Interested in Growing a Multiflora Dwarf?

[Barb_FL]

Dan - In the fall I grew 21x-F2-1 - I think I posted pics at one point. Anyway, this was an excellent red cherry dwarf plant. Probably peaked at 3', great taste, multiflora solid red tomatoes. Ripe tomatoes had great vine and shelf life. I would definitely grow again and have saved seeds.

I'm tempted to start some of my saved seeds even though this is very late for us. Everyone I gave tomatoes to loved it. Tomatoes were slightly larger than average size cherry but not ping-pong ball size.

Do you want any of my saved seeds or should I just keep going with it? I liked it a lot better than last springs 13X-F3-2.

Also, in the MMMM swap I got 11/12x-F3-3. Any idea what it is?

[dfollett]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Dan - In the fall I grew 21x-F2-1 - I think I posted pics at one point. Anyway, this was an excellent red cherry dwarf plant. Probably peaked at 3', great taste, multiflora solid red tomatoes. Ripe tomatoes had great vine and shelf life. I would definitely grow again and have saved seeds.

I'm tempted to start some of my saved seeds even though this is very late for us. Everyone I gave tomatoes to loved it. Tomatoes were slightly larger than average size cherry but not ping-pong ball size.

Do you want any of my saved seeds or should I just keep going with it? I liked it a lot better than last springs 13X-F3-2.

Also, in the MMMM swap I got 11/12x-F3-3. Any idea what it is?

Keep going with it. It sounds very much like its mama (21X-F1-1), which I really liked. The F1 was very multiflora, productive and reached 36" inside for me. Send me some seed when/if you get something closer to stability or if you decide not to keep going with it. 21X was a back-cross of an F1 back to its mama. Does that mean it will stabilize more quickly from the F1?

The grandpa is Dwarf Firebird Sweet, which hasn't been released yet, but has large, tasty,attractive, red w/yellow striped fruit. It would be great to see it spin off an equally tasty striped one. Keep going and keep us posted.

As for 11/12X-F3-3, I thought I put a description on each packet I sent in. I put a lot of seed in each packet, perhaps some were repackaged. That one was sent in the micro category. The 11/12X is because I accidentally mixed some F1 fruit from both crosses in one batch of seeds and decided not to throw them out.

The F2 (11/12-F2-3) was PL with very large leaves on a tiny plant (5" leaves on a 12" plant). The first note I made about it was "kinda weird". It was extremely bushy, very multiflora, very productive, had red cherry fruits and only reached 12" in height. It was as wide as it was tall.

Hopefully, it will be fun to grow....

[Tormato]

Originally Posted by dfollett

Keep going with it. It sounds very much like its mama (21X-F1-1), which I really liked. The F1 was very multiflora, productive and reached 36" inside for me. Send me some seed when/if you get something closer to stability or if you decide not to keep going with it. 21X was a back-cross of an F1 back to its mama. Does that mean it will stabilize more quickly from the F1?

The grandpa is Dwarf Firebird Sweet, which hasn't been released yet, but has large, tasty,attractive, red w/yellow striped fruit. It would be great to see it spin off an equally tasty striped one. Keep going and keep us posted.

As for 11/12X-F3-3, I thought I put a description on each packet I sent in. I put a lot of seed in each packet, perhaps some were repackaged. That one was sent in the micro category. The 11/12X is because I accidentally mixed some F1 fruit from both crosses in one batch of seeds and decided not to throw them out.

The F2 (11/12-F2-3) was PL with very large leaves on a tiny plant (5" leaves on a 12" plant). The first note I made about it was "kinda weird". It was extremely bushy, very multiflora, very productive, had red cherry fruits and only reached 12" in height. It was as wide as it was tall.

Hopefully, it will be fun to grow....

"Some" were repackaged.
No way I was going to write a full description.
That's what T'ville is for.

[Barb_FL]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

Dan - In the fall I grew 21x-F2-1 - I think I posted pics at one point. Anyway, this was an excellent red cherry dwarf plant. Probably peaked at 3', great taste, multiflora solid red tomatoes. Ripe tomatoes had great vine and shelf life. I would definitely grow again and have saved seeds.

I'm tempted to start some of my saved seeds even though this is very late for us. Everyone I gave tomatoes to loved it. Tomatoes were slightly larger than average size cherry but not ping-pong ball size.

Do you want any of my saved seeds or should I just keep going with it? I liked it a lot better than last springs 13X-F3-2.

I'm quoting myself to give an update. I ended up waiting awhile and then starting some seeds cause I didn't have anything to lose. Starting seeds in early March is so late, but these plants are flowering and have set fruit already. Two of the plants are starting their 2nd cluster of buds/flowers.

The plants are short (about 8") - our nighttime lows for the past week are hovering around 70-72.

These are fast growers and fast producers. I will get a picture uploaded.

[Jimbotomateo]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

I'm quoting myself to give an update. I ended up waiting awhile and then starting some seeds cause I didn't have anything to lose. Starting seeds in early March is so late, but these plants are flowering and have set fruit already. Two of the plants are starting their 2nd cluster of buds/flowers.

The plants are short (about 8") - our nighttime lows for the past week are hovering around 70-72.

