What Would be the Ideal Micro?

[oakley]

Budding in clusters. The acrid scent is heavenly. 11X-F4-6-2
Just about all the 6-7" are budding. All in tall 4" pots. (about 1/3 more volume
than a red cup). The taller ones, 10-12", are slow to show budding.

[KarenO]

Update on the slowpoke micro. Little brother is about 5.5 inches tall. Big brother is 16 inches. Teeny beginnings of buds on little brother so I expect it will bloom. The pace of growth has picked up in the little one but still very small in relationship to his siblings.

[Hatgirl]

Come on slowpoke! You can do it!
You may have discovered the first "nano" tomato

[Nan_PA_6b]

"Nano" tomato- I like that! Nanomaters. Beefsteaks, of course.

[dfollett]

Here are three that look promising - at this stage of the game. These photos were taken 53 days after planting the seeds.

Nightshade, the seeds I sent you will be siblings of these.



[oakley]

Going back to the original question without reviewing all the posts again...
I would say the ideal micro would be, well, micro, as in 8-10 inch max at the first
flower cluster set. My medium sized plants are flowering ahead of the 'mini's' and the
larger plants.
Like yours above are at 3-4 inches. Ideal? I think so. In hunting a full tray it is difficult,
and fun, to decide who gets potting up.
Pot size? Gallon max but 6-8 inch, (what ever that is), a volume like 3 red cups?...

No support needed, no toppling over. Self supporting to hold fruit on thick stems.
In a home, on a sunny window shelf, table, etc, needing extra support gets fussy, ugly,
and more than most want to deal with. House plants, hanging or free standing,
never really need support.

Good fun. A great winter project I recommend. A 72 cell tray or a 10-10 36 cell by hunting and
culling is a good use for that stagnant winter seed starting set-up.

[KarenO]

tallest are setting fruit. not micro at about 18" The medium one is blooming and setting fruit and much more rugose and compact but still about 12"and the little guy is budding at about 5 ". you would never think they were all from the same batch of seeds, all so different. Definitely fun to grow though.
KarenO

https://www.facebook.com/NorthernGar...33389516802238

[Cole_Robbie]

The Aztek that I like does need a little stake. The fruit are big for a cherry, and the plant I grew had a lot on it.

[NarnianGarden]

My Aztek is yet small, good to know it might need some staking..

[dfollett]

Originally Posted by KarenO

tallest are setting fruit. not micro at about 18" The medium one is blooming and setting fruit and much more rugose and compact but still about 12"and the little guy is budding at about 5 ". you would never think they were all from the same batch of seeds, all so different. Definitely fun to grow though.
KarenO

https://www.facebook.com/NorthernGar...33389516802238

None of mine from this same F3 and a sibling are not coming micro either. Makes me wonder if the "Sun Dwarf" gene is involved - they stay tiny only when they have lots of light.... The parents of these stayed under 12" outside last summer.

I think I'll do some trials this summer. I'll grow siblings from F5 seed of one of these that has disappointed me and keep some inside and grow the others outside. Perhaps, in order to find something that will work inside under lights or on a window sill, I won't be able to count on anything grown outside.....

[Hatgirl]

Originally Posted by dfollett

None of mine from this same F3 and a sibling are not coming micro either. Makes me wonder if the "Sun Dwarf" gene is involved - they stay tiny only when they have lots of light.... The parents of these stayed under 12" outside last summer.

I think I'll do some trials this summer. I'll grow siblings from F5 seed of one of these that has disappointed me and keep some inside and grow the others outside. Perhaps, in order to find something that will work inside under lights or on a window sill, I won't be able to count on anything grown outside.....

Hmm. How does the Sun Dwarf gene work - if you took a cutting and rooted it, you could grow the same genotype in different environments.

[dfollett]

Originally Posted by Hatgirl

Hmm. How does the Sun Dwarf gene work - if you took a cutting and rooted it, you could grow the same genotype in different environments.

This is all I know about it. This is from a different thread:

Originally Posted by Darren Abbey

The genes I was trying to think of are: "d" (for "dwarf") and "sd" (for "sun-dwarf"). "Sun-dwarf" refers to a trait that only shows dwarfing when there is a lot of light available.....

Great suggestion! Your approach would certainly make for a better test to see if that gene is at work..... Hmmmm...

[Nan_PA_6b]

Is there such a thing as a micro indeterminate? As in, it stays small but continues to produce?
Nan

[Labradors2]

This winter I grew Red Robin, Pinocchio and Yellow Canary.

Yellow Canary were the first to produce fruit and I thought the taste was great. Juicy and sweet! (I still have to taste a really ripe Pinocchio to see if it compares).

I do have to use a stake for RR and YC, just to keep the heavy load of fruit from toppling the pot.

I bought my Y.C. and P. seeds from Bunny Hop seeds.

Linda

[ddsack]

None of mine from this same F3 and a sibling are not coming micro either. Makes me wonder if the "Sun Dwarf" gene is involved - they stay tiny only when they have lots of light.... The parents of these stayed under 12" outside last summer.

I think I'll do some trials this summer. I'll grow siblings from F5 seed of one of these that has disappointed me and keep some inside and grow the others outside. Perhaps, in order to find something that will work inside under lights or on a window sill, I won't be able to count on anything grown outside.....

Dan, last fall, I trimmed back and brought into the house some of the very productive microdwarfs that were a nice compact size grown outdoors last summer. Once in the house, all they got was daylight from a south bay window. And we had many grey days without sun, and of course the shorter day length of winter. No doubt they would have done better with some artificial light to supplement. All the micro's developed very long internodes, and grew up around 24" and climbing - much taller than when outside. I had too much trouble fighting mildew, so ended up tossing them just before New Years. I believe lack of enough natural bright sun will affect any tomato plant into becoming unnaturally lanky. I experienced this with indoor plants from the Dwarf Project in previous years too.

I gave a couple of the fall outdoor micros to my sister, and she had the same result, even though she has a nice big sun room. The good news was that she continued to get a few ripening fruit and it was setting more blossoms. But hers had trouble with mildew also, so was tossed after the last ripe tomatoes were picked.