How Late to Pollinate?

crmauch · July 20, 2014

I know this would vary by where you live, but is there a date (or number of days to first frost date) that you would not pollinate after?

Last year, anything that I pollinated after July 4th or so was lost to late blight. So far haven't seen any sign of that, but it has been reported in the neighboring county.

joseph · July 20, 2014

Last year I measured time from the first flowers to the first ripe fruit. The time varied from 6 weeks for smaller fruited varieties to 9 weeks for larger fruited varieties.

bower · July 20, 2014

I used the same kind of data as Joseph to figure out how late I could make crosses - but I hadn't reckoned on the effect of shorter days, less sunshine, lower temperatures on how long it would take to get ripe fruit (the words 'forever' or better yet, 'never' come to mind.) . Also had the thrill of finding the stem below my precious crosses succumbed to mold. One or two I cut above the mold and tried to root them in a pot - they didn't thrive although a bit of fruit growth was accomplished. In the end, my late crossed fruit ended up ripening in a paper bag before the seed was saved. Pretty tenuous, but surprisingly I did get viable seed, although the most pitiful and immature specimens only gave me a few normal sized seeds.

From what I have read about it, the seed taken from immature or 'green ripe' fruit is often viable, but it will not have the longevity of fully ripe fruit seed, so should be grown out as soon as possible. I didn't have any trouble germinating any of mine this year, from the year before.

Fusion had a better idea, which is to root a healthy cutting of your mother plant in a pot, make your cross, and bring the whole business indoors in the fall until the fruit ripens. That's probably the best bet if there's a cross you especially wanted, later in the year.

I may end up doing that myself, since we had such a lousy year for crossing - went from too cold to too hot with only a week of optimal setting weather in between. Tomato flowers in my greenhouse are mostly crispy critters now, and by the time that stops it will be... late!

crmauch · July 21, 2014

All good information! Thanks Joseph and Bower!

So this is how I'm going to look at it:

1) I'm not going to get every reciprocal cross in this year, but I should be able to get most pairings in at least one direction.

2) I'm not going to try to root cuttings or winter over existing plants at this point, but that's good information for future consideration.

3) None of my crosses are cherry related, so taking the 9 week period and adding a factor of safety for end of season weather, I'm going to use 12 weeks.

4) Killing frost date here is about October 15th.

5) Calculating back gives me a date of this Wednesday, July 23! So I will stop any crossing after this week.

Thanks again!!!!!!!

crmauch · June 2, 2015

Well this didn't quite work out as Late Blight took out the tomatoes in August, so any crossing done later didn't have time to mature. So this year I stopped planting out by the end of May, and I I'm going to keep any crossings as early as possible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by crmauch

All good information! Thanks Joseph and Bower!

So this is how I'm going to look at it:

1) I'm not going to get every reciprocal cross in this year, but I should be able to get most pairings in at least one direction.

2) I'm not going to try to root cuttings or winter over existing plants at this point, but that's good information for future consideration.

3) None of my crosses are cherry related, so taking the 9 week period and adding a factor of safety for end of season weather, I'm going to use 12 weeks.

4) Killing frost date here is about October 15th.

5) Calculating back gives me a date of this Wednesday, July 23! So I will stop any crossing after this week.

Thanks again!!!!!!!

July 20, 2014	#1
crmauch Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: Honey Brook, PA Zone 6b Posts: 399	How Late to Pollinate? I know this would vary by where you live, but is there a date (or number of days to first frost date) that you would not pollinate after? Last year, anything that I pollinated after July 4th or so was lost to late blight. So far haven't seen any sign of that, but it has been reported in the neighboring county.

July 20, 2014	#2
joseph Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: Cache Valley, N/E of The Great Salt Lake Posts: 1,244	Last year I measured time from the first flowers to the first ripe fruit. The time varied from 6 weeks for smaller fruited varieties to 9 weeks for larger fruited varieties.

July 20, 2014	#3
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	I used the same kind of data as Joseph to figure out how late I could make crosses - but I hadn't reckoned on the effect of shorter days, less sunshine, lower temperatures on how long it would take to get ripe fruit (the words 'forever' or better yet, 'never' come to mind.) . Also had the thrill of finding the stem below my precious crosses succumbed to mold. One or two I cut above the mold and tried to root them in a pot - they didn't thrive although a bit of fruit growth was accomplished. In the end, my late crossed fruit ended up ripening in a paper bag before the seed was saved. Pretty tenuous, but surprisingly I did get viable seed, although the most pitiful and immature specimens only gave me a few normal sized seeds. From what I have read about it, the seed taken from immature or 'green ripe' fruit is often viable, but it will not have the longevity of fully ripe fruit seed, so should be grown out as soon as possible. I didn't have any trouble germinating any of mine this year, from the year before. Fusion had a better idea, which is to root a healthy cutting of your mother plant in a pot, make your cross, and bring the whole business indoors in the fall until the fruit ripens. That's probably the best bet if there's a cross you especially wanted, later in the year. I may end up doing that myself, since we had such a lousy year for crossing - went from too cold to too hot with only a week of optimal setting weather in between. Tomato flowers in my greenhouse are mostly crispy critters now, and by the time that stops it will be... late!

July 21, 2014	#4
crmauch Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: Honey Brook, PA Zone 6b Posts: 399	All good information! Thanks Joseph and Bower! So this is how I'm going to look at it: 1) I'm not going to get every reciprocal cross in this year, but I should be able to get most pairings in at least one direction. 2) I'm not going to try to root cuttings or winter over existing plants at this point, but that's good information for future consideration. 3) None of my crosses are cherry related, so taking the 9 week period and adding a factor of safety for end of season weather, I'm going to use 12 weeks. 4) Killing frost date here is about October 15th. 5) Calculating back gives me a date of this Wednesday, July 23! So I will stop any crossing after this week. Thanks again!!!!!!!