These are fast growers and fast producers. I will get a picture uploaded.

That's great Barb. Just having something growing is uplifting! . Pics please.. Jimbo

[dfollett]

Originally Posted by Barb_FL

I'm quoting myself to give an update. I ended up waiting awhile and then starting some seeds cause I didn't have anything to lose. Starting seeds in early March is so late, but these plants are flowering and have set fruit already. Two of the plants are starting their 2nd cluster of buds/flowers.

The plants are short (about 8") - our nighttime lows for the past week are hovering around 70-72.

These are fast growers and fast producers. I will get a picture uploaded.

That's good news. I hope the F4s are as good as the F3s were. I think I told you this already, but keep going with it and stabilize it.

It will be interesting to see how they handle the heat. They would never see it here. Our nighttime temps in the summer are in the 50s & 60s.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by dfollett

I am looking for folks who are interested in helping grow out some multiflora dwarfs. I have several crosses - F2 &F3 - that should be fixed for both the multiflora and Dwarf traits - some micros are also possible. Most will be cherry or saladette size, but some have the potential to be larger - they have Brandywine Cowlick’s and Margaret Curtain in their pedigree. How large a fruit can you get in a multiflora? Maybe we'll learn. They also all have the potential for different colors, including stripes.

I am looking for 1) taste ; 2) color ; 3) size and, 4) obviously, production. I also have several micros if you want to grow something in a small pot or on a shelf. I even have a purple, potato-leaf, saladette-size micro multiflora (under 18") that tasted great in the F2.

If you are interested in growing out some multiflora dwarfs (or micros), PM me your address, let me know how many you want to try and I'll send you some seed. All I would ask that you report results and send me seed of anything that stands out.

Dan

I can show you how large fruits one can get with a multiflora,but not how large with a micro.

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=34658&page=4

post 47

Carolyn

[charline]

Dan, I have a question:
Your F3 seeds, if you say they were micro, will all F4 be micro or will there be also dwarfs?
I will plant them direct from the tray in their definitive pot so I would like to know because of the size...

[dfollett]

Originally Posted by charline

Dan, I have a question:
Your F3 seeds, if you say they were micro, will all F4 be micro or will there be also dwarfs?
I will plant them direct from the tray in their definitive pot so I would like to know because of the size...

I can't say for certain because I start a lot more seedlings than I eventually pot up and pot up only the smallest. I am not trying to be scientific and distort the the sample toward the smaller ones. However, as seedlings, the F4s are usually quite uniform in height and the culling usually amounts to selecting the smallest from several that are not too different rather than lopping the tops off a bunch of tall ones and keeping the tiny ones.

I have seen some that get larger than their F3 mama, but not by too much. I have not seen an F4 from a micro that got large enough to call a dwarf. I have seen micros come from dwarf, but not the other way around, but that is what I am culling for.

I think it is safe to say if they look micro compared to the dwarfs as seedlings, they should stay micro.

Please let me know if you see something different.

[gardeninglee]

My two overwintered 13x are looking very healthy. One is definitely a multiflora - lots and lots of flowers. I need to upload a picture but I think probably close to 50-60+ little flowers/buds. I know not all of them will take but still very impressive. I'm going to let both grow and see how the fruit tastes again. Hopefully more to report in June.

[Barb_FL]

Here's the pics - Now you might not think this is anything remarkable, but I wrote that last post on Feb 26 so I think I sowed the seeds around 3/5 - 3/8. So this is 5 weeks from when the seeds were first sowed. I sow seeds outside, just natural light and the temps are what they are.

The high night time lows are my limiting factor for growing year round. Hopefully we will get down to the high 60s again. My other plants are still setting fruit.

Dan - I will definitely keep going with this one. I have 4 plants - these pics come from 2 of them. Another one is in an Earthbox but overshadowed by a mature Skyreacher plant. The other was put in an Earthbox today flowering galore with fruit set.

[heirloomtomaguy]

Barb im not sure if that is a multiflora or not that sucker is loaded

[Andrey_BY]

What a cuttie!

Hope to try it here someday)

[oakley]

I finally have had ripe fruit this past week.
A few more today to compare. Just grow lights for the past couple months and very
grey skies until recently.
Not getting much fruit, mostly green.
What i have tasted is exceptional in the 8.5. I saved seeds and plan to just start them
all right away for the garden grow-out.
I'll keep saving if the flavor is there.
The best way i can think to describe the taste is meaty, firm, thin skinned, with rich
tomato flavor i've not had in a small cherry.
So worth exploring further.
I'll do a tray of what seeds i can get and grow them in bags on a deck wall. Cull the
weak and look for micro. I hope to get better fruit production in good sun and heat.

Nice project. (this one is under 12 inches without any pruning except for lower yellow
leaves...

[jmsieglaff]

An update for my warm season micro dwarf growing. I've got 4 plants each: 19xF2 and 11xF3. I'm going to squeeze them into extra containers and cinder block holes if necessary. In 2016 The 11xF3 were very good red PL cherries, I saved seed from the best but want to see if anything different colored or extra special comes from more 11xF3.

Also have 4 19xF2 potted up. Had good winter basement tomatoes from my first planting of seed, but hoping for something more in this round of F2.