[Tom Wagner]

What size bags are those in the photo?

They seem to be like five gallon grow bags

Is woolly any relation to furry?

I think they are the same. I am using the same woolly gene that I used with my Elberta Girl tomato well over 40 some years ago

Do you go on to stabilize these hybrids? How do you manage the large numbers in F2 and F3 grow-outs????

I will undoubtedly save the F-2's on most all and if I make further crosses that just adds to the mix. I have many short cuts that make selection easier in developing a few good F-3 lines...after that it is simpler. But I inventory lots of seed for re-use later on....even though that might be 10 to 20 years down the road if not the next season. I plan on using those lines that show the recessives quickly....

What makes you so passionate about hybrids? The advantages I read about all relate to profits for either the seed company or the commercial farmer. Does working with hybrids give you more tools and potential as a breeder?

Crossing plants has always been my passion. It is the fastest way to create diversity and the segregation into the F-2 and later filials seems to increase the mutations between unlike allelic combinations....cross overs, translocations, additions and deletions...just to name a few actions. I have so many creations that are true breeding but could use the yield advantage of hybrid vigor...and I see it in many but not all hybrids. So many F-1's made between two unrelated F-2 lines give me unique combinations that defy common sense, and those may be the one-in-a-million type tomatoes. As a breeder....I must stay ahead of the pack...and hybrid seed is a control issue for me. By making in-house hybrids by the thousands and when a few work especially well...this gives me the chance to sell the superior seed for a premium, or to be available as grafted plants only.

I am rooting sucker shoots from some of my rare hybrids as they are pruned.
If the original plant performs exceedingly well...I will have lots of duplicate plants to exploit later in the season. That means that tomatoes that taste and look really great in May will be bearing up to October to tie in the appreciation for a new variety.



I am kinda like a shade tree mechanic. A person willing to learn and perform scheduled maintenance or simple repairs on their own tomatoes rather than being completely reliant on the higher technology of large seed companies.


Many seed companies have realized that F-1 hybrid service is profitable and have designed tomatoes to be unsuitable for seed saving by most independent shade tree growers. Conversely, my hybrids might actually be fun to save the seed from.