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Old July 13, 2013   #3
travis
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Evansville, IN
Posts: 2,984
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I purchased the 10-seed pack of Iron Lady this past winter intending to use Iron Lady as an input in breeding with a heirloom type tomato for a hopefully Septoria resistant line. I planted all 10 seeds. Unfortunately, the sprouts were very weak, and in the end, neither of the two more healthy seedlings made it into the garden.

I've had this same experience with several other ultra-modern, multi-resistant hybrids from seed. Maybe if I had a fully equipped greenhouse, I might have better luck with these types of seedlings. But as it is, I start seeds in the cab of my pickup truck, and transfer them to the bed of the truck as weather permits. The old standards and crosses I already have made with old standards x modern disease resistant hybrids also respond much better than the modern multi-resistant hybrids themselves to my modified "wintersown" seed starting process.
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