Stigma ready?

[bower]

It isn't possible to get a pink fruit from the yellow fruit's seeds. The only way would be if the yellow fruit crossed again with another fruit, and that would not be your lost pink but something else.

But if you go back to the seeds that you saved from the pink, chances are good you may get one. Depends on the parentage and/or how many were crossed. I would grow at least six if you hope to find the pink again. Maybe ten. Some one else may advise you better! Never apologize for asking questions. In the end, it's helpful to try and think about those problems, and makes it easier to figure out answers to my own problems too! I have some crossed seeds, need to give that deep thought, but I do hope there are some NOT crossed among them. So how many should I grow? Bee crosses usually run about 5-10 %. Does that mean all the seeds in one fruit are crossed, or only partially?
I would definitely try those seeds again. It sounds like a super PINK!!
There are even ways to grow out more than you have space for in small pots, only pruning to one stem and topping after the first cluster, just to see the fruit colour and get one fruit for seeds.

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by bower

It isn't possible to get a pink fruit from the yellow fruit's seeds. The only way would be if the yellow fruit crossed again with another fruit, and that would not be your lost pink but something else.

But if you go back to the seeds that you saved from the pink, chances are good you may get one. Depends on the parentage and/or how many were crossed. I would grow at least six if you hope to find the pink again. Maybe ten. Some one else may advise you better! Never apologize for asking questions. In the end, it's helpful to try and think about those problems, and makes it easier to figure out answers to my own problems too! I have some crossed seeds, need to give that deep thought, but I do hope there are some NOT crossed among them. So how many should I grow? Bee crosses usually run about 5-10 %. Does that mean all the seeds in one fruit are crossed, or only partially?
I would definitely try those seeds again. It sounds like a super PINK!!
There are even ways to grow out more than you have space for in small pots, only pruning to one stem and topping after the first cluster, just to see the fruit colour and get one fruit for seeds.

Bower, thank you. That is a good idea about small pots. I have quite few buckets. I just need one pink tomato to collect seeds. I was thinking "how many years will it take me growing 3-4 each year.

Thank you!

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by NarnianGarden

Cross-pollination seems such a tedious job... very demanding.
I wonder how the hybrid seed producers go about with it... Do they really hand-pollinate everything?

I have also thought the same way.
How do the do it and sell a pack of seeds for about 2 bucks ? And most of that 2 bucks goes for packaging , marketing and the middle man. So probably producer get like 50 cents.
I personally doubt that ALL the seeds sold as F1 are really F1. Maybe some of them are. This is something that cannot be done like in assembly line and mass produced , even when they contract it out to some people in India it should cost a lot more. JMO.

PS: I am growing Kumato F3. The F2 fruits were true last year.

[efisakov]

Originally Posted by Gardeneer

I have also thought the same way.
How do the do it and sell a pack of seeds for about 2 bucks ? And most of that 2 bucks goes for packaging , marketing and the middle man. So probably producer get like 50 cents.
I personally doubt that ALL the seeds sold as F1 are really F1. Maybe some of them are. This is something that cannot be done like in assembly line and mass produced , even when they contract it out to some people in India it should cost a lot more. JMO.

PS: I am growing Kumato F3. The F2 fruits were true last year.

How does Kumato taste for you? I grew F2 few years ago and it was no difference to the store taste, no sweetness. I did not like store taste, just had an idea that if I grew it and let it ripe on the vine it may taste sweeter.

[bower]

Originally Posted by efisakov

Bower, thank you. That is a good idea about small pots. I have quite few buckets. I just need one pink tomato to collect seeds. I was thinking "how many years will it take me growing 3-4 each year.

Thank you!

There's a great thread by nctomatoman from a couple of years ago, where he showed how he was growing out huge numbers of varieties in small pots in his driveway. He was able to get large fruits for tasting and saving seeds. Liquid ferts I think may be important and also be prepared to water often. I have tried a few different sizes of pots for this purpose but always felt sad about the plants that only produced a couple fruit. But where they are unknowns, well you have to be ruthless and think about the seeds. I will have to do something similar to hunt down my early beef that got crossed last year.... ruthless pruning and small pots I guess.

There is another option that breeders use too, that is to put multiple seedlings into one large pot. Pruning is still necessary (except maybe for cherries, they seem to do ok even when crowded) and you avoid some of the extreme watering needs (I hate having to water twice a day!).
Another bonus, you can cull out any plants that you identify as not right - wrong fruit shape etc - or if they fruit early enough, once you find the right colour you can cut back the others and let your favourite grow on in a nice big container. .

[efisakov]

That is a great idea as well. Thank you.