Odd I did not send that! Just attempted ten more crosses in the backyard crossing bed and in the back yard greenhouse.
Ha ha no worries, and your crossing sounds fun! Mine’s really slowed down, but hopefully the outside ones should be starting up soon.
Today’s Backyard and Greenhouse crossing attempts:
McClintock x MMR non dwarf
Utah Heart x MMR non dwarf
Payette x MMR non dwarf
Mr. Stripey x MMR non dwarf
Golden Bison x MMR non dwarf
Yellow Tiger x MMR non dwarf
Sandpoint x MMR non dwarf
Amethyst Cream x MMR non dwarf
(Dwarf Mocha x MMS) x MMR non dwarf
Fruity x MMR non dwarf
(MMM x BAG) x MMR non dwarf
Many of these mothers were extremely early first flowers, earlier than usually, but I emasculated them and tried anyway. There are several days of cool weather this week which could lead to successful crosses.
That brings my crossing spreadsheet to this:
X 2023 Took? Still to X 2023 Tomatoes
Y 1. Amethyst Cream
Y Y 2. Anmore Dewdrop 2018 from BC*
Y 3. Payette from Idaho*
Y 4. Sandpoint from Idaho*
Y 5. Golden Bison North Dakota*
Y 6. Cheesemanii Hybrid from Terrior Seeds*
Y Y 7. exserted orange stock seed*
Y Y 8. Exserted red tiger with best blue for stock seed 2020 *
Y 9. Mission Mountain Sunrise (from crossing blocks (at least two packets to plant)
Y 10. Wagner Muddy Waters
Y 11. Dwarf Eagle Smiley*
Y 12. Mission Mountain Morning F3 (from crossing blocks at least three packets to plant)
Y 16. LA0428 & LA0429
Y 17. LA1404 s. Cheesemaniae
1 18. LA2329 habrochaites
Y 19. LA1410 galapagense
Y 20. MMM X LA2329
2 21. MMM X (galapagense x Unknown)
Y 24. BH X LA2329- one sprouted
3 25. Promiscuous x LA2329 – F2 sprouted
4 26. MMM X(Promiscuous X LA2329) - sprouted
Y Y 27. Mission Mountain Rising F2!
Y 29. MMS x Dwarf Mocha’s Cherry
Y 31. MMM X Sweet Cherriette = Mission Mountain Early F2!
Y 32. MMM X Unknowns
Y 33. MMM X Brad’s Atomic Grape
Y 34. MMM x Brown Rugose tolerant current
Y Y 35. MMM x Late blight resistant current PH5
Y Y 36. MMM X Purple Zebra
Y 37. Dwarf Gloria’s Treat x currents
Y 38. Farthest North which is Bison X current from North Dakota*
5 39. Spoon?*
Y 40. Uluru Ochre*
Y 41. Utah Heart*
Y 42. Mr. Stripy*
Y 43. Hoosier Rose*
Y 44. Fruity*
6 45. Fuzzy*
Y 46. McClintock a Montanan*
Y 47. Wilford from Wyoming*
Y 48. Mandarin Mini a Montanan*
7 49. Sunviva OSSI’s European Sister*
Y 50. Ida Gold*
8 51. Flamenco
Y 52. Krainiy Sever
Y 53. Fisher’s Earliest Paste a Montanan?*
Y y 54. Fisher’s Prairie Fire a Montanan?!- corroborated at least once.*
Y y 55. Fisher’s Mountain Boy a Montanan?*
Y 56 Coyote / White Current
Y 57. Bison
Y 58. Dwarf Gloria’s Treat
So perhaps only eight more crosses to attempt!
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23 Crosses picked so far. 21 of them are fermenting, drying, or back in packets already.
MMR non dwarf x EO which might lead to an blue orange tomato
EO x Anmore Dewdrop which might lead to extra early orange exserted offspring.
MMM x (MMM x LB Pimp) which may make recovering potato leaf blue exserted bicolor easier.
