A few observations on recent crosses

**nctomatoman** · October 9, 2015

Such fun, this tomato crossing thing - especially when making the crosses somewhat wide and mysterious, and just playing a guessing game on what to expect, rather than digging deep into tomato genetics literature.

A few tidbits (growth is in progress, so this is just a fraction of the story to come)

Mexico Midget (the real one as I received it in 1990 from Barney Laman, tiny, probably a currant type - seems like lots of seed companies are selling a crossed version in which the fruit is larger than it should be) X Summertime Green (12+ ounce regular leaf clear skinned green when ripe dwarf). Summertime Green is an offspring of Green Giant X Golden Dwarf Champion. I am calling this family Teensy.

The hybrid is incredibly vigorous, large regular leaf foliage not at all like Mexico Midget. It is setting fruit in clusters of 5 or 6. Fruit thus far is about an inch in diameter, not completely round - the bottom is just slightly flattened. Probably a few weeks from ripeness. Just a bit of an idea what to expect in the F2 - and I will only focus on dwarf offspring.

Sun Gold (F1 hybrid) X Dwarf Beryl Beauty (potato leaf dwarf with 4-6 ounce clear skinned green fleshed when ripe fruit, faint pink blush on the blossom end. Dwarf Beryl Beauty is also an offspring of Green Giant X Golden Dwarf Champion. This is now the Burly family.

The hybrid is so distinctive - long gaps between foliage and blossom clusters, very large regular leaf foliage, a distinct purplish cast on the stems (much more pronounced than I've seen in the past on tomato plants). Fruit are in long cascading clusters of 8 fruit - long sepals, fruit are round to just slightly oval (a bit deeper stem to blossom end). Again - what to expect from this - since the Sun Gold parents (unknown of course) will be segregating out. Hoping for the Sun Gold flavor, but lots of colors and sizes possible - and will only be looking at dwarfs, with an eye toward potato leaf dwarfs.

I will share one more now, though I managed to get more than 20 to cross.

Speckled Roman X Dwarf Golden Heart (regular leaf dwarf with 4-8 ounce blunt hearts,, yellow skin, pale yellow flesh, a trace of a red swirl in the flesh on the larger fruit). The family for the heart is Anna Banana Russian X Roza Vetrov. I named this hybrid Speckly.

The hybrid is what you would expect, mimicking the Speckled Roman parent - weepy, weak looking droopy foliage, long sepals, fruit in clusters of 2-8, quite vigorous plant. Fruit shape is oval with a point (nipple) on the end, and looking like Speckled Roman instead of Golden Heart (so paste seems dominant over heart). I expect that the fruit, when it ripens, will have some light striping. The F2 is going to be lots of fun to play with on this one, and again, I will be focusing only on dwarf offfspring.

One of the widest crosses, in terms of possibilities in outcomes, is Speckled Roman X Wherokowhai (one of our potato leaf dwarfs which has large yellow/red bicolored fruit). The parents of that one are Lucky Cross and Dwarf Russian Swirl (another of our Dwarfs, which is from Orange Russian 117 X Golden Dwarf Champion). Due to the potato leaf, stripes, yellow/red swirl and choice of long paste or oblate, I think I came up with 32 possibilities (at least) for this one. The plant not as advanced, but the foliage is weepy, the sepals of the forming buds are long. This is called Worry.

I've not determined yet if I am going to get any of these into the Dwarf project yet, since we already have so much in progress work to finish.

If anyone wants to take a guess on outcomes of any of the above, I'd love to see what you think may be possible. Of course, flavor will be first and foremost - then visual interest, then yield.

Fusion_power · October 11, 2015

Remind me not to send you any more new toys. That vegibee has given you ideas.

lol

fortheshep · May 3, 2016

Interesting to see descriptions of some of the seeds that are on their way here. Don't know how much I will be able to do this year but thoroughly intrigued. Think I might have to grow out some of the Burly F1 just to see what they look like, and save some seed from them too. Thanks for letting me be part of this adventure.

**nctomatoman** · May 5, 2016

glad to have you on board! Just thankful that Patrina and I have such a great group of volunteers. I do apologize for not being around as much as I would like to be...I hope to get everything planted over the next week or so and will do a full report then.

Father'sDaughter · May 5, 2016

I missed this thread first time around. Yes, it'll be interesting to see what comes out of Speckly and Worry. I was especially excited about getting at least one potato leaf Worry dwarf.

