Micro-tomato crosses - Page 23

ChrisK · October 7, 2015

Awesome! Be sure to post pix and tasting notes. Dan has done a great job shepherding this cross for me! Hoping we can be sure of stability in 2016 for a naming and distribution in 2017.

AdrianaG · October 7, 2015

Is there an accepted identification system I should use for each of my 3 seedlings? Numerical? Alpha?

dfollett · October 9, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdrianaG

F5, here we go! Thank you Dan Follett for hooking me up with MMF-8 and MMF-10 seeds.

Sowing date - 10/6/15
Seed starting system - Promix on capillary mat, LED light, heat mat (garage)
Grow-out system planned - Earth Box with fluorescent (in house)

Does anybody have experience with Micros in Earthboxes? My plan is put 3 plants per Earth a box (2 in back, 1 centered in front. I do not plan to use the EB fertilizer system, but rather willincorporate Happy Frog tomato fertilizer as if they were potted plants. Thoughts?

Three in an Earthbox should work fine. I wouldn't put any more than that. Make sure you have a way to support them, as they definitely require support once they start to set fruit. They are very sturdy plants, but the sheer number of fruits weight them down.

From my limited experience, they get significantly larger inside under lights than they do outside in direct sun. They don't get leggy by any means. Their leaves are darker and larger. Outside in bright sunlight, they stay much more compact. In fact, the clusters of fruits are so tightly packed together it is quite difficult to pick a ripe one in the center without causing problems with the others. I haven't had that problem with those grown inside.

This photo shows leaves from one grown inside under lights (in a south facing window) compared to leaves from plants grown outside in direct sun. They were planted the same time and I selected the largest leaves I could find from a dozen outside plants. The middle leaves are from the inside plant. The outside plants topped out at around 12". Those inside ranged from 14" to 24". The inside plants also had more production and held up much better over time. Apparently they like to be coddled somewhat. I'm eager to see your results.

I don't know anything about Happy Frog fertilizer (I use timed-release Osmocote in the pot I plant them in). I think I under-fertilized the first bunch I grew. After they had fruited very heavily, the last batches of fruits of several of the plants diminished significantly in size.

Enjoy! I'm eager to see your results.

AdrianaG · October 20, 2015

10/20 follow-up. At 14 days I have 4 out of 6 seeds germinated, 2 MMF-8 and 2 MMF-10. One of the 4 seedlings is way ahead, 2 of them germinated after 10+ days. I can tell these babies are going to grow slooooowwwly!

AdrianaG · October 21, 2015

3 out of 4 seedlings are "helmet heads", is this typical of this cross? I am working on Carolyn's Saliva Treatment, hopefully I can remove them.

Zenbaas · October 21, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdrianaG

3 out of 4 seedlings are "helmet heads", is this typical of this cross? I am working on Carolyn's Saliva Treatment, hopefully I can remove them.

Carolyns Saliva treatment?

dfollett · October 22, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdrianaG

10/20 follow-up. At 14 days I have 4 out of 6 seeds germinated, 2 MMF-8 and 2 MMF-10. One of the 4 seedlings is way ahead, 2 of them germinated after 10+ days. I can tell these babies are going to grow slooooowwwly!

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdrianaG

3 out of 4 seedlings are "helmet heads", is this typical of this cross? I am working on Carolyn's Saliva Treatment, hopefully I can remove them.

A few show up like the middle one on the right in your photo in post above where the tips of the two cotyledons are attached to the seed - maybe one in 15 or so. Just a careful quick pinch of the seed shell removes it. I don't consider them true Helmut heads. To me, Helmut heads don't show any significant cotyledon at All, just a seed shell on top of a stem. They are almost impossible to salvage. If you have problems, let me know and I'll send more seed.

AdrianaG · October 22, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zenbaas

Carolyns Saliva treatment?

Over on an old Gardenweb thread Carolyn recommends putting saliva on the stuck seeds and trying to remove the stuck seed coats gently after an hour or so. She said the enzymes in saliva will help to loosen them.

Zenbaas · October 22, 2015

Thanks Adriana.

Adriana · October 22, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by dfollett

A few show up like the middle one on the right in your photo in post above where the tips of the two cotyledons are attached to the seed - maybe one in 15 or so. Just a careful quick pinch of the seed shell removes it. I don't consider them true Helmut heads. To me, Helmut heads don't show any significant cotyledon at All, just a seed shell on top of a stem. They are almost impossible to salvage. If you have problems, let me know and I'll send more seed.

I may have misused the term helmet head, yes what I have are cotyledons pinched by seed hills. I do not dare pinch off for fear of decapitation. I will do several rounds of saliva enzyme treatments today. At some point I may use embroidery scissors and snip them off. I have extra seed so I can start another batch if need be.

AdrianaG · October 22, 2015

Score 3:3 on the Saliva Treatment. I got all 3 seed hulls off without damaging the seedlings. The smallest one, however seemed to have a dead cotyledon from the entrapment(if you look real closely you can see it in the back row.). I put a heavy drop of saliva on each seed hull and about 15 minutes later used a skinny curved knife blade to remove the hulls. On the two bigger plants I went up between the seedlings being super gentle to avoid decapitation. The smallest one I worked from the side with the seed hull against my finger.

dfollett · October 23, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdrianaG

10/20 follow-up. At 14 days I have 4 out of 6 seeds germinated, 2 MMF-8 and 2 MMF-10. One of the 4 seedlings is way ahead, 2 of them germinated after 10+ days. I can tell these babies are going to grow slooooowwwly!

They definitely will grow slowly, but they should MATURE normally. You will find it interesting when you see blossoms on 2"-3" tall seedlings. Here is what they could look like when they reach 12" in height:

ChrisK · October 24, 2015

Some F5s of Heirloomtomaguy's selections. Starting to flower!

Adriana · October 24, 2015

Chris when were the seeds sown?

ChrisK · October 24, 2015

Sometime around Sept. 1.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adriana

Chris when were the seeds sown?

October 7, 2015	#331
ChrisK Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 1,448	Awesome! Be sure to post pix and tasting notes. Dan has done a great job shepherding this cross for me! Hoping we can be sure of stability in 2016 for a naming and distribution in 2017. __________________ Blog: chriskafer.wordpress.com Ignorance more frequently begets knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science. --Charles Darwin

October 24, 2015	#344
Adriana Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: North Georgia Posts: 99	Chris when were the seeds sown? __________________ Adriana Gutierrez

October 7, 2015	#332
AdrianaG Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Georgia Posts: 153	Is there an accepted identification system I should use for each of my 3 seedlings? Numerical? Alpha?

October 21, 2015	#335
AdrianaG Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2015 Location: Georgia Posts: 153	3 out of 4 seedlings are "helmet heads", is this typical of this cross? I am working on Carolyn's Saliva Treatment, hopefully I can remove them.

October 22, 2015	#339
Zenbaas Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2015 Location: South Africa Posts: 340	Thanks Adriana.