(MMM F2 x Purple Zebra F1) x (MMM F2 x PH5 pimpinillifolium)
Fisher’s Prairie Fire x EO
Bison x MMM
ET no stripes x EO
(MMM x Purple Zebra F1) x (MMM x LA1375)
(MMM x PH5 LB pimp) x (MMM x LA1375)
Fisher’s Earliest Paste x (MMM x LA1375)
Ida Gold x (MMM x LA1375)
(MMM x Sweet Cherriette) x (MMM x LA1375)
(MMM x Aztek non dwarf F2) x EO
Krainiy Sever x (MMM x Aztek non dwarf)
Fruity x (MMM x Aztek non dwarf)
Fruity x Exserted Orange + a second dip with (MMM x Aztek non dwarf)
Fisher’s Mountain Boy x EO
ET x MMM
Siberia x MMM
Dwarf Eagle Smiley x (MMM x Brown Rugose LA1375)
Farthest North x EO
Wilford x (MMM x Brown Rugose LA1375)
Bison x (MMM x Brown Rugose LA1375)
Let’s see:
Utah Heart:
Has a
Utah Heart x (RL MMM x Sweet Cherriette) fruit forming. This is a cross I am happy with as it brings in shortness of season.
Utah Heart x (MMM x Aztek a dwarf segregate) forming. Important note here is that MMM x Aztek is not a promising cross anymore in my view. I’ve made many crosses with it this year, but I am disappointed in it. The two dwarf segregates in the greenhouse have both fallen down. Krainy Sever, Payette, and Sandpoint do not fall down and so I suspect the crosses with them will be much more promising. A recent grow report from Vermont showed the plant dying before it ripened its first fruits under Eastern conditions. The main thing it therefore offers is a different color of fruit.
And many rejected crosses. One or two might still have hope of forming a fruit but I see signs of yellowing on all even if slight so I suspect it is a false hope.
Mr Stripey has:
Only rejected crosses.
Mr. Stripey is remarkably tall for the bed it is in which is a shallow raised bed of potting soil over landscaping fabric and tree roots in the shade of a maple tree (Acer saccharinum the silver maple which is a fast-growing yard tree in this part of the west but is native back east somewhere).
Hoosier Rose
All crosses rejected.
No ripe fruits yet on any of the three.
General all three varieties:
Plants seem healthy. I should add that if I was trying to give them a good try or even a trial I would not have planted them where I did- I planted them where I am most likely to make successful crosses with them, not where they would do the best. This is because I have a better history of making successful crosses in the backyard shade or the greenhouse protected environment so Mr. Stripey and Utah Heart are in the backyard and Hoosier Rose is in the Backyard Greenhouse. However; Hoosier Rose does not seem to like the greenhouse much (based on its slow growth there and lack of successful fruiting) and has just sent a shoot up above the bench which is where I made today’s crossing attempt.
Have been using them as cross mothers. Mainly because of my habit of looking for first flowers that are just ready for crossing attempts. Then that just continued. However, no suitable pollen producing flowers were found today either- or I would have attempted reverse crosses today. In future crossing attempts it would be great to use them as fathers not mothers as a cross on a small early cherry would be more likely to ripen for sure at this point. Sometimes the hammer of frost falls on September 1st here and sometimes I have tomato plants into October. With the latter being more usual in recent years but global weirding is a fickle beast. So I trust best the tomato seeds I have already put away for the year.
Looks like I can make some additional crossing attempts right now. I see a suitable flower on Mr. Stripey and another on Hoosier Rose. - I was able to make an attempt on Hoosier Rose with Mission Mountain Morning x LA1375 with reported Brown Rugose Virus tolerance and MMM x Purple Zebra F1. For Mr. Stripey I made the attempt with MMM x Purple Zebra F1.
While it seems like a reasonable conclusion I wouldn’t necessarily say that Utah Heart takes up pollen better than the other two! I think for the data to be statistically reliable it would be best to have a lot more attempts. More than I can reasonably make!
