Just a word about the indeterminate early blacks.
Whiskeyjack F2 took the prize for earliness at 93 days from seed. There's a thread about it - taste test winner as well. Super sweet.
Skipper F3 came in earlier than the Rodneys at 107-111 days from seed.
This sibling line of Rodney is mostly large cherries (40 g) that is 2 locule fruit although I did get seed from one multi-locule purple this summer. They have a unique chewy and meaty texture as well as fantastic taste in both the brown and purple lines that emerged in F2. We grew out ten I think in total - 6 at the farm, 2 in my greenhouse and 2 outdoors. The foliage health of all of them except for one determinate plant was really outstanding in all locations.
Skipper fruit was not at its best this really hot sunny year, and the weakest of them in color and taste were in my greenhouse where it was hottest. The taste and sweetness intensity was weakened by the conditions afaict, so I believe they are at their best in cool temperatures. Still my personal fave since I do expect more of those cold conditions in future.
In all of the locations grown this year it was outstanding and long standing in terms of stem and foliage health. Rodney foliage health is decent but Skippers stood green and healthy when everything else in my yard was crushed by the wet and cold. They were outstanding in the farm greenhouse as well when other plants were defoliated with disease in hot and dry conditions.
Since I don't want to lose the health trait by choosing one fruit over another - and since many of them were as tasty and good as one another - I saved seed and hope to grow forward multiple types of 'Skipper' in the future. Here are some pics.
Whiskeyjack is the larger fruit, shown with a purple and brown skipper for size comparison on the black plate.
The others are Skippers, brown or purple, pointed or not.