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#11
Cucurbits / Re: Watermelon Landrace (proje...
Last post by AndrewB - 2026-08-13, 07:51:28 AMWatermelons growing nicely. Got at least 10 growing and at least 4 different patterns. Lost a lot of seedlings that germinated, but we get what we get.
These plants on the end look productive and growing well. Oblong fruits. Look like they are Lofthouse Yellow Charleston gray descended! So maybe not 100% lost after all?!
Guess we get to find out! I think most of these will make it just before frost this year, so I'm not worried. Ironically one of the best crops for me this year.
These plants on the end look productive and growing well. Oblong fruits. Look like they are Lofthouse Yellow Charleston gray descended! So maybe not 100% lost after all?!
Guess we get to find out! I think most of these will make it just before frost this year, so I'm not worried. Ironically one of the best crops for me this year.
#12
OSSI / Re: OSSI Grant program, Offici...
Last post by Carol Deppe - 2026-08-12, 04:05:12 AMQuestion 3. I have several different plant breeding projects going. Can I submit multiple independent proposals?
Interesting idea. After a quick consultation with the rest of the OSSI Plant Breeding Committee we decided that each applicant may submit up to three independent proposals.
Question 4. Does Guam or other USA territories qualify me with respect to residence for this grant?
Yes. The restriction of the grants to USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand is not based on geology, ecology, or language barriers. It's legal. These countries do not have national lists or phytosanitary laws that make it impossible for independent breeders or seed companies to sell new varieties without paying the government more than independent plant breeders can usually afford.
Question 5. I spent many years as a plant breeder for a major seed company (not an OSSI partner seed company). Now I am doing plant breeding on my own. Do I qualify as an independent plant breeder for purpose of this grant?
Yes.
Question 6. If you propose hiring a company to do marker assisted selection (MAS) or gene identification in finished varieties you should include the name of the company you plan to use, whether the company will provide markers, and if not who will. You need to know these things before you can evaluate whether what you are proposing is possible. So do we.
Question 7. If you are proposing a project that involves seed increase subcontracted by you to be done by someone else, you should should make arrangements contingent upon your getting the grant and include that information in the grant. (OSSI does not make seed multiplication arrangements for you.)
Interesting idea. After a quick consultation with the rest of the OSSI Plant Breeding Committee we decided that each applicant may submit up to three independent proposals.
Question 4. Does Guam or other USA territories qualify me with respect to residence for this grant?
Yes. The restriction of the grants to USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand is not based on geology, ecology, or language barriers. It's legal. These countries do not have national lists or phytosanitary laws that make it impossible for independent breeders or seed companies to sell new varieties without paying the government more than independent plant breeders can usually afford.
Question 5. I spent many years as a plant breeder for a major seed company (not an OSSI partner seed company). Now I am doing plant breeding on my own. Do I qualify as an independent plant breeder for purpose of this grant?
Yes.
Question 6. If you propose hiring a company to do marker assisted selection (MAS) or gene identification in finished varieties you should include the name of the company you plan to use, whether the company will provide markers, and if not who will. You need to know these things before you can evaluate whether what you are proposing is possible. So do we.
Question 7. If you are proposing a project that involves seed increase subcontracted by you to be done by someone else, you should should make arrangements contingent upon your getting the grant and include that information in the grant. (OSSI does not make seed multiplication arrangements for you.)
#13
Tomatoes / Re: F1s for the People! 2026
Last post by Tim DH - 2026-08-10, 03:23:14 AMGetting to the exciting part of the season now, evaluating the new F1s.
These little fellows are SunvivaXTasteofParadiseF1 (I was trialling this outdoors as hopefully Blight resistant, however we haven't seen any Blight for a couple of years!) This is a good example of why I've got interested in truss architecture. What I suspect is that, because the fruit set is placing so little demand on the plant, the hybrid vigour is being expressed as excessive vegetative growth.
For comparison, at the other end of the spectrum, a determinate F1 (LatahXPolarStar) I got 6kg from one plant of this cultivar last year and here it goes again! I think here the balance might have swung the other way, not enough vegetative growth! The focus of next year's F1 project will probably be creating more early outdoor determinates.
These little fellows are SunvivaXTasteofParadiseF1 (I was trialling this outdoors as hopefully Blight resistant, however we haven't seen any Blight for a couple of years!) This is a good example of why I've got interested in truss architecture. What I suspect is that, because the fruit set is placing so little demand on the plant, the hybrid vigour is being expressed as excessive vegetative growth.
For comparison, at the other end of the spectrum, a determinate F1 (LatahXPolarStar) I got 6kg from one plant of this cultivar last year and here it goes again! I think here the balance might have swung the other way, not enough vegetative growth! The focus of next year's F1 project will probably be creating more early outdoor determinates.
#14
Tomatoes / Re: F1s for the People! 2026
Last post by Adrian - 2026-08-09, 04:39:07 AMSome variety low seedy can be very seedy with crossed fruits.
The fruits of andine cornue contains at normal time between 30 and 50 seeds by fruits.
