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bower · February 4, 2017

This is true, Charley.. you would get less segregation and fewer plants needed to find recessives, if you used a parent with two or more of the recessive traits.
If you crossed your F1 to a PL GWR you would also reduce the number of plants to recover all three traits. Even a backcross to the Cherokee Green parent would put you closer, but harder to find the PL again, and you would need two generations to find out if the trait was kept or lost (because PL will only express when two alleles are present).
If you crossed Cherokee Green with a favorite PL black, or a PL yellow, that would take fewer plants than the pink cross. But if Earl's Faux has other traits you wanted to combine, why not continue with the cross you have, just be a little patient. these things take years anyway!

Did you have a limit on the number of F2 plants you can grow?
You need a half dozen plants for a good chance to select just one recessive. I've done that multiple times and only once failed to get the recessive with that number. On the other hand with only four plants, it is more likely you might not get the recessive. Then you might have to take another year and grow more F2.
Also, growing six plants I have several times got two recessives showing up - but not in the same plant. So for example, my Kitten Paws Pink F3 produced one of six PL plant, and another of the six was black fruited.
If I was looking for black and PL, I could have crossed those two F3's with a good chance of getting the traits together in the next generation - but the chances of that are BEST with crosses of F2's, we know that the recessive allele is hidden there in 2/3 of the dominant trait plants.

So I think it could be a lot of fun for you, to look for some traits you wanted in F2's and cross the F2 plants that had different recessives.
Six plants has been enough for one or two of two recessives to show up for me, maybe a few more would be better odds of finding all three of your traits..
There was a recent thread about this, and Fred made some helpful observations as well about finding your second recessive in the F3 generation - this is what I've seen as well, just with six plants per generation.
I also got lucky with ten F2 plants and got a double recessive I was looking for (black, determinate).
You never know your luck until you try..

February 4, 2017	#4
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,793	This is true, Charley.. you would get less segregation and fewer plants needed to find recessives, if you used a parent with two or more of the recessive traits. If you crossed your F1 to a PL GWR you would also reduce the number of plants to recover all three traits. Even a backcross to the Cherokee Green parent would put you closer, but harder to find the PL again, and you would need two generations to find out if the trait was kept or lost (because PL will only express when two alleles are present). If you crossed Cherokee Green with a favorite PL black, or a PL yellow, that would take fewer plants than the pink cross. But if Earl's Faux has other traits you wanted to combine, why not continue with the cross you have, just be a little patient. these things take years anyway! Did you have a limit on the number of F2 plants you can grow? You need a half dozen plants for a good chance to select just one recessive. I've done that multiple times and only once failed to get the recessive with that number. On the other hand with only four plants, it is more likely you might not get the recessive. Then you might have to take another year and grow more F2. Also, growing six plants I have several times got two recessives showing up - but not in the same plant. So for example, my Kitten Paws Pink F3 produced one of six PL plant, and another of the six was black fruited. If I was looking for black and PL, I could have crossed those two F3's with a good chance of getting the traits together in the next generation - but the chances of that are BEST with crosses of F2's, we know that the recessive allele is hidden there in 2/3 of the dominant trait plants. So I think it could be a lot of fun for you, to look for some traits you wanted in F2's and cross the F2 plants that had different recessives. Six plants has been enough for one or two of two recessives to show up for me, maybe a few more would be better odds of finding all three of your traits.. There was a recent thread about this, and Fred made some helpful observations as well about finding your second recessive in the F3 generation - this is what I've seen as well, just with six plants per generation. I also got lucky with ten F2 plants and got a double recessive I was looking for (black, determinate). You never know your luck until you try..