[travis]

I suggested Carolina Gold for the tangerine gene, and because Carolina Gold is the product of complex parentage (using heat tolerant and disease tolerant Florida and NCSU lines) and including Jubilee as the tangerine gene base, but then selected and refined to resist cracking, skin checking, and gray wall, a condition to which Jubilee is susceptible. Carolina Gold is a high quality market tomato whose appearance has great appeal.

I suggested Caro Rich for the high beta carotene gene since you indicated that is what you are after, and because it would be delivered in a large, globe shaped fruit that won't greatly diminish the fruit size of a cross with Carolina Gold, which itself is bred to deliver large to extra large, flattened globe fruit.

I suggested Tasti-Lee because it is a modern development with high crimson gene, heat tolerance, high market and table appeal, ability to ripen more fully on the vine without loss of market quality, and supposedly carrying a higher flavor profile than other modern high crimson hybrids.

Beta carotene genetics works to convert high lycopene content in a high crimson-influenced fruit into beta carotene, so I think you are ahead to use a high crimson parent when crossing to a beta carotene parent. I have links to a couple of papers stored in my favorites at another computer, which papers would explain this phenomenon better than I can. But I suggested this path because when you grow out the F2 and F3s from a high crimson x beta carotene cross, the plants with fruit in which this beta carotene conversion occurs can be identified by the deep red-orange color of the fruit.

The papers to which I refer also give information regarding how the tangerine gene plays into beta and delta carotene in tomatoes, but I think the conclussion was rather disappointing with regard to beta carotene content compared with the results obtained from high lycopene lines. But maybe you are looking for color rather than anti-oxidant content.

I also think it's possible that KBX is an heirloom type that exhibits tangerine gene coloration (as opposed to rr yellow flesh). I cannot prove that, but the line of KBX I grow surely has that tangerine color, and it has a clear epidermis which enhances the appearance of the tangerine colored flesh underneath. The intense pigmentation in KBX flesh also stains the clear epidermis to the extent that many people mistakenly ID the skin as yellow epidermis, but I have carefully scraped off all the flesh to reveal it truly is clear. I only mention KBX because it's a wonderfully flavored and large, beautiful tomato, but it may be too late season for you in Minnesota, I don't know.

I suggested those three particular tomatoes (Carolina Gold, Tasti-Lee, and Caro Rich) also because all three are available from Totally Tomatoes, so you don't have to pay shipping from two or more companies to obtain the three seed lines I suggested. Of course I think Tangerine and Juane Flammee also are available from Totally Tomatoes, as I bought seeds for those two varieties from TT this winter myself.

As an aside, I think Caro Rich originally was developed, if I remember correctly, by Purdue University, and from a line of tomatoes originating from line of Rutgers tomatoes related to or same as Jubilee, which itself I think originated from Rutgers x Tangerine. I may be remembering that incorrectly, but papers exist online to confirm or refute my memory. I'm just burnt out of Googling this week, and as I said, my favorites are stored on another computer at a location I won't be visiting today (adopt-a-spot workday today).

I was intending to pursue the same project as you indicate, but I've misplaced my Caro Rich seeds. I've been completely thru my seeds twice in the past week, and cannot find them. But I do have the Juane Flammee seeds, as well as F3 and F4 seeds from a Juane Flammee x Sungold cross I made several years ago, and subsequently selected for lines that resemble Juane Flammee fruit shape and coloration (with the red-orange central diaphrams).

You and I have probably read the same papers regarding the high carotene content of Juane Flammee and one other heirloom type I cannot remember just now. And I think Juane Flammee probably carries higher and more distinctive flavor profile than Caro Rich, but then the fruit size intitially will greatly diminish the typically 8 - 12 ounce sizes anticipated from the other varieties I suggested and intend to use.

I also already have Carolina Gold and Tasti-Lee seedlings up and going intending to make that cross first. Thanks for the reminder, I'll plant some JF x SG seeds today for beta carotene pollen maybe to patch onto a Tasti-Lee or two stigma, just to be step ahead in the potential outcrossing/back crossing.