True North Tomatoes

[luigiwu]

Wow, wow, WOW, cant wait for all of those awesome looking tomatoes - amazing!!
where do you get those brown speckled grow pots from? They look so nice!

[bower]

I'm very interested in seeing how much visible variation you get in the F3 - including earliness, size of the plant, and of course the fruit characteristics besides taste, which I know continues to segregate on down the generations. How many are you growing of each line, Karen?

[KarenO]

Originally Posted by bower

I'm very interested in seeing how much visible variation you get in the F3 - including earliness, size of the plant, and of course the fruit characteristics besides taste, which I know continues to segregate on down the generations. How many are you growing of each line, Karen?

I asked my tomato hero Tania and she advised a minimum of 8 of each so I decided on a dozen of each. So far they look fairly uniform so it will be interesting to look for significant differences to select the f4 s from
KarenO

[KarenO]

Originally Posted by luigiwu

Wow, wow, WOW, cant wait for all of those awesome looking tomatoes - amazing!!
where do you get those brown speckled grow pots from? They look so nice!

Hi thanks! The pots are biodegradable made of rice hulls or something. A local garden centre had them on clearance for 10 cents each so I bought 100 of them. Supposedly they should last about 3 seasons provided they don't sit in water.
KarenO

[LindyAdele]

These are beautiful looking tomatoes, and this is an exciting project! I'd love to know what your plans are for the future with them - will seeds for these be sold somewhere or just available from you? I am zone 6. I would totally love to try these! It is really cool to follow a project like this. Keep posting.

[SharonRossy]

Karen, those are so gorgeous! Can't wait for your updates! Bower, you must keep us posted on your toms also!

[loeb]

Great project Karen. How many plants do you think you need in f2 and f4 to choose from? I always wonder how many of each generation is a good number..

[KarenO]

Originally Posted by loeb

Great project Karen. How many plants do you think you need in f2 and f4 to choose from? I always wonder how many of each generation is a good number..

I suppose as many as you have room for in the F2, I had 16 of this cross in the F2, all of them were different. I was told a minimum of 8 per selection by Tatiana who's opinion I respect. I have 12 of each of these 3 selections reduced from 24 of each that I started by choosing the most vigorous small seedlings. All of the F2 seedlings were PL as expected for these 3 selections.
I hope it's enough, I think it will be to give a decent choice in which to carry through to the F4.
KarenO

[loeb]

Ok thank you Karen, it gives me more perspective on my own crosses.. So I will have to change some things next year. And how many are you planning to plant at f4?

[KarenO]

Originally Posted by loeb

Ok thank you Karen, it gives me more perspective on my own crosses.. So I will have to change some things next year. And how many are you planning to plant at f4?

Planning to select one of each to save seed
from, the best IMO , and do it agin next year a dozen of each and so on. I want to stabilize the three as they are so that is my goal. They already are what I want so I am not hoping for more segregation but to achieve stability as they are. A bicolour heart, the ribbed Purple Heart and the large black blunt heart. Time will tell if it's going to work. They taste excellent as well so the flavour will be key in selecting among them if the general looks are the same. Flavour and relative earliness as I need a final plant that will produce in a 120 day frost free ( in a good year) season.
I am no expert but this is my plan. I am certain there are other ways
Karen

[KarenO]

April 29, the "children" doing nicely in the greenhouse. Growing FAST
Karen

[BigVanVader]

The Midnight sun is very pretty. Looks like it would sell itself at market. Good luck and good job Karen!

[KarenO]

Originally Posted by BigVanVader

The Midnight sun is very pretty. Looks like it would sell itself at market. Good luck and good job Karen!

Thank you so much!
Karen

[ginger2778]

They are beautiful!

[KarenO]

Excited to see flower buds developing on 3 of the Polaris, one of the Tundra and one of the midnight sun.
The seed was planted March 26, making these seedlings all of 30 days old. Now granted they are not actually blooming yet (and likely wont for another 2 weeks) but to see buds this early on a few of them is quite something I think for large tomatoes. Gives me hope for the early midseason timing I am hoping for in my final selections.
KarenO