October 9, 2015	#1
nctomatoman Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Hendersonville, NC zone 7 Posts: 10,385	A few observations on recent crosses Such fun, this tomato crossing thing - especially when making the crosses somewhat wide and mysterious, and just playing a guessing game on what to expect, rather than digging deep into tomato genetics literature. A few tidbits (growth is in progress, so this is just a fraction of the story to come) Mexico Midget (the real one as I received it in 1990 from Barney Laman, tiny, probably a currant type - seems like lots of seed companies are selling a crossed version in which the fruit is larger than it should be) X Summertime Green (12+ ounce regular leaf clear skinned green when ripe dwarf). Summertime Green is an offspring of Green Giant X Golden Dwarf Champion. I am calling this family Teensy. The hybrid is incredibly vigorous, large regular leaf foliage not at all like Mexico Midget. It is setting fruit in clusters of 5 or 6. Fruit thus far is about an inch in diameter, not completely round - the bottom is just slightly flattened. Probably a few weeks from ripeness. Just a bit of an idea what to expect in the F2 - and I will only focus on dwarf offspring. Sun Gold (F1 hybrid) X Dwarf Beryl Beauty (potato leaf dwarf with 4-6 ounce clear skinned green fleshed when ripe fruit, faint pink blush on the blossom end. Dwarf Beryl Beauty is also an offspring of Green Giant X Golden Dwarf Champion. This is now the Burly family. The hybrid is so distinctive - long gaps between foliage and blossom clusters, very large regular leaf foliage, a distinct purplish cast on the stems (much more pronounced than I've seen in the past on tomato plants). Fruit are in long cascading clusters of 8 fruit - long sepals, fruit are round to just slightly oval (a bit deeper stem to blossom end). Again - what to expect from this - since the Sun Gold parents (unknown of course) will be segregating out. Hoping for the Sun Gold flavor, but lots of colors and sizes possible - and will only be looking at dwarfs, with an eye toward potato leaf dwarfs. I will share one more now, though I managed to get more than 20 to cross. Speckled Roman X Dwarf Golden Heart (regular leaf dwarf with 4-8 ounce blunt hearts,, yellow skin, pale yellow flesh, a trace of a red swirl in the flesh on the larger fruit). The family for the heart is Anna Banana Russian X Roza Vetrov. I named this hybrid Speckly. The hybrid is what you would expect, mimicking the Speckled Roman parent - weepy, weak looking droopy foliage, long sepals, fruit in clusters of 2-8, quite vigorous plant. Fruit shape is oval with a point (nipple) on the end, and looking like Speckled Roman instead of Golden Heart (so paste seems dominant over heart). I expect that the fruit, when it ripens, will have some light striping. The F2 is going to be lots of fun to play with on this one, and again, I will be focusing only on dwarf offfspring. One of the widest crosses, in terms of possibilities in outcomes, is Speckled Roman X Wherokowhai (one of our potato leaf dwarfs which has large yellow/red bicolored fruit). The parents of that one are Lucky Cross and Dwarf Russian Swirl (another of our Dwarfs, which is from Orange Russian 117 X Golden Dwarf Champion). Due to the potato leaf, stripes, yellow/red swirl and choice of long paste or oblate, I think I came up with 32 possibilities (at least) for this one. The plant not as advanced, but the foliage is weepy, the sepals of the forming buds are long. This is called Worry. I've not determined yet if I am going to get any of these into the Dwarf project yet, since we already have so much in progress work to finish. If anyone wants to take a guess on outcomes of any of the above, I'd love to see what you think may be possible. Of course, flavor will be first and foremost - then visual interest, then yield. __________________ Craig

May 5, 2016	#4
nctomatoman Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Hendersonville, NC zone 7 Posts: 10,385	glad to have you on board! Just thankful that Patrina and I have such a great group of volunteers. I do apologize for not being around as much as I would like to be...I hope to get everything planted over the next week or so and will do a full report then. __________________ Craig

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

October 11, 2015	#2
Fusion_power Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Alabama Posts: 2,250	Remind me not to send you any more new toys. That vegibee has given you ideas. lol

May 3, 2016	#3
fortheshep Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Knoxville, TN Posts: 6	Interesting to see descriptions of some of the seeds that are on their way here. Don't know how much I will be able to do this year but thoroughly intrigued. Think I might have to grow out some of the Burly F1 just to see what they look like, and save some seed from them too. Thanks for letting me be part of this adventure.

May 5, 2016	#5
Father'sDaughter Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: MA/NH Border Posts: 4,917	I missed this thread first time around. Yes, it'll be interesting to see what comes out of Speckly and Worry. I was especially excited about getting at least one potato leaf Worry dwarf.