how to create seedless tomatoes?

[pinakbet]

I've bought slicing tomatoes (for the main purpose of seed saving) several times from different groceries and noticed that the big toms that I bought are seedless(or very fine under- develop looking seed specs)!

I found out that a local seed company here sells seeds of tomatoes that produce those seedless toms?

Any ideas how to breed those kind of tomatoes?

thanks

[amideutch]

There are OP/Heirloom varieties that have very few seeds and in some cases as I found out growing Ashleigh. Ami

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...light=Ashleigh

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...light=Ashleigh

[Marko]

pinakbet, do yours seedless tomatoes have some gel without seeds or is it all meat? I sometimes find tomatoes with gel, but no seeds or tiny under-develop seeds.
Ashleigh is all meat, it's hard to save seed from a single fruit because you don't get enough gel for fermentation.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by pinakbet

I've bought slicing tomatoes (for the main purpose of seed saving) several times from different groceries and noticed that the big toms that I bought are seedless(or very fine under- develop looking seed specs)!

I found out that a local seed company here sells seeds of tomatoes that produce those seedless toms?

Any ideas how to breed those kind of tomatoes?

thanks

One suggestion is to do what's already been done and that's to convert non-parthenocarpic varieties to parthenocarpic ones as Dr. Jim Baggett of Oregon State Univeriety, now retired did with several varieties.

He bred Oregon Spring and some others as parthenocarpics b'c of the cool springs in the PNW where pollenization can be difficult/

Short version...... if a variety is parthenocarpic it can set and develop fruits in the absence of pollen and with no pollen facilitating the fertilization of ovules in the tomato ovary ( seeds to be) there are no to very few seeds.

As for myself, I'd much rather grow varieties known to have few seeds if that were an issue for me, which it isn't.

[darwinslair]

There are a couple of varieties that have very few seeds. I have found Burpees Seedless tomato to be a complete spitter, so I am happy with the heirlooms that simply cannot be put into real commercial seed production due to how few seeds you get in relation to how many pounds of tomato you end up with. If you want a fairly common, uncommonly good tasting tomato with few seeds, try Amish Paste. Might be the best tasting paste tomato out there, and it beats most slicers for taste. I am partial to Terhune, but I am just getting that one out there these last few years and it is certainly not common yet.

Tom

[pinakbet]

Originally Posted by Marko

pinakbet, do yours seedless tomatoes have some gel without seeds or is it all meat? I sometimes find tomatoes with gel, but no seeds or tiny under-develop seeds.
Ashleigh is all meat, it's hard to save seed from a single fruit because you don't get enough gel for fermentation.

it does have gel with lots of tiny un-developed seeds.

Originally Posted by carolyn137

One suggestion is to do what's already been done and that's to convert non-parthenocarpic varieties to parthenocarpic ones as Dr. Jim Baggett of Oregon State Univeriety, now retired did with several varieties.

He bred Oregon Spring and some others as parthenocarpics b'c of the cool springs in the PNW where pollenization can be difficult/

Short version...... if a variety is parthenocarpic it can set and develop fruits in the absence of pollen and with no pollen facilitating the fertilization of ovules in the tomato ovary ( seeds to be) there are no to very few seeds.

As for myself, I'd much rather grow varieties known to have few seeds if that were an issue for me, which it isn't.

thanks for the info. I'm just curious how on how do they do breed such plants. if they can do it on tomatoes, i'm pretty sure that they can do it also on other nightshades as well.

Originally Posted by darwinslair

There are a couple of varieties that have very few seeds. I have found Burpees Seedless tomato to be a complete spitter, so I am happy with the heirlooms that simply cannot be put into real commercial seed production due to how few seeds you get in relation to how many pounds of tomato you end up with. If you want a fairly common, uncommonly good tasting tomato with few seeds, try Amish Paste. Might be the best tasting paste tomato out there, and it beats most slicers for taste. I am partial to Terhune, but I am just getting that one out there these last few years and it is certainly not common yet.

Tom

Thanks darwin. I think, or maybe, it is part of the seed company's marketing to developed that variety so that its customers will make a repeat order because customers won't be able to save seeds.

[pinakbet]

Originally Posted by amideutch

There are OP/Heirloom varieties that have very few seeds and in some cases as I found out growing Ashleigh. Ami

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...light=Ashleigh

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...light=Ashleigh

so there are heirlooms that produce few seeds too. thanks ami.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by darwinslair

There are a couple of varieties that have very few seeds. I have found Burpees Seedless tomato to be a complete spitter, so I am happy with the heirlooms that simply cannot be put into real commercial seed production due to how few seeds you get in relation to how many pounds of tomato you end up with. If you want a fairly common, uncommonly good tasting tomato with few seeds, try Amish Paste. Might be the best tasting paste tomato out there, and it beats most slicers for taste. I am partial to Terhune, but I am just getting that one out there these last few years and it is certainly not common yet.

Tom

And several folks showed cut halves of that Burpee tomato and there WERE seeds there. Gotta love Burpee.

Tom, I'm one of quite a few who don't consider Amish Paste to be a paste variety b'c it's too juicy and has too many seeds.

In the way back some folks named some varieties based just on the shape of the tomato and yes, Amish Paste does look like a large plum, possibly a paste.

But there's also Lillian's Red Kansas Paste which isn't a paste variety either.

Get my drift?

[dustdevil]

Monsanto probably knows how.

[Mischka]

From personal experience I can tell you that if you spray tomato blossoms with blossom-set spray, the developing fruits will have very few seeds, and in some cases, none.

The active ingredient in all brands of blossom set sprays is Cytokinin, which is a plant hormone.

Unless you have a specific need to reduce the number of seeds in your fruits, I would advise against using it.

[travis]

You might be interested in this
http://www.enotes.com/how-products-e...its-vegetables

Scroll down to "Research and Development" for the fast read.

[franzb69]

monsanto evil monster from hell.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by franzb69

monsanto evil monster from hell.

Dust, Monsanto may know how if they consult with the Petoseed folks and Franz, pretty please no seed political comments here at Tville involving Monsanto, Syngenta or all the other similar companies.

Thanks.

[Mischka]

Originally Posted by franzb69

monsanto evil monster from hell.

I'm no fan of Monsanto either, but if you wish to express your thoughts and feelings regarding their business practices, you are welcome to start a new thread in our Conversations forum, where it would be more appropriate. As Carolyn stated, political subject matter is off-limits in all forums here, so if you choose to discuss Monsanto, please refrain from mentioning any elected officials or political organizations (past or present) that have been involved with them, i.e. who ordered the dispersion of Agent Orange, etc.

Each forum here is designated by title to host topics which are relevant to it. In this case the topic is creating parthenocarpic tomatoes. Let's try our best to stay focused on it.

Originally Posted by travis

You might be interested in this
http://www.enotes.com/how-products-e...its-vegetables

Scroll down to "Research and Development" for the fast read.

Thank you for the excellent link, Travis. It was both an interesting and enlightening read.

[franzb69]

ok my apologies.