I have found 140 seeds in the crossed fruit of andine cornue between canestrino di lucca x andine cornue.
Some varietys can giving the priority at the crossed fruit.
For my cross with pineaple, The crossed fruit was the more small of the bunch.
The fruits of andine cornue contains at normal time between 30 and 50 seeds by fruits.
I have found 140 seeds in the crossed fruit of andine cornue between canestrino di lucca x andine cornue.
Some varietys can giving the priority at the crossed fruit.
For my cross with pineaple, The crossed fruit was the more small of the bunch.
#15
Sweet Potatoes / Re: Breeding Sweet Potatoes (t...
Last post by reed - 2026-08-08, 07:42:26 AMI've mostly just been wandering around visiting with the sweet potatoes for the last several days. After much pondering and some great consultation, I think I have an idea on how to proceed next year.
I have those three clones that survived the easy bake cold frame incident growing together now semi-isolated from the others and want to expand on that idea next year. It will depend of course on what I find underground with all the newly sprouted plants at harvest time. Those seeds came last year mostly from the same original nine clones I had in the cold frame.
The survival of those three I still have isn't because of genetics. It's because I had taken some slips already and put them out early knowing they might get frozen, they didn't. When I forgot to open the cold frame that morning and it hit 85 F with bright sunshine all of the slips and all of the roots died. The slips were fried that evening, and I thought the roots might sprout more slips but within a week or so they all turned dark color and started getting soft.
Anyway, out of those almost 100 new plants I hope to come up with a few more of what I'll call breeding groups or compatible groups or something like that. Seeds from those three which I guess I'll call breeding group #1 will be saved separately from all the others, I may even separate those from each individual clone. I may or may not grow those seeds the following year. If I end up with more collections of three, I will only grow clones next year, no new seeds at all except for what might come up volunteer. I imagine there will be quite a few as both the in ground and in pots plants are terribly overgrown and intermingled. It will be near impossible to find all of the seeds and I don't intend to even try. I'll just watch for seedlings next year and move them appropriately away from the breeding groups.
I have close to twenty of my big tubs which can easily hold three plants so my breeding groups like the one this year will be sets of three different clones in the tubs and isolated from each other by forty to fifty feet. That's nearly far enough I think but there will also be such things as runner beans, dahlias and corn separating them. Any pollen sneaking in from one of the other groups will be minimal.
I'm going with three per group because I don't know the compatibility preferences of any one plant and I think it is possible that some plants might only be compatible with some other particular plant(s). Just two plants in a group have a higher chance of incompatibility, four plants make it overly complicated for continued work of eventually answering some questions about any particular plant(s) compatibility preferences. It's possible that self-pollinating plants could be identified as well but in the near term, I'm looking at narrowing it to polyculture but not mass polyculture, at least for a couple of years.
Assuming the breeding groups goes well, seed from those groups will need to be grown in 2028 to confirm that they reproduce acceptably true to type and continue to be cross-compatible. On second thought I will grow seed from breeding group #1 next year, it has a head start.
I have those three clones that survived the easy bake cold frame incident growing together now semi-isolated from the others and want to expand on that idea next year. It will depend of course on what I find underground with all the newly sprouted plants at harvest time. Those seeds came last year mostly from the same original nine clones I had in the cold frame.
The survival of those three I still have isn't because of genetics. It's because I had taken some slips already and put them out early knowing they might get frozen, they didn't. When I forgot to open the cold frame that morning and it hit 85 F with bright sunshine all of the slips and all of the roots died. The slips were fried that evening, and I thought the roots might sprout more slips but within a week or so they all turned dark color and started getting soft.
Anyway, out of those almost 100 new plants I hope to come up with a few more of what I'll call breeding groups or compatible groups or something like that. Seeds from those three which I guess I'll call breeding group #1 will be saved separately from all the others, I may even separate those from each individual clone. I may or may not grow those seeds the following year. If I end up with more collections of three, I will only grow clones next year, no new seeds at all except for what might come up volunteer. I imagine there will be quite a few as both the in ground and in pots plants are terribly overgrown and intermingled. It will be near impossible to find all of the seeds and I don't intend to even try. I'll just watch for seedlings next year and move them appropriately away from the breeding groups.
I have close to twenty of my big tubs which can easily hold three plants so my breeding groups like the one this year will be sets of three different clones in the tubs and isolated from each other by forty to fifty feet. That's nearly far enough I think but there will also be such things as runner beans, dahlias and corn separating them. Any pollen sneaking in from one of the other groups will be minimal.
I'm going with three per group because I don't know the compatibility preferences of any one plant and I think it is possible that some plants might only be compatible with some other particular plant(s). Just two plants in a group have a higher chance of incompatibility, four plants make it overly complicated for continued work of eventually answering some questions about any particular plant(s) compatibility preferences. It's possible that self-pollinating plants could be identified as well but in the near term, I'm looking at narrowing it to polyculture but not mass polyculture, at least for a couple of years.
Assuming the breeding groups goes well, seed from those groups will need to be grown in 2028 to confirm that they reproduce acceptably true to type and continue to be cross-compatible. On second thought I will grow seed from breeding group #1 next year, it has a head start.
