What Would be the Ideal Micro?

[BlackBear]

wow such fine work !

me likes the baby "silvery fir" munchkins especially ...

they are most intriguing !

A fine winter grow season looks in place.

[dfollett]

Originally Posted by oakley

The dark chocolate cherry won the taste testing last night.

Dark, rich, full flavored, juicy, thin skinned
tastes almost 'dressed'. (a NewOrleans term for having all the
toppings/dressings on a po'Boy)
savory, salty/sweet
this one plant has been a solid 9 all season
lots of fruit for two solid months

The orange/red cherry is a good compliment to the chocolate
cherry. Fresh and fruity. Good zing. A solid 8
ripens first orange then deepens to an orange/red

These two plants have had the best well balanced form and size.
No staking at all needed. 8-10 inches
*lots of seeds fermenting

Started the season with aprox 18-24 dFollett micros, some were
winter grown and some more dwarf.
I think I'm down to 8 now. These have kept a cherry bowl full all
summer, 6oz to a pound since the end of May. All in small 1 gal
fabric grow bags.

Great work, Oakley. Keep those two lines going and get them stabilized. With these, you can get at least two generations a year (possibly 3 if you save seed early). You'll have something stable sooner than you realize and will have to be deciding on names..... Your experience demonstrates how to find the gems - work with lots of plants.

[oakley]

I agree it will go fast having started some seed already...then
again around the first of the year.

Key is quantity to select for size. Then hope for good flavor again.

No, I would never name them. That's your job. Working name is
d'Follett'sDarkChocolate and 'MySweetBaby', lol. (terrible name)
I just say that when I check on it, lift it up, say hello,
It is d'Follett'sPinkCompanion. The third one is just called 'hope'
right now.

The seeds are yours. To do what you wish. Send from here if
anyone wants to grow out, or wait for the next generation.

[oakley]

The third is producing as I had 'hoped'. If it has great flavor I
will start seeds right away.
Nice amount of fruit on such a small plant.

[dfollett]

I find it interesting that nearly every F2 I have grown has been red. A very few have been yellow or red with light yellow striping, but I haven't seen the wider differences I hoped for in the F2s. However, I am seeing more color differentiation in the F3s & F4s than I did in the F2s. I had expected to see more color differentiation in the F2s...

Each of these was from an F3 or F4 plant that stayed under 12" tall in a 6" pot.

• The red/yellow bi-color ones were from a fine-leaf (like Silvery Fir Tree) micro.
• The orange striped one was from a very fuzzy-leafed micro - the fruit is fuzzy also.
• The heavy antho ones were from a plant that was very multi-flora.
• The red/green ones were from an RL plant that was multi-flora - I like the size and color.

I'm encouraged..... I don't know if the color is fixed or not at this stage - probably not fully. If anyone would like to grow out a bunch of either of these and select for taste (and color), I'd be open to that. I have very little sense of smell and can't differentiate subtle differences in taste very well.

[nctomatoman]

From our Dwarf project work, stripes were pretty easy to fix, but not the coloring pattern within the stripes - the Beauty line has been fascinating with lots of continued advanced generation color flipping.

Micros may be perfect for me to focus on next year, Dan, as I ***gasp*****am planning to skip having a garden - for the first time in over 30 years! We are planning a cross country driving trip to see our girls, probably in the spring - and I've got some speaking event travel as well.

So - squeezing in some micros may be just the ticket!

[dfollett]

Originally Posted by nctomatoman

From our Dwarf project work, stripes were pretty easy to fix, but not the coloring pattern within the stripes - the Beauty line has been fascinating with lots of continued advanced generation color flipping.

Micros may be perfect for me to focus on next year, Dan, as I ***gasp*****am planning to skip having a garden - for the first time in over 30 years! We are planning a cross country driving trip to see our girls, probably in the spring - and I've got some speaking event travel as well.

So - squeezing in some micros may be just the ticket!

Did you also see less color differentiation at the F2 than F3 & F4 or is that just coincidence on my end? (I am just growing the first F5s, so I can't speak to later generations.)

