The most unusual game of tomato

Fusion_power · August 29, 2018

I've had a few unusual and unexpected results this year. One of them is F1 Tastiheart X LA0417 that has produced the most intense red tomato I've seen. This indicates very high lycopene content, easily double the levels present in most tomatoes today including the high lycopene varieties I've grown. No idea yet if this can be stabilized, but if it can, it should be an interesting development. I have a few thousand seed saved so there is plenty to grow out in search of a large potato leaf heart shaped intensely red tomato. Add in the disease resistance potential from LA0417 and there is a lot to look forward to in this cross.

I grew out F4 seed of Swamp Sweet Orange which is now producing a pale orange small pear shaped tomato with exceptionally good flavor. My only complaint is that I would like it to be a tad sweeter. I've got in mind to grow a couple of plants in a pot so I can cross Swamp Sweet Orange X Hibor which should bring together the genetics for high flavor plus high sugar. Only negative complaint is that Swamp sweet Orange is extremely skimpy on seed. I got about 20 seed from 40 or so fruit.

I'm continuing to grow out Blueberry Sugar which is a high anthocyanin line with potato leaves and reasonably good tomato flavor. I also grew a few other high antho lines such as Indigo Cherry Drops for comparison. Blueberry Sugar is significantly better than the rest. It is still not quite up to expectations. I've got to figure out whether to continue growing out to stabilize or make another cross to hopefully improve flavor a tad more.

In the unwelcome surprise category, I grew Green Zebra Cherry with a single plant set out that turned out to be red zebra cherry. Oh well, bees got to make a living too. Guess they worked overtime last year.

I'm nearly finished saving seed for the year with 10 varieties left to collect.

Anyone else have tales of tomato arcana to share?

August 29, 2018	#1
Fusion_power Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Alabama Posts: 2,250	The most unusual game of tomato I've had a few unusual and unexpected results this year. One of them is F1 Tastiheart X LA0417 that has produced the most intense red tomato I've seen. This indicates very high lycopene content, easily double the levels present in most tomatoes today including the high lycopene varieties I've grown. No idea yet if this can be stabilized, but if it can, it should be an interesting development. I have a few thousand seed saved so there is plenty to grow out in search of a large potato leaf heart shaped intensely red tomato. Add in the disease resistance potential from LA0417 and there is a lot to look forward to in this cross. I grew out F4 seed of Swamp Sweet Orange which is now producing a pale orange small pear shaped tomato with exceptionally good flavor. My only complaint is that I would like it to be a tad sweeter. I've got in mind to grow a couple of plants in a pot so I can cross Swamp Sweet Orange X Hibor which should bring together the genetics for high flavor plus high sugar. Only negative complaint is that Swamp sweet Orange is extremely skimpy on seed. I got about 20 seed from 40 or so fruit. I'm continuing to grow out Blueberry Sugar which is a high anthocyanin line with potato leaves and reasonably good tomato flavor. I also grew a few other high antho lines such as Indigo Cherry Drops for comparison. Blueberry Sugar is significantly better than the rest. It is still not quite up to expectations. I've got to figure out whether to continue growing out to stabilize or make another cross to hopefully improve flavor a tad more. In the unwelcome surprise category, I grew Green Zebra Cherry with a single plant set out that turned out to be red zebra cherry. Oh well, bees got to make a living too. Guess they worked overtime last year. I'm nearly finished saving seed for the year with 10 varieties left to collect. Anyone else have tales of tomato arcana to share?