Early maturity has been worked on quite a bit. As noted earlier, there is a gene for Precocious Flowering that induces the first flower cluster to form at the 5th leaf node on a plant. This is significantly earlier than most tomato varieties which don't form flower buds until the 8th to 11th leaf node. Surprisingly enough, there are lots of early varieties that don't have precocious flowering.
The other genes that result in early maturity tend to restrict fruit size to around golf ball size. This group includes Stupice, Kimberly, Bloody Butcher, etc.
To get early maturity into a slicing type tomato (meaning larger than 3/4 pound) requires combining precocious flowering with rapid growth. This can be done but tends to have a side effect of limiting overall productivity of the plant. This is why I am working with some crosses involving Kimberly, Eva Purple Ball, Big Beef, and Bloody Butcher, hoping the combination will eventually result in a precocious fast growing medium size good flavored tomato.
DarJones
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