I guess I made at least 125 attempts and have at least 40 takes this year. So batting no more than say about 50%. One reason for that is repeat dipping is useful for making sure on a cross. If you dip into pollen three days in a row, it is much more likely every cross will take. I can’t do that this year usually do to my work schedule. So I reckon I have to hit things just about perfect to get a successful cross.
Weather also matters. It is much cooler and rainy today. I bet the greenhouse crosses I attempted today will have a better chance of taking.
I attempted Exserted Orange x LA2329 again today on about five flowers. I previously tried it twice with at least one flower each time and all failed. I may also manage to redip tomorrow. Wouldn’t be surprised if it takes well. If it doesn’t take at all- I might then start to wonder a bit if it doesn’t take up LA2329 pollen well even though I made some other crosses with other pollen parents. However, it would still not be statistically significant. That might take 100 attempts or more.
I would have guesstimated that crossing Mission Mountain Morning and The One might be difficult- though I in fact have a cross forming on a plant of The One x MMM or MMS. Just had to keep trying.
It might in fact be a little harder to cross with the big beefsteak flowers as the mothers. They just have such a big stigma, it takes a lot of pollen to pollinate it. It may also be easy to miscalculate and emasculate them on the young side.
I think a lot of my failure rate in general is emasculating too young and then not being there to re-dip.
Still I am up to 39 crosses. that I have actually picked fruit from which is 3X more than last year.
MMR non dwarf x EO which might lead to an blue orange tomato
EO x Anmore Dewdrop which might lead to extra early orange exserted offspring.
MMM x (MMM x LB Pimp) which may make recovering potato leaf blue exserted bicolor easier.
(MMM F2 x Purple Zebra F1) x (MMM F2 x PH5 pimpinillifolium)
Fisher’s Prairie Fire x EO
Bison x MMM
ET no stripes x EO
(MMM x Purple Zebra F1) x (MMM x LA1375)
(MMM x PH5 LB pimp) x (MMM x LA1375)
Fisher’s Earliest Paste x (MMM x LA1375)
Ida Gold x (MMM x LA1375)
(MMM x Sweet Cherriette) x (MMM x LA1375)
(MMM x Aztek non dwarf F2) x EO
Krainiy Sever x (MMM x Aztek non dwarf)
Fruity x (MMM x Aztek non dwarf)
Fruity x Exserted Orange + a second dip with (MMM x Aztek non dwarf)
Fisher’s Mountain Boy x EO
ET x MMM
Siberia x MMM
Dwarf Eagle Smiley x (MMM x Brown Rugose LA1375)
Farthest North x EO
Wilford x (MMM x Brown Rugose LA1375)
Bison x (MMM x Brown Rugose LA1375)
Yellow Tiger no blue x EO
(MMM X GalapagenseX) X (MMM x LA2329)
MMS x (MMM x LA1375)
Sunviva x MMMF3
Amethyst Cream x MMM
Yellow Tiger x (MMM x Aztek)
EO x (MMM X BAG)
MMR Dwarf x Farthest North (note, yellow with no blue)
(MMM X Purple Zebra) X (MMM x Brad’s Atomic Grape)
(MMM X Aztek non dwarf) X EO note: just reciprocal cross
ET no stripes no blue x MMM X Aztek non dwarf
Yellow Tiger x (MMM X Brad’s Atomic Grape)
Muddy Waters x (MMM x Aztek non dwarf)
(MMM x Aztek Dwarf) X Exserted Orange
MMM x (MMM x LA1375)
Exserted Tiger x (MMM x Brad’s Atomic Grape)
39 have Big Hill HX-9 in ancestry
33 have MMM so possibly Jagodka and Brad
10 Have LA1375
9 Have ancestry from older varieties originating in MT or adjacent states and provinces
10 have Exserted Orange
9 have Aztek
7 have exserted tiger or sibling
3 Have purple zebra
Good grow report- in some ways, The One is all about flavor! Specifically, about getting something with really good flavor out of Joseph’s promiscuous tomato project.The year before last it was the one with the really good flavor. If some of its descendants don’t taste good they shouldn’t advance to another year of growing!
