It’s nasty outside, but Koda is happy on his bed.
By now (or if not yet, very soon), coin envelopes of seeds will be in the possession of many of you. I’ve sent a vast variety of seeds this time. They fall into a number of categories: my favorite heirlooms or Dwarf Tomato Project varieties (all released varieties), new indeterminate X indeterminate hybrids I created last year by crossing some of my favorite heirlooms, new indeterminate X dwarf hybrids I created last year to create new Dwarf Tomato Project families as starting points, and F2 generation seeds from 2 new Dwarf Tomato Project families created from my hybrids 2 years ago that have yet to be explored. Below I will discuss guidance for dealing with each of these categories.
Released varieties - either indeterminate heirlooms or Dwarf Tomato Project varieties. These are for you to grow and enjoy. There is no need to keep detailed data, return saved seeds to me or report back - unless you wish to. I am always happy to hear about how they performed for you. Examples of this category are samples of Cherokee Purple (only a few generations removed from seed sent to me in 1990 by J D Green as an unnamed variety - how did this compare to your expectations or other seed sources for the variety, as an example question I’d love answered), or Dwarf Tanager - a newer, orange fruited release from our Dwarf Tomato Project. In many cases, I shared varieties with you that I hoped would work well based on your goals.
New Indeterminate X Indeterminate hybrids I created last year. An example is Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom F1 (that is what the packet label would say). There is also likely a number code, such as T20-132. That means it is saved seed from a Tomato grown in 2020, and is the 132nd variety I saved seed from that year. You will find but a very few seeds in the packet, as all of the seeds came from the fruit that formed when pollen from a regular leaf heirloom parent was applied to an emasculated flower of a potato leaf variety, resulting in a tomato. Once the saved seeds are gone, that hybrid is gone and I would have to recreate it. You only need to grow one plant, as all seeds in the packet of a hybrid should be equivalent. The goal is to find out about the characteristics of a new hybrid between two great tasting heirlooms. All should be indeterminate and regular leaf (the dominant trait when a regular and potato leaf variety are crossed). Do not grow out any potato leaf seedlings you get, as they would indicate an unsuccessful cross (I test grew them all last year and the regular leaf seedlings indicated successful crosses). They should be vigorous, high yielding, and show colors related to the dominant traits in the cross. I am most curious as to the quality of the tomatoes - flavor, yield, plant health - and size and color. I’d love to hear back from everyone who received seeds in this category. I am growing all of them myself, so we can have fun comparing notes. If you wish, this can be the starting point of new variety development. If you save seeds and grow them out, segregation into different combinations will be observed. 75% of the seedlings will be regular leaf, 25% potato leaf. *** Distinguishing Dwarfs from Indeterminates - added due to a great question on Instagram - It is quite easy to distinguish the dwarf seedlings very early on. They are half of the height of indeterminates and have a thicker stem. They also have differently shaped cotyledon leaves but it is a subtle characteristic that is not as easy to use as the stem thickness and height.. I’ve done a video on this which can be found here. *** Fruit colors, sizes and flavors will similarly segregate into all kinds of combinations. As an example, Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom - I would expect the hybrid to be a large pink or red tomato (depends upon the skin color of Lillian’s Yellow - if clear, the hybrid fruit should be pink, but if yellow, the hybrid fruit should be red). I would hope the flavor to be excellent, but that hypothesis is something this project will explore - and either confirm, or surprise. Saved seeds would give potato or regular leaf seedlings of red, pink, chocolate, purple, yellow, perhaps even white, in addition to other combinations. Feel free to play with and explore these in future years. They can be a start to your own new variety, but it will take half a dozen or more generations of regrowth and reselection to nail down your goals. Unless my plants fail, I will not need any seed returned - it is yours to play with in the years ahead.
New Dwarf Tomato Project families from Indeterminate X Dwarf F1 hybrids created last year. An example is Blue’s Bling X Dwarf Mocha’s Cherry F1. I carried out these crosses by adding pollen from an indeterminate regular leaf heirloom to an emasculated flower on a Dwarf variety. Seeds were saved after the developing tomato from the cross ripened, and in some cases with very small fruited or meaty varieties, few seeds were harvested. Your packets, therefore, contain only a very few seeds, but you only need grow one plant from each packet. The resulting plant will be regular leaf and indeterminate, thus confirming success of the cross. The resulting tomatoes will be somewhat of a mystery, as some of the crosses were very “wide” morphologically. In the Blue’s Bling (indeterminate, large purple fruit, regular leaf variegated foliage) X Dwarf Mocha’s Cherry (dwarf growth, round small purple fruit with strong antho coloring on the shoulders), I expect the hybrid to be medium small fruited, regular leaf, indeterminate pink in color. The flavor and other characteristics of the hybrid is of curiosity only, as the true objective is the results of growing out saved seed. Given this, save plenty of seeds to take forward for exploration. Saved seed will produce 75% indeterminate and 25% dwarf plants. You are free to grow out indeterminate seedlings, as they will likely provide some interesting results as the characteristics of each parent combine. The resulting dwarf seedlings are the main interest, however. One possible, though perhaps needle in a haystack, result of this cross could be delicious medium to large purple tomatoes with strong antho coloring on a variegated dwarf plant. Each new family I sent out will be similarly fascinating to work with. I am growing them all, and unless I have crop failure on any of them, there is no need to send back saved seeds. But I would appreciate reports and returned seeds once you get into dwarf hunting and growing in future seasons.
Seeds of two new Dwarf Tomato Project families - Suzy F2 and Blazey F2 - In 2019, I crossed Dwarf Sweet Sue with Peach Blow Sutton to create the Suzy family. I grew the F1 seed last year and it resulted in an indeterminate plant with lots of medium sized pink tomatoes with some yellow. Seeds saved, the F2 generation, are what I sent out, and you got plenty to work with. Similarly, in 2019 I crossed Dwarf Blazing Beauty with Honor Bright to create the Blazey family. I grew the F1 seed last year, and it resulted in an indeterminate plant with lots of medium sized scarlet tomatoes. Lots of seed was saved, and some of you received good sized packets. The goal of Suzy is to create matte-skinned (there are none in existence yet), tasty dwarfs, either potato leaf or regular leaf, with excellent flavor no matter the color (which could be, at least, red or pink or yellow or white). The goal of Blazey is to create unique yellow-leaf (as in the parent Honor Bright) dwarfs with either regular or potato leaf foliage, with great flavor, no matter what the color (which could be limited to red or orange, but could also hold surprises). In both cases, sow lots of seeds - 75% will be indeterminate, 25% will be dwarf (if you plant 24 seeds, you should get, on average, 6 dwarfs). Since each cross carries the recessive trait of potato leaf, 25% of the dwarfs in your grow out should be potato leaf. With Blazey, the yellow leaf trait will express at 25% as well, so this may be worth planting in greater number. I would love to know how these do for you - and receiving back some saved seeds from any promising dwarf plants that you choose to grow out. I will be planting some of each and selecting a few dwarfs to grow myself and report on my results.
Miscellaneous - some of you are doing continuing work on dwarf tomato project families or named varieties - please continue on, record results, return some saved seeds. Others are working on my peppers or eggplants from dehybridization work - again, data is important, as are returned seeds. Thanks as always for your contributions!
MOST OF ALL - have fun! I am delighted to be collaborating with so many of you on some rather unique little mini-projects!
Marlin getting a nice morning hug from my Sweet Sue
