Growing Celebrity F2...what should I expect?

[BackyardFarm]

My neighbor gave me some Celebrity tomatoes, I'm going to ferment three of them and save some seeds for next year just to see what happens.

Will it grow true?

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by BackyardFarm

My neighbor gave me some Celebrity tomatoes, I'm going to ferment three of them and save some seeds for next year just to see what happens.

Will it grow true?

No,it won't grow true at all. Seeds saved from hybrid varieties, such as Celebrity, with few exceptions, don't grow true.

Are you doing this just b'c you liked the taste of the fruits, and I ask about taste since you've never grown the F1 plants.

Just curious, and if taste alone I know there are many here who could make some suggestions about some hybrid varieties as well as non-hybrids that they know taste much better than do Celebrity fruits.

Carolyn

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by BackyardFarm

Growing Celebrity F2...what should I expect?

Even less flavor, if that's possible.

[BackyardFarm]

Ehhh. The flavor is better than a grocery store tomato but not by much. I'm not a huge fan but my neighbors sure love them.
They love Early Girl too...which is just ehhh to me as well.

I was wondering if it would taste better, produce less, be more susceptible to disease vs F1 etc. Just an experiment.

But if it tastes WORSE then these are going into pizza sauce tonight instead.

[ContainerTed]

I saved seeds back in 2008 and then planted them in my 2010 garden. They were pretty close to the original plant, but not close enough. I also grew the F1 from seed that year to make sure of the comparison. If I had to, the F2 was good enough (if you let it ripen) to make do. But it was not as good as the F1 fruit. I also grew Celebrity F! this past summer from a mature plant purchased from a vendor I trust to tell me what he is actually selling. The plant came from one of the Grainger County greenhouses I am familiar with. The fruit from it were extremely good. The plant and growth patterns and especially the fruit were what was to be expected.

I agree that the F2 seeds will not achieve the levels of the F1 Hybrid.

[travis]

What you should expect depends on whether you are growing F2 seeds from the older version of Celebrity hybrid tomato, or if you're growing F2 seeds from the newer Celebrity Supreme hybrid.

The newer version has uniform ripening, light green shoulders; and I think I remember it advertised as jointless pedicel (but I need to check that again to be sure).

Anyway, there are more recessive genetics in the Celebrity Supreme than there are in the older version of Celebrity, although seeds for both cultivars are available at this time. Some greenhouses and some commercial growers favor one of the versions over the other, so maybe you can find out which one you got the F2 seeds from.

[travis]

I cannot confirm my statement above regarding jointless pedicel, but until I find the reference, I can say for sure that the older Celebrity line has green shoulders, and the newer Celebrity Supreme has uniform ripening, light green shoulders.

Both seed lines have the same extensive disease resistances. Both are listed as determinate, although I think of Celebrity as semi-determinate, but have never grown Celebrity Supreme, so do not know whether it's truly determinate or semi-determinate.

[Captain Neon]

I grew a Celebrity in a pot on my patio. Nothing special, but it sure was convenient for my wife to snag a few tomatoes for whatever vs. loading up two little boys into the car and going to the community plot. I took a second job in late August and the community plot was all but abandoned.

[ContainerTed]

Here's a picture from my 2008 garden that shows the Celebrity I grew.