Interested in Growing a Multiflora Dwarf?

[tryno12]

Al, if some of these Micro's that at this point in the "grow out" are getting way to big for a 1 gallon container, if i just wanted to stick it in the ground in 3 weeks rather than waste/cull the plant, is there a certain spot on the plant where i can just cut it off and sideways growth would occur and at least I would get some production from the plant? Or a spot to cut it period where it could stay in the 1 gallon pot?
Thanks
Pete

[Al@NC]

If it's too big for the pot then it's going to be too big for the pot. What symptoms is it giving you? Having it in too small of a pot will result in reduced yield and/or it might not grow tomatoes at all.

You could cut the top of the plant off which will spur it to bush out and you would get all sorts of foliage and limbs from the sides of the stem. To do that you would just need to clip the top of the main stem.


Al

[dfollett]

Originally Posted by LDiane

67 is this cross: (Red Robin X Rose Quartz Multiflora F6) F2 X Leggy F5

My seedlings are definitely not leggy, and not purple from cold. It doesn't
matter how cold it is outside - they are under lights in my heated home.

I should explain and give the full pedigree. Leggy is a family in the Dwarf Project I was trialing at the time I got carried away making crosses with the Micro Multiflora. I don't think it has been released yet, but in still in process. I looked up its pedigree. It is from a cross between Lazy F4 (another Dwarf Project line) X Orange Banana. So, looking at Lazy's pedigree the full pedigree of my 67X is:

(Red Robin X Rose Quartz multiflora) F6 X (((Kangaroo Paw Brown F4 X Purple Russian) F2 X Orange Banana) F5) - I think I wrote that correctly...... Who knows what the potential is with that mixture.

The F5 Leggy plants I grew out were taller than normal Dwarfs - perhaps that's where the name came from. The plants were extremely productive and had tasty purple plum shaped fruits

I have not grown any F2s of that cross. I'm glad someone is.

Thanks.

[dfollett]

Originally Posted by LDiane

72 (Red Robin X Rose Quartz Multiflora F6) F2 X Stick

Seedlings:
9 normal
18 Stick
3 furry, almost gray

For those unfamiliar with Stick, it grows straight up with its leaves in tightly curled bunches

I wonder if a few seeds of 73 (a cross with Fuzzy Wuzzy) jumped in with my 72 seeds.

I learned a few things about Stick. It's leaf structure is dominant over other leaf types. Regular leaf is dominant over potato leaf and carrot (fine) leaf, but is apparently recessive to Stick. (I've still got a lot to learn about genetics).

The F1 from the MMF X Stick cross looked just like Stick. I grew one batch of F2s and think I had results similar to those LDiane described, but I don't recall the grey fuzzy. They do sound like the 73X cross but I'm usually fairly careful with seeds. But..... anything's possible

I did get some dwarf Stick that only reached about 12-18" tall but haven't followed up. They could be really cute indoors. I didn't follow up with the regular leaf because I saw nothing special in the fruit from Stick.

[tryno12]

Al, I think I did not explain exactly the case by "forward projecting" a few days, i.e: shortly these plants will be too big, and a bit later way to big - I think I can tell from my observation They are currently in 1 gallon pots as Dan has said will be good enough for the true Micro's, just trying to see how I can save and/or use the plants for production?
Later this summer I will grow out a whole flat or 2 and be selective of what I want to have in the house over the winter - just trying to learn this new venture for me.

Pete

[Al@NC]

Tryno, it just sounds like the plant is too big for your pot. Ultimately, if all you want to do is get at least 1 fruit off of it for saving till next generation, you could strip most of the lower foliage off of it, go down to one stem. You could thin it to where it doesn't want to grow much bigger such as take off all of the foliage except for the most recent at the top.

Otherwise, you have the option of taking a limb or 2 as cut-lings and put them in water to grow roots if you just wanted to buy more time until you could plant them out when the warm weather finally hits your area. I would take a cutting of a branch off the stem where the branch has several leaves, put it in a cup of water like a dixie cup. give it a good week or so and you should see plenty of roots. Then put it in a cup of your potting soil/mix and wet the mix really good. If your cutting takes, it'll still pout for a couple of days but it should snap out of it and perk up. This would buy you plenty of time for the warm weather to get there and you could plant out. Otherwise this cut-ling will still grow just as big as the current plant you have unless the plant is too big from searching for light.

al

[oakley]

Excellent germination with Fuzzy.

[tryno12]

Thanks Al!

[tryno12]

Oakley they look great, are those one of Dan's #' erd plant seeds?
Pete

[tryno12]

Does this look like a #73 X - F4, it does not look MF as Dan identified but seems to be a Micro. - boy do they grow slow in the house!
Pete

[tryno12]

Does this look like a #73 X - F2, it does not look MF as Dan identified but seems to be a Micro.
P:ete

[dfollett]

Originally Posted by tryno12

Does this look like a #73 X - F4, it does not look MF as Dan identified but seems to be a Micro. - boy do they grow slow in the house!
Pete

Take a closer look at the bag of seeds. It says NOT mf on the F4 seeds I sent you. The 73X was a cross with Fuzzy Wuzzy. At F4, they are still unstable so there is nothing specific they should look like except be fuzzy and micro. Those F4 seeds were from an F3 plant that wasn't mf.

Originally Posted by tryno12

Does this look like a #73 X - F2, it does not look MF as Dan identified but seems to be a Micro.
P:ete

Looks fuzzy, but not multiflora. An F2 could be most anything. Most will NOT be multiflora.

[oakley]

Looks like they just need some good sun and fresh air Pete. They are getting a bit necropic.
You could go up in pot size but like my post #484 a couple pages back, I just kept my winter
grown as happy as possible...sunny window, out in shade on nice days, then out they went
when the weather was mostly warm and free of foreseeable cold spells.

73X-F5-3-M, 12" FUZZY, large cherry, NOT MF, (multi-flora), good production
(also known as 'Angora leaf'. )

[Al@NC]

Originally Posted by oakley

Looks like they just need some good sun and fresh air Pete. They are getting a bit necropic.

Agreed! Worst case buy you a clear storage bin and put your plants outside in them like below. It would allow you to get them some sun if the sun is out but it's still too cold to trust them outside due to the temps...

I've used them this spring and just barely popped open the lid to keep a little bit of airflow.

[tryno12]

Thanks Dan and oakley, I need to slow down a bit and read more carefully.
Pete