First tomato from the field! It’s the Lizzano F3. Pretty tasty too. These plants are super tiny and covered with tomatoes. Seem great for cold and windy places.
Unfortunately for some, the blight this year hasn’t been like last year, so, no plants have died from it yet…
2023 new F1 crosses picked:
MMR non dwarf x EO which might lead to an blue orange tomato
EO x Anmore Dewdrop which might lead to extra early orange exserted offspring.
MMM x (MMM x LB Pimp) which may make recovering potato leaf blue exserted bicolor easier.
(MMM F2 x Purple Zebra F1) x (MMM F2 x PH5 pimpinillifolium)
Fisher’s Prairie Fire x EO
Bison x MMM
ET no stripes x EO
(MMM x Purple Zebra F1) x (MMM x LA1375)
(MMM x PH5 LB pimp) x (MMM x LA1375)
Fisher’s Earliest Paste x (MMM x LA1375)
Ida Gold x (MMM x LA1375)
(MMM x Sweet Cherriette) x (MMM x LA1375)
(MMM x Aztek non dwarf F2) x EO
Krainiy Sever x (MMM x Aztek non dwarf)
Fruity x (MMM x Aztek non dwarf)
Fruity x Exserted Orange + a second dip with (MMM x Aztek non dwarf)
Fisher’s Mountain Boy x EO
ET x MMM
Siberia x MMM
Dwarf Eagle Smiley x (MMM x Brown Rugose LA1375)
Farthest North x EO
Wilford x (MMM x Brown Rugose LA1375)
Bison x (MMM x Brown Rugose LA1375)
Yellow Tiger no blue x EO
(MMM X GalapagenseX) X (MMM x LA2329)
MMS x (MMM x LA1375)
Sunviva x MMMF3
Amethyst Cream x MMM
Yellow Tiger x (MMM x Aztek)
EO x (MMM X BAG)
MMR Dwarf x Farthest North (note, yellow with no blue)
(MMM X Purple Zebra) X (MMM x Brad’s Atomic Grape)
ET no stripes no blue x MMM X Aztek non dwarf
Yellow Tiger x (MMM X Brad’s Atomic Grape)
Muddy Waters x (MMM x Aztek non dwarf)
(MMM x Aztek Dwarf) X Exserted Orange
MMM x (MMM x LA1375)
Exserted Tiger x (MMM x Brad’s Atomic Grape)
Farthest North x (MMM X Aztek - non dwarf)
MMR Dwarf No Blue x (MMM X PH5 LB Pimp)
Fisher’s Prairie Fire x (MMM X Aztek non dwarf)
MMR Dwarf bicolor no blue x EO
Fisher’s Earliest Paste x (MMM X BAG)
Stats that may aid in sorting these into groups for 2024:
43 have Big Hill HX-9 in ancestry
37 have MMM so possibly Jagodka and Brad
10 Have LA1375
12 Have ancestry from older varieties originating in MT or adjacent states and provinces
11 have Exserted Orange
11 have Aztek
7 have exserted tiger or sibling
4 have ph5 pimpinillifolium
3 Have purple zebra
If I take the notes back to 2017 here is my complete list of tomato crosses since I’ve been breeding.
Blue Ambrosia x Amurski Tiger = Exserted Tiger and Yellow Tiger
Blue Ambrosia x Unknown = Pale Yellow
Lofthouse Potato Leaf (Brad?) x Blue Gold = Mission Mountain Sunrise
MMS x Big Hill HX-9 = Mission Mountain Morning
MMM x Aztek (now in both dwarf and non dwarf F2 segregates) = Mission Mountain Rising
MMS x Unknown
MMM x Sweet Cherriette (now in both potato leaf and regular leaf F2 segregates)
MMM x Brown Rugose LA1934
MMM x LB PH5 Pimp
Dwarf Mocha’s Cherry x MMS
Dwarf Gloria’s Treat x Pimps
Dwarf Gloria’s Treat x Blue Beefsteak
MMM x Blue Unknown beefsteak
MMM x Purple Zebra F1
MMM x LA2329
MMM x (Promiscuous x LA2329)
MMM x (Galapagense x Unknown)
MMM x Brad’s Atomic Grape
MMR non dwarf x EO which might lead to an blue orange tomato
EO x Anmore Dewdrop which might lead to extra early orange exserted offspring.
