Interested in Growing a Multiflora Dwarf?

[clkingtx]

I found some mmf cross sprouts in an emptied pot today, didn't look to see which cross it was, but really thinking of potting it up and taking it inside to grow it out, if we have room. Something that determined to live makes me want to help it out! I did another culling on my mmfs, it seems odd to be selecting for the shortest, lol. I am so used to picking the largest, it takes some getting used to. I am very glad that discarding plants gets easier, lol, it's not nearly as painful now! I have 2 46 F1s, and 4 46 f2s. Now I can start some of my other crosses... I am very excited about them all! The hard part will be not starting too many!

[gardeninglee]

I have 4 or 5 of the 13x going. One of the plants has 2 tomatoes on it total. One still green the second one blushed so I picked it. Still waiting a few days before I taste it. It's cherry sized - about the size of a sunsugar (slightly bigger than sungold) and it is red with green at the top near the stem (but that might be just because it's not fully ripe yet). Will report back after I try it.

[gardeninglee]

So I tasted it and the skin is tough - a lot tougher than I like but it might be okay for others. Taste is not bad but not great either. I'd say a 6.5 but definitely better than supermarket tomato if you exclude the skin. I don't plan on saving seed from this one. Production just wasn't there and taste is just ok. I have another plant setting fruit and should be ready in a month and a half or so.

The other plants look like they have some fungus growing on them. If I can't control it I'll have to pull them out or take off all the leaves. There was a snail that stripped the leaves off one of the plants and it was completely bare and it came back up fine. I might have to try that.

[jmsieglaff]

Sowed about 400 19xF2 seeds Thursday evening. Hoping to find a couple micros and hopefully multi flora for winter growing. I'm saving a bunch more F2 seed.

[dfollett]

This summer I spent most of my time and effort growing out and saving seed of F1s from a whole bunch of different crosses rather than looking for the little gems I ultimately want to find. However, I did grow out some F3s from two of the 11X F2s (11X = Micro Multiflora (MMF) X (Brandywine Cowlick's X Margaret Curtain F1)). I'll show the results from one of those groups of F3s here and the other in a different post.

I grew out 9 F3s from 11X-F3-5. Most of them turned out to be dwarf rather than the micros I was hoping for, but two of the dwarfs showed real promise.

Plant #1 (I only give numbers to plants worth keeping seed from) was the most impressive. It reached 30" in height but sprawled fairly widely. I didn't think to get any photos of it before the frost killed it. It had two primary characteristics that I'm looking for - multiflora and decent fruit size. It had 1.5" - 2" pink hearts (at least I think they qualify as hearts) and it was massively multiflora. The taste was good (I'd give it a 7.5 - Plant #2 was a little better) and it was quite stingy with seeds.

Plant #2 reached about 24" and had red hearts about 2/3 the size of those on plant #1. The taste was a very good 8 and the plant was nearly as heavily fruited as #1.

I am going to start a bunch of seeds from both of these looking for some micros I can grow out during the winter. I will have some F4 seeds from each of these to send to a few folks next spring if anyone wants to try a multiflora dwarf heart.

The photos that follow are of a single inflorescence from plant #1. The top portion of the plant was dead from frost, but these were untouched by the frost under the plant adjacent the "soil". The plant was grown in an 18" Earthtainer.

I had probably picked a dozen or more from this inflorescence before frost killed the plant and I decided to remove it try to get a photo. There were 4 additional inflorescences very much like this one on the plant. I have never seen a single dwarf plant with anywhere near as many fruit as these two.

[korney19]

Wow, that's impressive! Keep me in mind!

Is that naturally a late producer, or did you start the plant later than normal?

[dfollett]

Originally Posted by LDiane

Is that naturally a late producer, or did you start the plant later than normal?

Don't know. It certainly wasn't the earliest one I grew this summer, but neither was it the latest. My guess is it was kinda mid-season. This is the one year I can't know for sure - for several reasons.

These were among the last plants I planted this year. But, the biggest reason is I had a deer invasion this summer. They ate most the first fruit and blossoms on everything and all of everything on some. I never had deer attack tomatoes before, but this summer they really did a number. Nothing came normally, so I can't say for sure how early anything was.

Because of that I didn't see any value in trying to determine DTM of any that I grew this year. What I do know is that it produced lots and had lots more that it would have produced but for the frost.

[Allisa]

I grew a few different MF crosses this year (21X-F2-1; 13X-F3-1 RL; 13X-F3-6 PL; 11X-F3-5 RL). I got some nice dwarfs about 3-4 feet, but taste wasn't there per my taste tests and my family.

However, one dwarf was tasty - 13X-F3-1 RL, it was small reddish-purple hearts with light yellow stripes about 50 gr. It was not crazy MF, but was interesting.

[dfollett]

Originally Posted by Allisa

I grew a few different MF crosses this year (21X-F2-1; 13X-F3-1 RL; 13X-F3-6 PL; 11X-F3-5 RL). I got some nice dwarfs about 3-4 feet, but taste wasn't there per my taste tests and my family.

However, one dwarf was tasty - 13X-F3-1 RL, it was small reddish-purple hearts with light yellow stripes about 50 gr. It was not crazy MF, but was interesting.

Thanks for the report. Did you save seeds from the one you liked? If you did and have enough to send a few, I'd appreciate them. I could send an SASE. Thanks either way.

[Allisa]

Originally Posted by dfollett

Thanks for the report. Did you save seeds from the one you liked? If you did and have enough to send a few, I'd appreciate them. I could send an SASE. Thanks either way.

No SASE needed, I'll send you some. I got one red oblate MF about 30g from 21X-F2-1, it's a late one in my climate, but the taste is balance to my taste test. Seeds are drying. So I'll sent them to you in a couple of weeks. It's so rainy in our place, so the photo isn't any good. But maybe I'll catch a good, dry weather to shoot the photo for your records.

[jmsieglaff]

19xF2 seedlings. Did my first round of ruthless pruning. Definitely a couple dwarf looking seedlings--hopefully a micro or 3 in there too!

[dfollett]

Originally Posted by jmsieglaff

19xF2 seedlings. Did my first round of ruthless pruning. Definitely a couple dwarf looking seedlings--hopefully a micro or 3 in there too!

Kind of twists your head in a different direction than normal, doesn't it?

[jmsieglaff]

Dan see my F1 fruit below from 19xF1. The fruit all have this really subtle Antho looking darkness to them. They have had it from the first fruits to the last (got a bunch extra seed for saving due to our very warm fall). Give the parents, if I know them correctly, Antho would not be expected. Are my assumptions correct?

[jmsieglaff]

Originally Posted by dfollett

Kind of twists your head in a different direction than normal, doesn't it?

It sure does! I probably culled close to 200 heck maybe even 250 little seedlings. Glad to see some micro promise though!