An interesting breeding possibility

bower · January 4, 2013

Hi Dar,

I am delighted to say I have also gathered together quite a few early and cold tolerant varieties to trial in 2013. Glacier and Kimberley are on my list of small fruited earlies, and they sound very promising. I grew Stupice and Moravsky Div last year, and found them both to be great producers, setting full trusses in spite of cold nights. Stupice was vigorous and a very healthy plant. MDiv was earlier and more compact.

Another small fruited early variety I received in Heather's swap is Alaska. There wasn't much comment on the taste, but tolerance of windy conditions is mentioned. This might be relevant to the gene you're looking for to close stomata in adverse conditions.
I also found some old packets of Early Cascade F1, which was my standard years ago, it was a great tasting tomato with disease resistance breeding, so if I can germinate the old seeds I will grow it and perhaps cross with something. If not I'll look for the dehybridized version next year.

There was an idea in another thread, to grow an early standard like Stupice every year and use it as a reference clock for the DTM of others (ie Stupice + n days). I like that idea as a reality check on DTM's in different places and seasons.

Al Kuffa and Danko are two early determinates I'll be growing this year with larger fruit. AK is described as cold tolerant with a nominal DTM of 50 days and 3-6 oz fruit. My earliest (rated) indeterminates with larger than 4 oz fruit will be Break O Day (60-70) Siberian Red (55-70) Azoychka (60-70) Pink Berkeley Tie Dye (65-80) Pale Perfect Purple (65-80).

There was a very interesting thread going about earliness, last winter. I have a file somewhere of the notes and links to reading about cold-hardiness and earliness genetics which I will dig out soon and review. I seem to remember reading that 2 of 3 earliness genes were pleiotropic if not linked with small fruit size, and I think precocious flowering gene is one of those. But the third gene which is on a different chromosome doesn't affect fruit size. I reckoned the early larger fruited varieties might have that desired gene but may never be quite as early as the small fruited ones.
As regards the parthenocarpy gene, it may not be as bad as it sounds, as I believe I read it is simply due to an increased level of gibberelins/auxins which allows fruit to form even when not pollinated. Originally I thought they were 'seedless' as in sterile, but this doesn't appear to be the case. They set fruit with seeds when conditions allow it, but seedless fruit in extreme cold or heat afaict. I didn't get my hands on any of these varieties yet (Cold Set, Siletz and Oregon Spring are varieties with this gene, among others).
When I get a chance to find that file again, I'll post some links.

January 4, 2013	#11
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,793	Hi Dar, I am delighted to say I have also gathered together quite a few early and cold tolerant varieties to trial in 2013. Glacier and Kimberley are on my list of small fruited earlies, and they sound very promising. I grew Stupice and Moravsky Div last year, and found them both to be great producers, setting full trusses in spite of cold nights. Stupice was vigorous and a very healthy plant. MDiv was earlier and more compact. Another small fruited early variety I received in Heather's swap is Alaska. There wasn't much comment on the taste, but tolerance of windy conditions is mentioned. This might be relevant to the gene you're looking for to close stomata in adverse conditions. I also found some old packets of Early Cascade F1, which was my standard years ago, it was a great tasting tomato with disease resistance breeding, so if I can germinate the old seeds I will grow it and perhaps cross with something. If not I'll look for the dehybridized version next year. There was an idea in another thread, to grow an early standard like Stupice every year and use it as a reference clock for the DTM of others (ie Stupice + n days). I like that idea as a reality check on DTM's in different places and seasons. Al Kuffa and Danko are two early determinates I'll be growing this year with larger fruit. AK is described as cold tolerant with a nominal DTM of 50 days and 3-6 oz fruit. My earliest (rated) indeterminates with larger than 4 oz fruit will be Break O Day (60-70) Siberian Red (55-70) Azoychka (60-70) Pink Berkeley Tie Dye (65-80) Pale Perfect Purple (65-80). There was a very interesting thread going about earliness, last winter. I have a file somewhere of the notes and links to reading about cold-hardiness and earliness genetics which I will dig out soon and review. I seem to remember reading that 2 of 3 earliness genes were pleiotropic if not linked with small fruit size, and I think precocious flowering gene is one of those. But the third gene which is on a different chromosome doesn't affect fruit size. I reckoned the early larger fruited varieties might have that desired gene but may never be quite as early as the small fruited ones. As regards the parthenocarpy gene, it may not be as bad as it sounds, as I believe I read it is simply due to an increased level of gibberelins/auxins which allows fruit to form even when not pollinated. Originally I thought they were 'seedless' as in sterile, but this doesn't appear to be the case. They set fruit with seeds when conditions allow it, but seedless fruit in extreme cold or heat afaict. I didn't get my hands on any of these varieties yet (Cold Set, Siletz and Oregon Spring are varieties with this gene, among others). When I get a chance to find that file again, I'll post some links.