't germinated yet.


Lessons learned:

I need to improve my end-of-season tomato seed technique to be sure I have dissolved all of the seed coatings and minimized pathogens and spores. I will try the bleach technique suggested by William.

There is a lot of variation both in germination rates and rate of early growth even a couple of weeks into the project. While some of this is probably random variation, much of it is likely genetic. It will be interesting to see how much of the early growth translates into being ready to transplant earlier, and how much is simply an initial burst of growth that then slows, letting other varieties catch up before transplanting.

This is why I start my tomato seeds so early despite last frost in mid-to-late May. I have found that I will lose enough plants to make reseeding necessary, so I allow time for that. By the time we get to early May, space under lights will be less of an issue as plants will start spending part of the day outside to begin hardening off.

[William Schlegel]

The Mission Mountain Rising is Mission Mountain Morning F1 x Aztek micro dwarf and should produce 1/4 dwarf seedlings. A percentage of those will be micro dwarf. I am very curious how it turns out. I have a lot of seed for it but I also shared quite a bit. It is 1/4 Big Hill, 1/2 Aztek, 1/8 Blue Gold, 1/8th unknown Lofthouse potato leaf, and also 1/8th Joseph's strain of Jagodka, 1/8th Hillbilly and of course 1/4 Mission Mountain Sunrise so it is a grandchild of my first generation of crosses from 2017.

[Tim DH]

Hi William,
   Converting all your fractions to a common denominator gives 2/8, 4/8, 1/8, 1/8, 1/8, 1/8, 2/8. .... a total of 12/8  ! .. Triploid perhaps?? (Only joking)

Tim DH

[William Schlegel]

Hi William,
   Converting all your fractions to a common denominator gives 2/8, 4/8, 1/8, 1/8, 1/8, 1/8, 2/8. .... a total of 12/8  ! .. Triploid perhaps?? (Only joking)

Tim DH

Parents and grandparents

Big hill is jagodka x hillbilly

MMM is big hill x mms

MMS is unknown lofthouse potato leaf x Blue gold

MMR is MMM x Aztek

[Cathy A]

Fascinating to see the difference in growth rates. All pictures taken today, March 31.

The first three shown were all started the same day, under the same growing conditions, in potting soil from the same bag.

Uluru Ochre


Alaska


Glacier

[Cathy A]

The next three were also planted the same day, 12 days after the first batch.

Earl's Jagodka


Exserted Orange


Wildling Panamorous

[Cathy A]

Sweet Cherriette appears to be struggling. Low germination, slow growth, leggy. this was planted March 19, and it doesn't look like one would expect after 12 days.

Sweet Cherriette