[QUOTE=KarenO;604484]Couldn't resist the temptation and planted a little group of your purple cherry PL micro F4 labelled 11X-F4-6-1.
happy to have them to enjoy their cuteness on my desk under a lamp for now. will have to move them when I pot them up but they are keeping me company while they are babies. Thank you for the seed, I will certainly let you know how they do and return seed to you of any that show the characteristics you want.
Karen[/QUOTE]

Plant LOTS and cull heavily. I am growing some F4s now and there is a huge amount of segregation. Quite a bit more than I expected. I'm referring to segregation in growth habit, not fruit. There are many plants that have, for lack of a better word, one 'abnormally' or another. The differentiation seems the most dramatic about the time they normally start to put out blossoms.

I will look for the littlest of the seedlings to grow out but I'm not fussy or critical of them regardless. I will enjoy them for whatever they become as it is a treat just to be able to grow them indoors on these dark days of winter. The pretty little things :)
KO

As young'ens, they are all cute - but so are puppies and kids. Unfortunately, not all dogs nor adults are so cute....... (Same with these)...

They are definitely PL, but on some of them it seems the leaves want to get bigger than the plant wants to be. Some of the leaves curl and twist themselves into weird shapes and positions. They often make it impossible to see into the main stem. I have a couple of the smallest of these remain a healthy looking plant and never put out a blossom. Any more, I make them show me a blossom before I move them out of the red cup into their final home. They do fine in a 5"-6" 1 1/2-2 qt. pot.

Some put out several sprays of blossoms from the knot of stems and leaves. The one I am hoping to replicate put a single main stem out the top that turned into an enormous canopy of 100s of blossoms. That became a canopy of purple fruit centered over the knot of leaves. The ones from which your seeds were saved had the canopy so well centered and balanced that it didn't need any support, even loaded with fruit.

I assume it was determinate, since it quit growing once it put out the canopy of blossoms. If I can get it to replicate, I'll call it "Canopy Purple"

Sounds really interesting. Do you have a pic of what to look for? Or a link to another thread re these?
Karen

Seems micros, being weird little abnormal plants in the first place are prone to oddities of foliage. I enjoyed growing CK's with that rolled leaf trait even though I didn't find the fruit very good unfortunately . I'm looking forward to see what yours do,
KO

Here are a few photos of some siblings. I had high hopes from an F2 I liked and set out 26 F3 siblings last spring. They were doing very well when I took these pictures. The first one is the plant your seeds are from. The next one shows a similar plant that I liked much better than yours at this stage. The third shows one with lots of smaller scattered blossom sprays. The last one shows one that had far more blossoms than any tiny plant I have ever seen.

Unfortunately, shortly after I took these pictures, some deer took a liking to tomatoes and decimated most of mine. I eventually put an electric fence around my main garden and salvaged a good portion of what was inside that. Sixteen of the twenty-six were outside the fence and I never picked a ripe fruit from any of them.

I found one I would like to replicate
 

This F2 has Dwarf Sweet Sue as a grandpa and the color and taste that live up to its pedigree. It topped out at 14" and had great fruit set. Fingers crossed for the F3s.

Another interesting F2
 

This one topped out at 7". It wasn't multiflora, but was so tiny I had to keep it. I had already picked a couple when I took this photo, but what shows here is all this one did. It would be fine in a 5" pot. Is there enough fruit there to justify the effort?

Thank you for that dfollett. As i've mentioned i have culled quite a bit and have some very healthy starts from your seeds. Have not counted but at least 60+. I'll pot up at least 15-20 of each. All potato leaf. Might start a new thread to follow them. Right now they are on my 'winter garden thread/post.

Nice pics. Some of them remind me of the Anmore Treasures that I grew last summer. I wish I had a field of them under low tunnels.

[QUOTE=oakley;604607]Thank you for that dfollett. As i've mentioned i have culled quite a bit and have some very healthy starts from your seeds. Have not counted but at least 60+. I'll pot up at least 15-20 of each. All potato leaf. Might start a new thread to follow them. Right now they are on my 'winter garden thread/post.[/QUOTE]

I'll start following that thread. I'll be interested in watching your progress. They're fun to grow - frustrating when they don't turn out like you want, but fun nonetheless.

Do you have any pics of the violet fruited one?

[QUOTE=NarnianGarden;604669]Do you have any pics of the violet fruited one?[/QUOTE]

I thought I took photos of the purple F3s, but apparently I didn't. I can't find any. Sorry. As I remember, they weren't quite as dark as the Margaret Curtains I've grown, but they did have her greenish shoulders until they were fully ripe.

Red Robin
 

My Red Robin on the windowsill. We have true winter here.

tuncse, pretty and very healthy. Did you keep track of its age from seed? I have 4 RedRobins just transplanted into 4" pots. 3 are just 4" tall, one is a tiny 2". Awfully slow growing.