You have to know that you are welcome to anything I have in process. I appreciate your contributions and sharing your knowledge. I'd love to get your input.

These little things are very easy to tend, even indoors. All you need is a timer for the lights and, with right setup using a capillary mat, they only need to be watered every 5-6 days (and with a little tweaking, less often than that).

[nctomatoman]

Dan, the colors we observed in the F2 seemed to have a strong dependency on the width of the cross - and we actually seemed to use a red parent less frequently (early on, anyway), than more "recessive" colors. There was also, of course, a dependency on how big a population of F2 we ended up with when pooling results from all of our volunteers on a given cross.

I would have to go back to the individual threads or spreadsheets - but the families that involved a red parent were

Bashful (one parent was found to be crossed)
Brawny
Doc (one parent was found to be crossed)
Eventful (using a red F2)
Grumpy
Plentiful (though it was a red F2, so lots of diversity)
Ruggy
Ruby
Sleepy
Sneaky (though the parent was early generation and hence not stable)
Softy
Teary
Witty

So only 8 of our many, many crosses used a "pure" red parent. Some of those didn't get a lot of work/interest.

Maybe the best indicators are Sleepy and Witty - and we did see lots of color variation even in the F2. You can look at the various F2 threads for those above if you wish to delve deeper.

[akgardengirl]

A lovely selection of colors Dan. I look forward to growing some out this winter along with the ones I grew this summer.

[BlackBear]

Originally Posted by nctomatoman

From our Dwarf project work, stripes were pretty easy to fix, but not the coloring pattern within the stripes - the Beauty line has been fascinating with lots of continued advanced generation color flipping.

Micros may be perfect for me to focus on next year, Dan, as I ***gasp*****am planning to skip having a garden - for the first time in over 30 years! We are planning a cross country driving trip to see our girls, probably in the spring - and I've got some speaking event travel as well.

So - squeezing in some micros may be just the ticket!

Garden or no Garden this year ....after over 30 years ...

You Sir are a True gentleman and a scholar ..

and still an inspiration to us all.

[dfollett]

Obviously, both are important. However, there are always trade-offs. Do you want something that would look good in your flower bed in the summer or will you grow them primarily for eating? For growing inside during winter or early spring in a window or on a shelf, if you had to choose between these two options, which would you pick:

1. Great size, shape and appearance with good (but not great) taste
2. OK (but not ideal) size shape or appearance with great taste.

Are any of these attractive enough to be considered decorative as plants and not just micro tomatoes? First is 11", second is 8" and the last is 12" in height at this point.

Don't know how good the fruit is going to be yet, but - Here's hoping.

[maxjohnson]

If there's going to be a microdwarf project, I'm willing participate.

[sdambr]

I would grow all three, but the first two I like better.

Nice job!

[oakley]

That is exciting Dan. I like the red/green stripe large cherry.

Yes, the 'house plant' varieties with good fruit are the way to go.
I should take on another. I have room.

For those interested, it is a good project, unofficially. Way too much
work to start a full micro project but participation may start off something
new. I should have lots of seed if this large dark cherry moves forward as I
hope. That would be Sept 2018 for winter grow.

If you request seed, no rules of course, a full 36 cell 1010 tray, 2-3 seed per cell,
allows a good 'hunt'. Micros 'behave', meaning they stay small and
compact for some time. 8-10 weeks before potting up. Culling/clipping any
that shoot up beyond a few inches...4-6. End up with a tray of 12-18. Cull
again for the strong ones. Or what you have room for.

I have six now in 4-inch pots and just started another tray at Thanksgiving.
Snow covered and cold now, but come warmer weather just a few months
away, I'll have nice plants under 15 inches with lots of fruit. Well ahead
of my toms headed for the garden.

[Hatgirl]

I look for great taste on a plant as short and compact as is feasible, and that needs no more elaborate support than a basic 18inch 3ring support frame.
I don't worry about pretty... Because I think all tomato plants are pretty