Early black F5's in 2019

[bower]

I couldn't make the commitment to a big grow this year, but a couple of friends stepped up so some lines I couldn't push forward are being grown by them. N. is growing the Black Kitten Paws F5, and very stoked about the huge clusters of fruit, also says they are keeping pace with Sungold and look to ripen first fruit about the same time. S. is growing the indeterminate purple Skipper F5 that was earliest last year and the best fruit quality all season long. This line is the one she selected two years ago at the farm. I'll get a look at those in a few days on the plan to help prune and tie. And I'm growing some Rodney F5, and two determinate Skipper lines here, a brown and a purple.





The determinate Skipper lines were the result of a cross between siblings in the F3 generation, and I'm seeing more segregation than there is in the Rodney or other true- selfing F5's. Skipper Brown for example, has some obvious segregation for growth habit, with one plant much taller than the others. These were planted out in early July, around the time I would usually have first ripe fruit. The difference in growth habit is obvious from early on (first pic).



This got me thinking about growth habit, and how it affects the success of the plant in hot weather instead of cold.