..." Any more, I make them show me a blossom before I move them out of the red cup into their final home."

That is good advice. I've stopped culling. I have room to pot up all of them, then look for a centered cluster/blossom. Good project. 8-)

52 days from seed starting, in the first group potted up, (2 weeks ago), i'm seeing multiflora clusters
just past the 8th leaf, between the final 9 and 10 small leaves. Consistent with all of them so far. Pic of two easily viewed with cell phone. Will know more in a week i'm guessing...

-Time to get out the big guns...(cameras)

Looks promising.
Hey, almost January - time to start sorting out the seed collection for real, only three months until April!!

[QUOTE=NarnianGarden;607490]Looks promising.
Hey, almost January - time to start sorting out the seed collection for real, only three months until April!![/QUOTE]

I'm months away from that myself...this is about indoor winter growing. I'm deep in snow and growing micro plants. A winter project.

Looking good! Great to be growing something in the winter isn't it?

[QUOTE=oakley;607532]I'm months away from that myself...this is about indoor winter growing. I'm deep in snow and growing micro plants. A winter project.[/QUOTE]


I do get it. For me, there is not enough light (natural or artificial) for indoor growing: I have to wait until springtime for the natural sunshine.

[QUOTE=NarnianGarden;607546]I do get it. For me, there is not enough light (natural or artificial) for indoor growing: I have to wait until springtime for the natural sunshine.[/QUOTE]

Just a choice to use my simple grow lights that sit stagnant in the winter and the room i usually start seed in Feb-March...growing micros this winter. Where years nothing grew waiting for the next season. I have a nice project going....micro greens, 3rd year on micro sunflowers, 5th year on a white chive project. Many thing can be grown in the winter...getting another foot of snow tomorrow...using that planting area to test possible plants for winter food. We are eating daily salads fresh cuttings. Not a bag from a grocery.

Yes, I have grown plenty of microgreens indoors... cress, sunflowers, radishes. They thrive in normal indoors light.
Some years ago I started my tomatoes early, back then I had some powerful lights I could use. That lamp no longer works, so no more super early starts for me :( But the sunlight gets pretty bright and intense in February, so I'll sow my micro dwarfs then. :)

Chose three to grow out. These 3 first up.
Have you noticed variability in the germination time? I noticed between 5 and 28! Days for seeds sown the same day in the same pot. I kept the last puppy dogs tail to germinate and it has just got its first leaves. i will grow it out to to see if it is different in other ways as well.
Seed labelled 11X-F4-6-1 determinate purple cherry.
KarenO

Here is the slowpoke. Planted the same day. Same pot December 2. Cool room no bottom heat same as the others.

Good looking little plants Karen! Great to have something growing in the winter isn't it?

I grew out 5 11xF3 last summer, all were red. I see you've got 11xF4 that is purple, very neat! Did you grow out 11xF3 and get a purple or did you get purple F4 from someone else? I'm debating how many to grow this year of the remaining F3 seed vs. F4 seed from my best red plant I saved seed from.

Justin

This thread is making me jealous. I am going to go sow some Aztek. I'm thinking at my market in April, I could get a premium price for nearly-mature plants in 2 gallon pots, $15 or so. At that time of year, the farm store across the street charges $19 for a Big Boy in a 2-gallon pot that is barely blooming...and has been treated with a growth regulator.

[QUOTE=jmsieglaff;608616]Good looking little plants Karen! Great to have something growing in the winter isn't it?

I grew out 5 11xF3 last summer, all were red. I see you've got 11xF4 that is purple, very neat! Did you grow out 11xF3 and get a purple or did you get purple F4 from someone else? I'm debating how many to grow this year of the remaining F3 seed vs. F4 seed from my best red plant I saved seed from.

Justin[/QUOTE]

Dan sent me the F4 seed.
KO

[QUOTE=jmsieglaff;608616]Good looking little plants Karen! Great to have something growing in the winter isn't it?

I grew out 5 11xF3 last summer, all were red. I see you've got 11xF4 that is purple, very neat! Did you grow out 11xF3 and get a purple or did you get purple F4 from someone else? I'm debating how many to grow this year of the remaining F3 seed vs. F4 seed from my best red plant I saved seed from.

Justin[/QUOTE]
worth growing in winter for the smell of the leaves alone. pretty little guys. Dan says this one had really good flavor. looking forward to seeing some blooms pretty soon I think now that they are each in their pot as of yesterday and under some proper light
KarenO

[QUOTE=KarenO;608624]Dan sent me the F4 seed.
KO[/QUOTE]

Good to know, so I assume he grew 11xF3 and found the purple.

Red is a tough color, of my 5 plants who knows, I could have had some heterozygous for red and homozygous for red. I'll definitely try some more F3 seed this year and maybe grow a couple of my 11xF4 seed as it was a very tasty red cherry tomato.