MMM x (MMM x LB Pimp) which may make recovering potato leaf blue exserted bicolor easier.
(MMM F2 x Purple Zebra F1) x (MMM F2 x PH5 pimpinillifolium)
Fisher’s Prairie Fire x EO
Bison x MMM
ET no stripes x EO
(MMM x Purple Zebra F1) x (MMM x LA1375)
(MMM x PH5 LB pimp) x (MMM x LA1375)
Fisher’s Earliest Paste x (MMM x LA1375)
Ida Gold x (MMM x LA1375)
(MMM x Sweet Cherriette) x (MMM x LA1375)
(MMM x Aztek non dwarf F2) x EO
Krainiy Sever x (MMM x Aztek non dwarf)
Fruity x (MMM x Aztek non dwarf)
Fruity x Exserted Orange + a second dip with (MMM x Aztek non dwarf)
Fisher’s Mountain Boy x EO
ET x MMM
Siberia x MMM
Dwarf Eagle Smiley x (MMM x Brown Rugose LA1375)
Farthest North x EO
Wilford x (MMM x Brown Rugose LA1375)
Bison x (MMM x Brown Rugose LA1375)
Yellow Tiger no blue x EO
(MMM X GalapagenseX) X (MMM x LA2329)
MMS x (MMM x LA1375)
Sunviva x MMMF3
Amethyst Cream x MMM
Yellow Tiger x (MMM x Aztek)
EO x (MMM X BAG)
MMR Dwarf x Farthest North (note, yellow with no blue)
(MMM X Purple Zebra) X (MMM x Brad’s Atomic Grape)
ET no stripes no blue x MMM X Aztek non dwarf
Yellow Tiger x (MMM X Brad’s Atomic Grape)
Muddy Waters x (MMM x Aztek non dwarf)
(MMM x Aztek Dwarf) X Exserted Orange
MMM x (MMM x LA1375)
Exserted Tiger x (MMM x Brad’s Atomic Grape)
Farthest North x (MMM X Aztek - non dwarf)
MMR Dwarf No Blue x (MMM X PH5 LB Pimp)
Fisher’s Prairie Fire x (MMM X Aztek non dwarf)
MMR Dwarf bicolor no blue x EO
Fisher’s Earliest Paste x (MMM X BAG)
Crosses picked today include:
The One! X MM
Flamenco x (MMM x galapagense X)
Krainy Sever x (MMM x Aztek non dwarf + MMM x BAG in a redip)
Sandpoint x (MMM x Sweet cherriette)
ET no stripes no blue x LA2329
Yellow Tiger x Dwarf MMR
Dwarf MMR x (MMM X BAG)
Fisher’s Mountain Boy X (MMM X Aztek non dwarf)
I’d be really interested to see any of the plants or fruits of the galapagense crosses! And to hear about tastes!
I didn’t grow out the Galapagense x Unknown again that showed up last year either from my saved seeds or HR seeds. Saved so much seed though. The current baggy I have of (MMM X (Galapagense x unknown)) which is an only 1/4 galapagense F1 with that F1 is segregating red and orange so that unknown must have been a boring red and some got an orange gene from galapagense and some a red from the unknown domestic.
I really have a terrible track record of making crosses with the pure Solanum galapagense LA1410 I have been growing now for so many years.
Ah, it was that one! I’m growing that, will see how the fruits seem (not ripe yet). I like the smell of the leaves.
