[Tom Wagner]

Okay, first, my apologies if this is an easily researched answer.

Bobcat,

I can't accept your apologies, because one, it is not easily researched and 2, how do you Google out an answer?

I have looked, tho. Also sorry if its a dumb one.

Oh, yeah, it is a dumb one, because we all start out dumber than dumb cane crawlin' in smart weed! Why ask a question about something if we already know everything about crossing effects and results?

But you don't know till you know.... so I am wondering how someone knows if they have crossed a tomato successfully.

We are all don't know types
'til we try right now,
do the kinda know how,
remember the know-how,
wait for the "Wow, a fruit shows,"
if it doesn't take, don't have a cow,
just say "Whoa,"
and start over now,
when the fruit ripens just how,
save the seed ya know,
to dry the seed, blow,
next year the seed you sow,
to see if the sprouts show,
check summer's fruit to see if they look different somehow,
if both parents show, ho-ho,
but if the daddy did a no-show, oh, no!
take a bite with your supper's chow,
if you start singing the lyrics now,
Giddy up oom poppa omm poppa mow mow,
you're a winner, take a bow!

I mean, you try to pollinate the flower, but the flower could already be pollinated- right?

The idea is to pollinate the stigma before it selfed or an insect buzzed it.

Or you could fail and it could pollinate later.

Pollinate it again a day or two later just to be sure. Try to totally chicken fry steak it with pollen like you would with flour.

So if pollination occurs there are really three possibilities- two of which don't lead to your cross.....

I thought there was only two possibilities., no, you're right.....you're either a dumb crosser, a smart crosser, or a cross dresser. Expect to be a cross crosser until you become a happy crosser!

So when the tomatoes form, how do you know to save and grow out those seeds versus trying again?

I string tag 'em, depending if I cross the entire cluster, or just a single flower. The tag goes just behind the fruit on the stem or pedicel. I usually sow my suspected hybrid seed next to both of the parental types and compare. If you don't know what to look for, ask somebody who cares.

Tom Wagner