I'm the person Travis was referring to when he mentioned the OP Ramapo which was stable at the F3, and that so since the two hybrid parents were very similar varieties. It meant growing out the hybrid, saving F2 seeds, replanting those, saving F3 seeds, making selectionos and at each growout also planting the original hybrid for comparison. It took 3 years and I could only grow plants in the summer.
I'm also the person he was referring to who was able to develop what Craig L and I called OTV Brandywine. OTV stands for Off the Vine, an international tomato newsletter that Craig and I were publishing at the time. Craig had sent out seeds of Yellow Brandywine to someone and got back a picture of a good looking PL red beefsteak along with seeds. Since I had a whole field for my tomato growing at the time, much more than Craig had , I did the dehybridization.It took me out to I think the F6 or F7,making selections and saving seeds to get to what we called OTV Brandywine that was stable. Again, I could only grow plants in the summer.
So about 3 years for the Ramapo OP and maybe 6-7 years for the OTV one.
Maybe it's just me, but I'm not thrilled with the tone of some recent posts in this thread. This is not the place to be making some of the accusations I've seen, as I see it. If there are specific issues that need to be discussed, please take it to e-mails or PM's.
Thanks for your cooperation.
Yes, I get paid for being a Global Moderator here and I get an extra $$$ bonus when I have to post what I just did, but while any extra money goes to my dark Chocolate budget, I really don't need it.
And if you believe that above paragraph, you're too far out there to appreciate my attempt at a bit of humor.
Carolyn