Madera F1 (cherry)

[Fred Hempel]

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

Most of the Italian and Spanish "hanging" tomatoes have alc. Piennolo del Vesuvio is the only one I have that likely carries this gene. It has to be homozygous to give best effect. I can put a Piennolo tomato on the counter and leave it there for a month with little or no change. I've eaten them at 3 months old that were slightly wrinkled from moisture loss, but otherwise tasted like a garden fresh tomato.

I have fresh seed if you would like to trial it. Also, Piennolo is potato leaf which makes most crosses easy to verify.

I didn't realize that Piennolo del Vesuvio had alc. I do have one of those lines, although I have not incorporated it into any hybrids or new breeding lines.

I also tried the Colgar lines, but they failed spectacularly under the conditions at a site where they would need to do well for me. When I say "failed spectacularly" I mean that the fruits were very soft at the time they would normally be stored. Since they were so soft, there was no reason to determine the actual shelf-life. I guess I assumed (wrongly again) that firmness and shelf-life go hand in hand.

[Fusion_power]

My experience with rin is that it is almost inedible when homozygous. The crosses I've made and grown all were too firm at full ripe for my liking. They were basically the same as most commercial hybrids with rin.

Piennolo is not a "firm" tomato in the context of most modern hybrids which are bred for shipping. It is firm aplenty for selection work to be effective. Thick skin is also a trait carried by Piennolo. I don't care for thick skin, but it is useful in a tomato intended to be stored when ripe.

Piennolo also has relatively low sugar content. I've debated crossing it to a sweeter tomato to see if I could combine higher sugar with storage capability.

[Fred Hempel]

My experience with rin is somewhat different. In trying to get "some" flavor in rin lines, we ended up developing a rin/rin hybrid with unique, but good flavor (if allowed extra time to ripen)

I should note that the initial rin crosses that I developed rin/rin lines from were done by Mark McCaslin who crosses a good flavored rin/+ variety to high flavor varieties. I have continued with the same approach.

I have also found that when I make crosses that produce a rin/+ hybrid, the F1 fruits can vary from quite firm to so soft that the rin seems to have no effect at all. In other words, there seem to be significant background effects. Of course I am working with rin almost exclusively in small fruited lines.

I do have some firm/long-shelf lines that are larger, but they do not have rin (as far as I know).

[Fusion_power]

Interesting that you have been able to combine rin with genes for flavor. Have you grown Giraffe?

[Fred Hempel]

No. But the phenotype sounds very similar to that of a rin mutant. Do you know if that variety has a rin mutation?

[Fusion_power]

Yes, Giraffe has rin. Giraffe will eventually turn from grass green to pale yellowish green. Size was about 4 ounces and roughly 2 inches diameter for me. This is relatively large compared to most rin varieties. Giraffe also has a bit of flavor which is different from most others with rin. Sandhill Preservation has seed or if you want to try it I can probably send a few.

[NewWestGardener]

How does it compare to other greats like Maglia Rosa/Blush/Great Tiger in taste? I am so loyal to the others that I’m reluctant to try new ones, but also trust Fred’s great work.