As a direct response to Taryn's question...I can offer my two cents worth, but others may see some hints that could be applied to their situation.
Taryn and I are both in the PNW. Maybe I know a little bit of her frustration in getting tomatoes to bloom...let alone set fruit that ripens.
I am putting quotes around Taryn's comments...
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Hi, I want to try my micro dwarf tomato crossing project again (I was working on it a year ago, but I had some sort of disease where the buds wouldn't open on the dwarfs)
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Hope you do have more success this year on crossing...but I need more info on when and why the tomato buds wouldn't open. I have my hunches, but I will wait for a word or two to verify my suspicions.
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I am growing some super dwarfs (Micro Tom, Hahms Gelbe Topftomate, etc.) to cross with the regular indeterminate that I am growing this summer.
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The Micro Tom would be a good one to cross...I was thinking of Dancing with Smurfs or some other blues that would make excellent combinations...the F-1 plants wouldn't be that significant but the F-2 population would be great to pick out some dwarfs with blue foliage and blue fruit...thinking of the name Micro Blues or Micro Brews....
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That means I will be able to grow the F1 seed out this winter, although I don't have room for a bunch of indeterminate plants in my house. So could I theoretically grow each indeterminate to about a foot tall, chop the tops off of them, and just use the first bloom/fruit to save seeds from, and discard the plant after I save seeds from the first fruit? This way I would be able to work on the F1 plants this winter, instead of waiting until next summer. Does that make any sense?
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It would make good sense to make the crosses as early as possible in order to have F-1 seed to sow as soon as possible....say August at the latest...and grow some plants in six packs to harden off the plants to force them to put on an early bloom in the six pack...hand self the flower(s) to form a fruit...them pot up in a slightly bigger pot to finish off indoors during the months of October and November...hoping the fruit ripens by early to late December. All you need is a nubbin of a fruit...large enough for just a few seed. Growing the plants in a confined and small container eliminates any concern whether or not the vine would be indeterminate. Once a fruit sets the plant would not grow much at all...the benign stress would be perfect to finish the project. The F-2 seed extracted would then be sown in the following Spring for to select for those traits...dwarf and maybe blue.
Taryn, if you are anywhere near the Seattle area..I could help with your crosses or you could visit me and I could demonstrate my procedures. I could put the hybrid seedlings...yours and mine....in a greenhouse near Lake City Way...within the greater Seattle Metro area. I should sow seed of my Green Elf dwarf and BLUE GREEN....both green flesh...one dwarf and one blue...the first F-2 to be both green flesh, dwarf and blue could be called LITTLE ELFIN BLUE, or something in that vein. I like BABY SMURF also as a name.
Tom Wagner