Percentage of takes

[IronPete]

Micro Toms are more of a novelty than anything serious taste-wise so they are a little bland. Cross them with Black Cherry mind you and I will personally buy the seeds from you, lol!

Tiny Tim is an early so it tastes good for an early. I haven't tried Red Robin but would expect it is the same as Tiny Tim.

That said taste varies with the individual. Try them all. Can't hurt. And lets face it, you could try all 3 in the same pot and still have room for marigolds, lol!

Hope this helps, Pete

[IronPete]

I hope this pic works out better than the last! This pic is Red Robin (in an 8' pot with marigolds for bug protection), a Micro Tom (see the little red fruit?) in a 4" pot and a Tiny Tim that is in the ground. The Tim is obviously biggest (they get up to 18" tall), followed by the Red Robin (they get up to 12" tall) and then the tiny little Micro Tom which averages 5-8" tall. I hope that helps! Pete

PS: Just previewed this and the photo has uploaded upside-down! No idea why. The pic was right side up when taken, when emailed to myself (to shrink it a bit) and in my file box. No idea what is going on here, lol!

[rjs55555]

The Red Robins are an ok cherry tomato, but when they are the only type you are getting they are excellent!

My main goal is a black cherry version of the RR. After that a RR x Sungold cross would be next. A black Micro Tom could be interesting. Any Black cherry that can be grown indoors would be a winner.

I have a RR x Sunburst Potato Leaf F2 from a supermarket tomato that looks successful. I will grow a plant once the tomato is ripe to make sure the cross took. This isn't a priority, but it had the most blooms at the time so I worked with that plant. Hopefully I get a good tasting yellow dwarf in a few generations.

There are others working on the the micro-dwarf crosses as well and I am excited to see what they come up with as well.

I think it is fun seeing what comes out of a cross. My wife thinks I am nuts but I enjoy these science experiments!

[IronPete]

My crosses are all accidents that arise from too little space. The tomato in my avatar is a striped oxheart that came from a red oxheart that crossed with one of Striped Cavern, Tigerella or Striped Zebra as all three are close. I have 8 of them isolated on a friends farm making my F2s. I also have a regular leaf plant that came from my Stupices. No idea who the father is (he slipped over the fence while I was fetching my gun and a preacher) but the toms look bigger than the usual Stupices. All fun! I'll never be a Tom Wagner but my little babies make me happy! Pete

[IronPete]

Someone must have turned that picture over for me so that its upright now. Thanks to whoever did that! Pete

[crmauch]

Originally Posted by swamper

Access to pollen is something that's limited me. I'd be interested in tips. I've had best luck with flowers that are just opening. I bought a vegibee last year but it didnt work miracles.

I clip sepals when emasculating and mark cluster with orange yarn. Add a label when pollinated, and try adding pollen on 2 consecutive days. If i get takes, i remove other fruit in the cluster. In a wet year I've seen sepals deteriorate.

Success rate varies tremendously with weather being the key factor. 50-90% but sometime a lot lower. Safely ripening is usually not a problem but anything can happen.

Why are you having trouble with access to pollen?

I am collecting and storing pollen from mature flowers and am getting decent amounts of pollen for using on crosses. Let me know if you're interested in my method (I at least have one and maybe more successful crosses thus far.

[crmauch]

I cannot guarantee my method (per percentage of takes), as I just started crossing, but I am much less frustrated than last year where I couldn't always get any pollen or the timing was off.

My new method depends on two factors: 1) the sacrifice (usually) of the male pollen donor flower, and 2) the documented general extended viability of nightshade family pollen if stored properly.

Method:
1) I will collect fresh pollen from fully open flowers using a electric toothbrush and a sunglasses lens. If I need more pollen or am not getting enough, I will pick the flower and take it inside my home. If picking more than one flower variety, make sure you're keeping them separated/labeled.

2) Either let the whole flower sit, or preferably dissect the flower and you have the stamen cone alone. Place on a small saucer or dish. Let dry for some hours.

3) When the cone is dry (if you dried the whole flower, you now have to remove the stamen cone.) pick it up by the narrow end with tweezers and hold it over your lens (or where ever your collecting pollen (hopefully small enough (see below)). I then gently tap the stamen cone with a toothpick. I usually get a significant amount of pollen (note - do not scrape the cone, as you will get a lot of non pollen stamen bits.)

4) Take lens, and place it in a small plastic seal-able container. I then place the drying packets from pill bottles in with the lens and then close the container. The container is then labelled as to pollen variety and date. It is then placed in the refrigerator.

5) When I need to pollinate, I grab the variety of pollen I want from the fridge, and go the garden. I emasculate the flower that is to be the female and then holding the lens carefully pollinate the pistil. I label the pollinated flower with aluminum tape and a small strand of sisal. I then place the lens back in the container, and return it to the fridge.

[bower]

I had trouble getting pollen last year in the cool days of fall, so this year it's pollen collection first. I'm collecting as Tom does, tapping the blossom against a hard surface, and collecting from as many blossoms as possible.
I have these little cannisters with a clear lid - someone gave them to me years ago and it seems they are perfect for pollen. I use the lid as the receptacle and cover it with the 'bottom', and label that. I can see through the clear lid if collecting from high blossoms and whether pollen is coming out or not. I collect extra polllen from the same plant into the same container on later days, and keep the containers stored in a cool place.

I'm finding that the maturity of the blossom does make a difference as to how much will be released, but also the temperature and time of day. In my greenhouse, between 11 am and 3 pm, pollen is easy to get from most varieties, if the temperature is above 70 F and there are blooms of different stages of maturity available on the plant. Our daytime high coincidentally is around 3 pm this time of year, and declines afterwards... I found it harder to get pollen at 4 pm and pretty much a wasted effort by 5 pm. Early mornings also have not been good pollen times here.

I use the method of dragging the pistil through the pollen on the hard surface.. There's a risk of breaking it if not careful, but it's helping me to recognize when the female part is ready - it forms a little knob on the end which is sticky and will leave a clear line through the pollen. If I don't see a good line of pollen taken up, I repeat the process the next day and again until I see it taken up.

I don't know what my percent success will be this time, but I'm cheating by trying to choose female parents which are reliable setters and not prone to dropping any blossoms.