Sharing tomato seeds

[Alex]

Hi guys,
Who shares their tomato seeds? I am interested in any wild tomatoes and their hybrids.
Solanum cheesmaniae, Solanum galapagense failed to germinate, but no more seeds. How to germinate them? These two are the most difficult.
Who would like to send it to me?

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I germinate Solanum cheesmanae and Solanum galapagense just like regular tomato seeds. I have selected for a decade for varieties that germinate easily without any special treatment.

[William Schlegel]

By contrast I follow the TGRC germination protocols on those two.

https://tgrc.ucdavis.edu/seedgermination

I would not expect mine to germinate well without them. You get what you select for, but also selection narrows down the germplasm in an accession. So I've opted not to select differently than TGRC does.

Fresh seed helps alot though!

I have hybrids with galapagense. I think they may have happened at HR seeds though I was able make a hybrid with the hybrid. So 25% and 50%.

[Adrian]

I don't use scalpel for removing the seed coat but i use the sand paper.I don't know if its more precise.

[Justin Jardinier]

By contrast I follow the TGRC germination protocols on those two.

Just to give some more feedback on this - I found some seeds of galapagense and cheesmaniae germinated without bleach, but bleach did improve germination rates, even when using a much more dilute solution than the TGRC recommends and just for half an hour. I did not however do any extensive germination tests with varying dilutions and times, which could be quite interesting. I also found bleach helping for some other wild species. William gave me a nice tip which I'll share here - if germination is not happening without bleach, you can always bleach those same seeds that haven't been germinating. I also did this with good success, germinating seeds I had almost given up on!

I also love Joseph's idea of selecting against that need. For SC seeds, given large seed quantities I would want to do that. I might do the same given large enough seed quantity of SI seeds too but especially for smaller quantities I think like William said, preserving genetic diversity is important if you want any sustainability in the population. Also one way to protect at least some of that diversity which might be lost even in a large SI seed population, could be to make controlled crosses between each plant, then germinate each controlled cross as a separate batch. Selecting for easily germinating seeds among those would at least allow for selection of equal numbers of plants from each cross (and if necessary, using bleach for any cross that didn't germinate seeds naturally). This still may cause genetic loss but it should be minimised to some extent at least.

[William Schlegel]

I would use the full-strength protocol. It might help disinfest virus off the seeds spread by the whiteflies Alex is fighting. Might help you keep just far enough ahead of the virus to keep your breeding stock alive.
 
Alex: I would suggest starting a thread about your tomato breeding project and explaining some more details about where you are and what you are trying to achieve. I suspect your project is really interesting and a lot of people would like to know more about it. I think it would help folks to understand what tomato varieties might help with it.

[Alex]

I am successfully growing S.cheesmaniae x unknown S.lycopersicum (natural hybrid from Galapagos Islands). But it is susceptible to whitefly. Another problem is ants, they eat my tomatoes. They do not eat this hybrid.

[Nicolas]

Also setting your location in your profile will help

[Alex]

I got S.cheesmaniae from Joseph and S.galapagense from William. Thank you, guys.

[Alex]

I have successfully germinated all the seeds you sent me. S. galapagense only sprouted 2 out of 19 seeds, I hope it survives. Thanks a lot.

[Cathy A]

By contrast I follow the TGRC germination protocols on those two.

Do you do the 30 minute bleach soak, or the 60 minute soak?

[William Schlegel]

Do you do the 30 minute bleach soak, or the 60 minute soak?

I follow the TGRC protocol by species.

[Alex]

The S.cheesmaniae population of Joseph died, unable to withstand the hot climate, although it is only spring, summer will be even hotter. This population has lost its heat resistance.

[Justin Jardinier]

The S.cheesmaniae population of Joseph died, unable to withstand the hot climate

How can you be sure it was due to heat, not some other factor?

[William Schlegel]

Confounding variables are a problem in observation but also maladapted is maladapted. Do other Solanum cheesmaniae accessions that did not spend generations adapting to a northerly high elevation short season climate retain their vigour?