[Tom Wagner]

Do your pedigree tomatoes have names? Do you sell them?
What generations are they? Do you have any cool pictures of them?

Terry,
I need to realize that there are new members to this forum all the time. Perhaps there are members who need topical information on crossing tomatoes other than what has been posted previously over the years. My problem is that I need to keep it fresh for the older members to appreciate.

Do my pedigree tomatoes have names?

Yes and No.

All of my varieties and all varieties obtained from elsewhere receive a number unique to it once it get sown. That number carries on to the next generation when it gets an additional number based on sowing data. Even if it gains a moniker, the number carries along with the history.

For example; #7-41 5-11-94 represents the 41st plant saved from the seedlings of #7 of the sowing of May 11, 1994 of a field/direct seeding near Buttonwillow, California. The seed was an F-2 of the cross of Elberta Girl female to a male Brandywine from the F-1 plant grown in 1990. The F-3 seed was stored in part since 1994 until it was sown as #346 of 3-27-06.

Since only one plant was planted in the greenhouse near Carnation, WA., it was, by default, only listed as 346 and not 346-1 which would imply that more than one sibling was saved from that sowing. The plant exhibited the sought after recessive traits as a seedling, so only this plant was saved among the siblings. Upon fruiting the plant was further ID'ed with additional traits worth tracking.

What to cross it with?

Among several pollen parents used in crosses to 346 was
# 569 3-27-06 which was OTV. The hybrid was made--- seed extracted from the resulting fruit--- and the F-1 seed was sown as #8 3-23-07 which was yesterday.

The female was named from the 346 3-27-06 seedling as Elberta Wine. The hybrid seedlings with OTV will be somewhat variable for some traits but the seedlings will all be potato leafs.

This cross is what I call a half sibling intercross or a partial backcross to the Brandywine heritage since OTV is derived in part from Brandywine itself. The F-1 hybrid will not get a name since it is not uniform. The F-2 seed saved later this year will be inventoried until the seed in sown and selections made in the segregating populations. I rarely name a plant until the F-3 generation or later. Tomato clones can be stable from F-4 and F-5 lines but I usually check segregating filial populations for a few more generations. Most of the time, I feel fairly safe at F-7, but it has to follow single seed descent to be sure.

What generations are they?

My collection of breeding lines (with or without names) are anywhere from F-1 to F-51.

Do you sell them?

I sold tomato seed from 1983 thru 1986 with my Tater-Mater Seed catalog. Tater-Mater has been in R&D status since.

Do you have any cool pictures of them?

Very few of any quality. My wife has a digital camera but she hasn't let me use it on tomatoes yet. She is afraid I'll get green stuff all over the camera case! My camera is my memory. Each seed pkt. has sufficient descriptions as to jog my memory bank to a virtual recall.

Tom Wagner