Cold tolerant varieties

[Tormato]

I'm looking for suggestions of any cold tolerant tomato varieties.

I'll be sending any, if they are in my collection, to a plant biologist (at UConn, I think) who's studying tomatoes.

Gary

[Fusion_power]

Sub Arctic Plenty, Sasha's Altai, and PI120256 have some cold tolerance and early maturity. It is not enough cold tolerance, but can be the difference in a marginal year. LA2175 is a S. Habrochaites that has significant tolerance. LA3969 from TGRC is one to investigate.

I'll put a packs of the first 4 in the mail, but don't have enough of the LA3969.

[Cole_Robbie]

Two years ago, I lost several early plants to a late frost. Sub-Artic Plenty was the only variety that survived.

Wouldn't any tomato named after a cold place have cold tolerance? I don't know that to be true; it is just a guess. Manitobia, Early Siberian, Glacier, and any variety with "Russia" or a former Soviet Republic in the name are what come to mind.

[NarnianGarden]

Aurora, Azochka, and any other Siberian variety? Sophie's Choice from Canada is reportedly very good as well. (I hope, as I'll be experimenting with all these this summer.. and we never know what awaits us, heat or frost!)

[Fusion_power]

Just because it is from Russia or named for some cold place does not mean it is cold tolerant. Azoychka, Early Siberian, Glacier, Stupice, etc are NOT cold tolerant.

Why not? Many of them have the precocious flowering gene(s) which cause the plant to set fruit when it is 8 to 10 inches tall. Most of them are relatively small fruits that take less time to grow and mature. These are NOT adaptations to cold, they are adaptions to a short season climate.

The varieties I named showed modest amounts of stress tolerance, which is NOT the same as cold tolerance. Stress tolerance benefits the plant at both high and low temps. LA3969 and LA2175 show the best potential for breeding cold tolerant tomatoes of the varieties I've trialed. They have significant and measurable cold tolerance.

What exactly is cold tolerance in tomatoes? It is the ability of the plant to continue to grow at temperatures from 28F up to 45F. Any tomato plant that can grow normally in this temperature range would be a huge boon to tomato growers.

What happens to ordinary tomatoes at temps of 28 to 45? Leaves shrivel, turn yellow, wilt, stems lose turgor, roots stop absorbing water. Rubisco is deactivated by free radicals with byproducts accumulating which causes the leaves to die.

How do I test for cold tolerance? The easiest way is to set a couple of trays of plants in your refrigerator at 36F for 3 days. If they are still healthy and green, you have a winner. What is the possibility that a tomato will exhibit cold tolerance? Go buy a lottery ticket, you might actually win the lottery.

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%...l.pone.0050785

[NarnianGarden]

Thanks for setting that straight - makes sense that varieties hailing from cooler regions are adapted to short seasons, not necessarily to cold weather. Ability to bear fruit in shorter seasons is definitely a plus here.. equally valuable than ability to survive in cold weather. Just because summer is short doesn't mean it is that cold: some Russian/Siberian areas have very hot summers. It's the harsh continental climate - cold winters, scorching heat in the summertime...
Not to mention long white nights: those give a special aroma to fruits and berries

[Tormato]

Thanks for the four, Dar.

I have Jagodka, and Sub-Arctic Plenty. One variety the plant biologist was wondering about is Krainiy Sever (Extreme North). She'd be looking for seed of this, if it really is cold tolerant.

Gary

[Andrey_BY]

Krainiy Sever is very early and quite cold tolerant. I can send you KS seeds.

[joseph]

I did a cold/frost tolerant tomato trial last spring.

The varieties that showed the most vigorous growth in the cold weather of very early spring were:

Sasha's Altai
PI 120256
Peron Sprayless
Nevskiy Red
Matina
Jagodka

Sasha's and Jagodka were damaged by frosts that the others survived without visible damage.

[bower]

"What exactly is cold tolerance in tomatoes? It is the ability of the plant to continue to grow at temperatures from 28F up to 45F."

It is a tough definition, for sure.
Most tomato plants in my greenhouse last season were visibly cold stressed when night temperature dipped to 40 F or above, anything below 45 F, and at day temperatures that didn't reach 60 F it's unusual to see any evidence of growth. But this is well above the threshhold of cold tolerance in the definition.

[Fusion_power]

Gary, Krainiy Sever is a short season decent sized tomato on a 2 to 3 ft tall plant. It was moderately cold tolerant, but was hit hard by septoria and other diseases in my garden. O-33 and I-3 are better choices IMO because they last longer under disease stress and carry similar cold tolerance.

Andrey, I can ship fresh seed of Krainiy Sever with the pack I am already sending to Gary.

Here are the seed I packed. BB X EPB F5, I-3, Krainiy Sever, LA0417, LA2175, O-33, PI 120256, Sasha's Altai, Sub Arctic Plenty

Please provide this info to her, it will help tremendously with the work she is doing.

Get Earlinorth (LA2006) which has the ft gene that allows fruit set at 40 degrees. The only gene you need or want from this variety is "ft". This is an otherwise unuseful variety for breeding cold tolerance. It has "u" which has significant negative impact on flavor.

Get LA3969 from TGRC and use it to bring in stress tolerance and cold tolerance.

I will send LA2175 which brings in a stronger source of cold tolerance BUT will require a huge investment of time and effort for breeding since it is pure S. Habrochaites. This line also has the highest potential for breeding useful disease tolerance of any of the varieties I grew last year.

I will send LA0417 which is a single plant selection of a S. Pimpinellifolium that brings exceptional disease tolerance and stress tolerance.

Sub Arctic Plenty has exceptional stress tolerance. This is not the same as cold tolerance, it means the plants recover faster from stress than normal tomatoes. This stress tolerance may be useful depending on breeding objectives.

Big Beef X Eva Purple Ball has genes for exceptionally high fruit set. It is not cold tolerant, but can be used to double fruiting potential.

Make trial crosses with O-33, I-3, PI 120256, Sasha's Altai, Earlinorth, and Sub Arctic Plenty using LA3969 and LA0417 as pollen parent. The F2 seedlings should be tested in a cold chamber and should yield some seedlings with desirable traits including cold tolerance and disease tolerance. Intercross the selected F2's to combine the desirable traits. IMO, Sasha's Altai should figure heavily in the breeding work, it is the best flavored of the cold tolerant varieties.

Jagodka might be useful depending on breeding objectives. It is not cold tolerant as such, but matures fruit in the shortest interval of any variety I've trialed.

Between the trial Joseph and I ran last year, we managed to look at about 40 lines with purported cold tolerance. The varieties listed above have the most potential for bringing a good flavored cold tolerant disease tolerant tomato to market. It will take at least 12 generations of plants to stabilize something useful so tell her this is definitely a long term breeding project!

If she develops something useful, return seed are requested.

[Tormato]

I will let her know about this ongoing thread. I've already emailed a link to this one...

www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=25599

[jcrous]

I have two varieties that I bought from Analioka Seeds some years ago:
Red siberian and Nicolaevna.

Red Siberian
Very Early variety with small red fruit, the same size than Moneymaker. I think it is determinate. Nice taste. Small plant. About two foot high. Seed are very long lasting. Several years when saved when over ripe.

Nicolaevna:
Ineterminate. Medium Pink fruit. Similar growth habits as Brandywine. Tall plant, now much foliage. Strong plant and grow very tall. Do not set lots of fruit. Good taste.
Not an early variety.

Both are able to set fruit at 2 degrees of C / 35.6 degrees of F. This were what was advertized when I purchased them in the first place.