fast-maturing plants

[goodwin]

One line of my crosses back to L. hirsutum has well-developed buds at 30 days from seed. Has anyone else had this result? The plants are short and stout with that very strong, spicy scent. The female parent is a small gold cherry.

[darwinslair]

30 days? wow. should cross it with Stupice and see if you can get it earlier.

Tom

[goodwin]

Well, it would be great to have a sub 100 day tomato from seed, but one of the side effects of breeding back to wild relatives is the occurrence of a switch which ages the plant prematurely. So far that hasn't shown up, but you never know. These lines tend to be early and I like the idea of crossing again to another early but sharper variety like Stupice. Hadn't thought of it and it is definitely worth a try. Anyway, here is one of the little guys. Lee

[veggie babe]

keep us posted

Neva

[jtharper76]

WOW an interesting result so far!

[goodwin]

Well, they're setting! That was one of my worries, if the plants would be self fertile. This is a photo at 55 days from planting the seed. That was 5 days ago, and the rest of the truss has now set.
I think potting them up to containers and moving out to the greenhouse slowed things down. It's been cold here with lots of snow and I've been running that big old wood stove in the greenhouse a lot.

Lee

[jackdaniel]

Let us know how they TASTE!

[goodwin]

Well, they are just beginning to turn color. This photo is of the second tier. Still on track for 90-100 days from seed. We got a ton of snow and the wind howled last night. Tonight it is calm, clear, and very cold.

[Marko]

Originally Posted by goodwin

One line of my crosses back to L. hirsutum has well-developed buds at 30 days from seed. Has anyone else had this result?

I was close this year with Bloody Butcher, 36 days. If it hasn't been two weeks in cold treatment it would be close to 30 days. Last year it was 105 days from seed to first red fruit in spring, but I got under 100 days from second sowing in early summer.

[jackdaniel]

Goodwin, any update?

[goodwin]

They still aren't ripe, and we're at about 95 days from seed. Must be the chilly weather. However, there are all sorts of interesting plants coming out of these crosses back to l. hirsutum. This is one of three dwarfs. The seed was planted 2/10, and this little guy is only about 7 inches tall. The unusual color and shape of the foliage is also interesting.

[jackdaniel]

Beautiful! Looks healthy and very nice as an ornamental if not taste. Can't wait to see what happens...

[goodwin]

So they did finally ripen - 100 days from seed planted on December 26th. But the fruit is red, not gold, and these plants are large indeterminates. So the genetics are more complicated than I thought. I'll test for sugar levels and post a photo. Supposed to hit 22 degrees tonight and I have over 100 plants out in the field so I've been covering up with everything I have. We'll see how it goes.

[goodwin]

Below is the fruit and the plants in the greenhouse.
Lee

[jackdaniel]

Nice. How do they taste? How are they different than you thought they'd be? What gave you those assumptions?

Interesting how nature can fool you that way. Just goes to show that not having any expectations and taking what comes can be the only option. Sorry it didn't turn out the way you had planned, but hopefully you can take the results and learn from them. It would be great to grow out these seeds and see if they are at all similar...