#16
Tomatoes / Re: F1s for the People! 2026
Last post by Tim DH - 2026-08-08, 04:40:50 AMHappy Days!
The first fruit of what I believe to be Lillian's Yellow. Hopefully pollinated by what I believe to be Cherokee Purple!!
Aware of Roland's warning (back in 2023) that Lillian's Yellow is not particularly seedy, I've attempted the cross twice and the other fruit is also fattening up.
SO: I should have plenty of Craig's Gift F1 seed. I'll check that both lots ARE hybrid, by doing a seedling leaf test in the Autumn. Since Lillian's is potato leaf and Cherokee Purple is regular leaf, if the seedlings are regular it will prove they are hybrid.
Tim DH
The first fruit of what I believe to be Lillian's Yellow. Hopefully pollinated by what I believe to be Cherokee Purple!!
Aware of Roland's warning (back in 2023) that Lillian's Yellow is not particularly seedy, I've attempted the cross twice and the other fruit is also fattening up.
SO: I should have plenty of Craig's Gift F1 seed. I'll check that both lots ARE hybrid, by doing a seedling leaf test in the Autumn. Since Lillian's is potato leaf and Cherokee Purple is regular leaf, if the seedlings are regular it will prove they are hybrid.
Tim DH
#17
Tomatoes / Re: Montana Tomato Project
Last post by William Schlegel - 2026-08-07, 10:34:43 PMTomato season is gradually picking up. Most of my plants still seem to mostly have leaves and flowers with little fruit. However seven F1 lines are producing ripe fruit.
Line 523 is an F1 of 294 x PI129143 and it has precisely one small red fruit with anthocyanin shoulders. The F2 seed within has the potential to produce some really wonderful cherry tomatoes. Given that 294 is a fancy tasty green when ripe with anthocyanin skin and stripes. The specific plant this cross was made on was potato leaf- which I find a helpful marker for cross takes.
Line 523 is an F1 of 294 x PI129143 and it has precisely one small red fruit with anthocyanin shoulders. The F2 seed within has the potential to produce some really wonderful cherry tomatoes. Given that 294 is a fancy tasty green when ripe with anthocyanin skin and stripes. The specific plant this cross was made on was potato leaf- which I find a helpful marker for cross takes.
#18
Tomatoes / Re: Montana Tomato Project
Last post by William Schlegel - 2026-08-07, 10:23:18 AMIt is funny because I absolutely loved the graduate non-degree plant genetics course I took at Oregon State in 2011-2012 which was probably the culmination of genetics in high school, college, and reading plant breeding books like Carol's. Then in actual practice I just use the first principles. Very simple understandings like knowing that blue skinned tomatoes are likely a little bit partially expressed in the F1 and then segregate out in the F2 and subsequent years. In many ways a lot of my breeding is very simple. Though I do think I have grown out some F2's that were perhaps too large! If I did a little bit more planning I could have right sized my growing efforts. However, I also think that there is great value in some other techniques. As my skill at making crosses has gone up- and the number of my own crossed lines I'm growing as well. Now I think my new plan may be to grow a clump of each cross (maybe 10 or 20 plants of each line all in a clump), hope for a segregant I like- but also, I can cross with something like my line 303 that has already segregated back to one of the phenotypes I like- it is a blue bicolor potato leaf cherry. Then the odds are more in my favor that the cross with 303 will segregate back to that same phenotype in a small grow out. With my line 294 on the other hand, I want to do some larger grow outs of the F2 crosses with it. 294 has everything I want except for some genes from wild and indigenous tomatoes from mostly South America. So, my plan is simply to cross it with those and then get it to segregate back to its phenotype which is striped, green when ripe (with amazing flavor), and blue. When I crossed one of my blue bicolor lines with Brad's Atomic Grape to get 294 the F2 was amazing and had a lot of diversity. So, I know that once I get the 294 phenotype in a tomato that like 303 has everything I want, I can make lots of crosses with it and get a wide variety of fancy tomatoes in relatively small grow outs of each given line. I don't know if I stated that very clearly, but it is my plan to turn my 75 or so 50% or greater wild and indigenous lines into at least that many very fancy lines that meet all my criteria. Which can be summed up as: wild and indigenous x adapted x fancy x open source. Double crosses being necessary in all cases. This plan has gradually changed over the course of this project. For example, I've realized recently that one key thing of import is that I want my lines to contain at least 50% wild and indigenous genetics- and those mostly from South America. Last year's crosses made that a practical goal. Then my released lines and varieties should support the conservation of tomato genetic diversity for years to come while at the same time making the Montana tomato fancy and modern!
#19
Tomatoes / Re: F1s for the People! 2026
Last post by William Schlegel - 2026-08-06, 10:48:08 PMThat's very upsetting about the varieties not being kept true to type.
#20
Tomatoes / Re: F1s for the People! 2026
Last post by Roland - 2026-08-06, 01:00:25 PMI got the same, a regluar leave Lillians Yellow 