[nctomatoman]

I was pondering using crosses to determine whether very similar looking tomatoes are really the same. The thought came to me when thinking about the results of the Dwarf F1 cross project. New Big Dwarf was used in two crosses - with Carbon - producing Sleazy A (medium purple), and with Paul Robeson, producing Happy (medium brown).

Sleazy A is a large (one pound), oblate pink tomato. Happy is a medium, very convoluted red.

We have some interesting heirloom situations - the group of similar looking regular leaf bicolors (Georgia Streak, Pineapple, Ruby Gold, Burrackers, etc). We have a group of similar looking regular leaf large pinks (Brimmer, Ponderosa, Wins All, Sandul Moldovan, etc).

It may be interesting to do a cross of several of these to the same dwarf and then see the results in the F1. it certainly wouldn't be a water tight experiment - if the F1s are all very similar looking, we couldn't really conclude very much. However, if the F1s are quite different looking, it would confirm that even though the starting indeterminate heirlooms are similar looking, they are actually different varieties genetically.

Anyway, just a thought - Keith, what do you think? Those good at crossing (Patrina!), in your crossing, you could include a few of these in your efforts in the future, just for the fun of it...

This is what happens on a lazy Sat morning after a few cups of strong coffee! Just dreaming of tomato genetics...