I am so, so sorry for the huge delay in blogging this summer. Once the garden got planted, life took over - caring for Eli, activities with Sue, maintaining the garden, and reporting progress on Instagram in a flurry of pictures and weekly Instagram Lives (all of which are viewable and are very informative on garden progress).

This seems a good time to fire up the blog again, since I now have the first set of results on my Captain family project work of 2026. Recall that this project began when I crossed pollen from Sun Gold F1 hybrid onto the large, green fleshed, delicious beefsteak type Captain Lucky. I grew out the hybrid, collected lots of F2 seeds (the hybrid was a large fruited tasty regular leaf orange cherry tomato), and sent some around to those interested in joining this project. Some of you grew F2 seeds, and returned F3 generation seeds to me - I grew a selection of them this year, and they make the basis of the report that follows.

The numberings that follow are those applied when they came into my collection. There are two types of numbers - simple 4 digit numbers (a running system since I started gardening), and a TXX-YY type of number, which are my own saved seeds, where XX is the year the seeds were saved, and YY the running numbering from that year).

All of the following are from F3 seeds sent to me - so the seeds I am saving from each will be F4 generation. NOTE - I just added my 2026 seed identification number. If you want to pursue any of the following, you can use that number.

#8155 - these are seeds sent by garden friend Jen Fox. The tomato she saved these seeds from is described as a large flat orange cherry on a regular leaf plant. I grew one plant - which was also regular leaf. The tomatoes are very colorful - a mix of yellow, green and orange. The flavor was variable but mostly only fair - in the 5-6 range - but the plant was the one most seriously hit with herbicide issues from contaminated potting mix. Saved at T26-39.

The attractive tomatoes from Captain #8155 regular leaf.

#8148 - These are seeds sent to me by my friend Heide Dolan. The tomatoes that produced these seeds were regular leaf orange cherry tomatoes. The plant I grew was also regular leaf - the resulting orange cherry tomatoes were very flavorful, at a rating of 7.5. The seeds had green gel, and the flesh was rosy colored in the center. They are a larger cherry very close to Sun Gold in color. Saved as T26-40.

Next, we come to #8149, also sent to me by Heide as a potato leaf red cherry tomato. I ended up with both leaf shapes The regular leaf plant is producing large scarlet red cherry tomatoes that have a very nice balanced flavor - I rated 7.5. Saved as T26-41.

This and the pic above are #8149 regular leaf.

The potato leaf plant that came from #8149 will be the last to ripen of the Captains. It is an oval cherry tomato that is blushing. I will update this blog with more information and pictures once it ripens. Will be saved as T26-42.

Captain 8149 potato leaf, not quite ripe, color not yet confirmed

#8144 is a sample of seeds sent to me by garden friend Eva-Lena. She described it as a potato leaf purple cherry tomato. I got both potato and regular leaf seedings from her seeds. The potato leaf plant is producing lots of large chocolate cherry tomatoes that are delicious, rating from 7.5-8 in flavor. Saved as T26-43.

Chocolate colored, tasty tomatoes from #8144 potato leaf.

The regular leaf plant from #8144 is producing one of the most unique tomatoes of this project. The picture will depict the colors better than my description, but it looks like a saladette version of Captain Lucky itself. The flavor is very good, at 7.5. This will be an interesting selection to pursue. Saved as T26-45.

These three pics show #8144 regular leaf.

Moving on, we get to #8113, sent to me by my garden friend Karen P. She did not note the leaf shape, but described it as a green cherry tomato. I got both potato and regular leaf plants from her seeds. The regular leaf plant is producing large cherry tomatoes that have elements of yellow, orange and green in color. Upon cutting it open, I was delighted to find the Uluru Ochre coloration. The flavor is also outstanding. This is one fortunate find. Stabilizing this color in a good size will be fun - and a bit of work! Saved as T26-46.

The potato leaf plant or #8113 threw a curve ball, producing larger oblate fruit that are scarlet red in color. The flavor sits in the 6-7 range. Saved as T26-47.

These three pics show #8113 potato leaf. Note how meaty the tomato is.

Now I move on to the two F2 plants I grew last year. I sent a lot of each of these out to garden friends, so I hope to hear of what you got from them. Both of my F3 plants gave me surprises. Starting with T25-13, which was a potato leaf plant with very tasty oval large cherries with shades of orange, yellow and pink, I got both leaf shapes in growing out saved seeds. The regular leaf plant is yielding tasty large red cherry tomatoes. Saved as T26-48.

Fruit from T25-13 regular leaf - nothing like last year’s result

Interestingly, the potato leaf plant from T25-13 is providing fruit that are similar to last year’s result, but with less flavor. Saved as T26-51.

My most interesting F2 selection last year was T25-36, a regular leaf plant which produced mottled green and purple very tasty cherry tomatoes. Saved seed gave me both leaf shapes this year, and both are delicious! The regular leaf plant is super productive, yielding small orange cherry tomatoes with green seed gel and a flavor very close to Sun Gold hybrid! This is saved as T26-54.

Just as exciting, in a way, is what the potato leaf plant from T25-36 is producing. The copious yield of round large chocolate cherry tomatoes rate at least an 8 in flavor. Seed is saved as T26-53.

T25-36 potato leaf fruit - delicious chocolate cherries

We are still going here! Next comes a regular leaf plant from #8169, the number I assigned to F2 seeds saved by Alex Moring from a hybrid plant I mailed him. (oddly, his hybrid had red fruit). I grew one of the F2, and the smooth oblate 3 oz tomatoes are pink - the interior is shown below, with green gel seeds. It is just delicious! . Seed will be saved as T26-55.

Next comes one of the very best flavored of all (along with my T25-36 regular leaf Sun Gold taste-alike), from #8092 sent to me by my friend John Cook. I had only regular leaf plants from his seeds and grew one out. The plant is producing large green/yellow cherry tomatoes with a flavor rating of 9! Seed will be saved as T26-56

All views of the lovely, delicious and surprising #8092.

#8154 was also sent to me by Jen Fox. She described it as a potato leaf plant with bicolor mini beefsteaks. This is one of the largest of the Captain selections, and the ripening color is intriguing. There are hints of bicoloring - the interior is quite solid, mainly pink, with some shades of yellow. It is a very tasty tomato - approaching an 8. Seed will be saved as T26-59.

We are nearly done.#8095 was sent to me by my garden friend Janet Felber as a regular leaf orange cherry tomato. I got both regular and potato leaf plants from her seeds. The regular leaf plant is providing lovely yellow larger cherry to oblate tomatoes with an excellent flavor - rated at least an 8. Seed is saved as T26-58.

The gorgeous tomatoes from #8095 regular leaf. Note the green gel!

#8095 potato leaf is also gorgeous - orange cherry tomatoes with a pink blush, flavor 8 or above. Seed is saved as T26-57.

Now we are at the end - the 18th and final from my 2026 Captain project. Tomato # 8096 was also sent to me by Janet Felber. She had a potato leaf red from her F2 seeds. I also had only potato leaf seedlings, and the plant that I am growing is giving large red cherry tomatoes that are very tasty - at least 7.5 in flavor. Seed is saved as T26-60.

I eagerly anticipated carrying out this project. I so appreciate those of you who grew out Captain F2 and sent me samples of your discoveries. I hope you grew some of these yourself - and expect you got things very different from what I did. There are some very promising leads here for future named varieties. As I hoped, the color and size range would be broad, but the flavors generally excellent. Mission accomplished. But we are not nearly done. I am saving seeds from all 18 tomatoes shown above. Samples will be sent to any of you who show an interest to pursue those leads that look best to you.