Then LA1410… I have several crosses to it by the looks of things, and just hope they don’t get eaten before I harvest them! And several crosses using its pollen. A bit impatient to see how the crosses will look 
But makes it all the more exciting I guess! As a plant it’s my favourite galapagense of the accessions I have - darker leaves than the others, more sticky smelly stuff also (which all smells pretty similar and delightful), and flowered well. Although another accession similar to it does have exserted stigmas. I’ve tried crossing them, in case it will be useful to try to breed the antho + exsertion within galapagense. I also have one galapagense which is really different from the others, very different leaves. I even wonder if it might be a galapagense-cheesmaniae hybrid? Harvested crosses to and from that already, since I started that earlier.
Strangely, while crossing indoors was so easy, outdoors, I have found crossing to LA1410 considerably easier than crossing to lyc. - the majority of my outdoor crosses to lyc (even lyc x lyc) didn’t take. I don’t know if the lycs being hybrids makes a difference. Or if it’s because I did most of my crossing between about 3pm~6pm or so? I wonder if the pollen making its pollen tubes might get too cool later on and wanted more time in the warm day to do its thing?
I do wonder if the galapagense percentage tomatoes will end up being easier to cross back to galapagense. Or maybe I should just be satisfied with that species for a few years and let things segregate.
It’s so curious that for you it’s so much harder to cross to galapagense and for me so much easier, than to lyc. I wonder if it’s a time of day thing or a climate thing (temperature? Humidity?) or what…
Thought I’d share some photos. The gal that looks different to the others, that I wonder about - in the middle:
Fruits not yet ripe - indoors they went orange but were never dark like this so that’s a nice surprise, I wonder if they will be dark when ripe:
LA1410:
3 other gal accessions, some of which are planted right together but they all look the same, and more LA1410 off on the centre left a few leaves, you can see considerably darker:
The one of those (obscured pot at back of last image) with exserted stigmas:
Same one:
Then LA1410 next to it in identical lighting immediately after above pic, to see the difference:
I think it’s largely a humidity and time of day thing. I think someone mentioned recently that it is easier to go from the large stigma varieties to the very thin- I’ve had some success in that direction and some failure in the other this and last year so I think I concur.
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Here is some seed fermenting of my 2023 OSSI descent breeders grex. Included most of my 2022 crosses except for the Solanum habrochaites crosses which aren’t probably ready for most people. I hope to send the seed to EFN.
It may be the case that my Bison tomato or one of them as I tend to grow clumps of plants, is a garden cross. I think I detect a little anthocyanin pigment in the skin from the Oregon State University blue skinned tomato project. Was my own saved seed and I grow lots of blue tomatoes. If it is true, the F1s from the crosses will likely segregate more than it would have otherwise.
Plant Profile: Lizzano F3 (Seeds from from William)
The micro dwarf Lizzano F3 is still the only plant-producing tomatoes in the field so far. It’s earlier than 2 years of selecting for early from the other tomatoes. It also tastes surprisingly delicious. It has some blight damage but less than some of the other plants (this year so far blight is light all around).
I have F2s and they look pretty normal size. These are the tiniest most compact plants I’ve ever seen. I think this is a de-hybridizing project, but @WilliamGrowsTomatoes can you say a bit more about this project? Like why are all the F3s completely consistent?
But a weird thing: I planted one of them inside a greenhouse. It is the only plant to die in there from what looks like early blight.
(Background: In March William sent me a a dozenish varieties he’s working on to test for blight and send seeds back).
If trait is recessive it get’s fixed with selfpollination. This line must have few traits that makes it look consistent, but there might be some traits that aren’t visible or too subtle to notice. I had one similar F3 grow-out last year where mother plant was micro dwarf and 13 or so plants looked very similar. There were I think 3 that had yellow fruits and couple plants that were clearly even more dwarf than others. Isn’t that first plant yellow fruited? Maybe that plant in greenhouse had some kind of stem rot. It’s slightly too dead to make any identification. Might have had many things at the same time as disease tend to come to weak plants. On the other plants brown leaf tips is typical to botrytis cinerea. Weird that it doesn’t seem to have english name, but it has finnish name. Maybe because potatoes are and have been so big part of our culture for centuries. Might be some early blight mixed in, but still fairly healthy looking plants.