Confession: My Tomatoes Taste Horrid

[drew51]

Originally Posted by joseph

One of the tomatoes got described as "Refreshing". Who ever called a tomato refreshing before? Like nobody, never!

Sounds like some of those hybrids you're growing can be described as such! Put me on thee list! If you ever decide to spread around.

[joseph]

Originally Posted by NarnianGarden

Do you ever intent to share those interspecies seeds here at TV?

As with everything I grow, I'm sharing widely, and as soon as even a hint of extra seed is available. My collaboration network has already had this seed for 1-2 growing seasons, and is doing great things with it. I'm really proud of the work they are doing. I expect them to be sharing seed this winter.

The number of seeds per fruit is low. I have already collected enough seed for myself and collaboration network, and still have about 3 weeks before frost, so I'm expecting to collect enough seed for sharing more widely.

Interspecies hybrids. Self compatible.


The earliest and most productive [Domestic X Solanum habrochaites]. I believe this is self-incompatible.


Sure a lot of flavors in [Domestic X S pennellii], even though the color seems iffy.

[Nan_PA_6b]

Self-incompatible means it will always be an outcross? Then the flavor and other traits will be changed for next season?

[NarnianGarden]

That is fascinating Joseph. I remember reading your posts about your work of making crosses, but cannot keep in mind which species are 'compatible' with each other and which one need an intermediator (?) for that to take place. You don't do the crosses in a test tube, but on an open field, I suppose? So how does one cross those species which don't naturally 'connect'?

[kurt]

Over the years,been following,put some fish,your clay and the micro valley,makes it a sediment bed,I live in brown soil,just a input.

[joseph]

Originally Posted by Nan_PA_6b

Self-incompatible means it will always be an outcross? Then the flavor and other traits will be changed for next season?

Yes, every seed will be a new F1 out-crossed hybrid in every generation. Hybrids tend towards producing 50% more fruit than inbreds or heirlooms. So they will be auto-generating hybrids. No manual pollination required.

I do not value stability and consistency in my garden. However for those that do, there are inbred varieties of other self-incompatible crops, such as tomatillos and spinach. The saying that "The fruit doesn't fall far from the tree" is applicable here. Offspring tend to bear a strong resemblance to their parents and grandparents. So if you start with great ancestors, you get great offspring, even if they are promiscuous.

The benefit I see from self-incompatible tomatoes, is that is makes it trivial to throw hundreds of thousands of genetically diverse F1 hybrids against problems like late blight, septoria, etc. And self incompatible tomatoes make local adaptation easy.

[joseph]

Originally Posted by NarnianGarden

That is fascinating Joseph. I remember reading your posts about your work of making crosses, but cannot keep in mind which species are 'compatible' with each other and which one need an intermediator (?) for that to take place. You don't do the crosses in a test tube, but on an open field, I suppose? So how does one cross those species which don't naturally 'connect'?

A few years ago, I made manual crosses in a greenhouse. Solanum habrochaites and S pennellii are semi-compatible with domestic tomatoes (can act as pollen donors). I also attempted unsuccessful crosses with more distant relatives.

I am currently growing the wild species, and the hybrids close together in the same field. There are lots of pollinators on the tomato flowers. Perhaps a few of the more unlikely crosses will show up eventually. Perhaps the wild species will cross with each other, and one of those can act as a pollen donor to domestic tomatoes.

I am still doing a bit of manual pollination, but undocumented. Mixes of pollen onto any flower with an exposed stigma. This year I expect to cull several hundred plants that are self-incompatible and have closed up flowers. That's a bad combination, since they can't get pollinated reliably.

The wildflowers in the foreground are promiscuous tomatoes.


A closeup. Too bad the camera munged the green and yellow. They are stunning in real life.