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Old November 15, 2017   #15
KarenO
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Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Vancouver Island
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Except in the case of a sport or somatic mutation. For example one fruit on a plant that has a heart shape instead of the expected shape. Seed from that fruit might produce hearts (or it might just be a deformity or a misshapen one or weather related) but the only way to know is to grow it out but you have to find it first and recognize it. I think many, many go unnoticed.
I have no science to back this up but I also think that many of the “typical rules” that apply to stable OP varieties don’t necessarily apply to early especially widely segregating crosses. It seem logical to me that genetically unstable plants will be more likely to produce more natural sports and somatic mutations than genetically stable plants purely by the numbers of potential genetic combinations possible. There is a lot of just plain luck involved (good and bad) and the science of breeding is mostly just playing odds but there are wildcards too and if you look for them carefully you might just find them
I think as well, for faciated fruits, the deformed/ multiple stigmas and overall
larger blooms can increase the likelihood of cross pollination hence the advice not to save seeds from those tomatoes that result from mega blooms.
I still always save seeds for the next gen of my crosses from the best most desirable shaped and sized fruits. There are always many to choose from and you might as well choose the best. Same goes for BER, cracking, catfacing, zippering etc etc . Theoretically, you can save seeds from any of those fruits too but why would I.
The pics I included are if an F5 fruit that should have been the bicolour KARMA “apricot” cherry. It’s neither the cherry it should be nor is it the beefsteak of it’s great great great grand parentage yet but I do think if grown out over successive generations and selection was done purely for size this multi Locule saladette size fruit would likely become a good sized beefsteak.
KarenO
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Last edited by KarenO; November 15, 2017 at 11:34 AM.
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