I just processed the last ripe fruit off of the potted experimental plants. I'll plant some of these in the ground and hope for more fruit.
From four fruits off of two adjacent LGS plants, 50 seeds planted each, I got 11 non dwarf plants (crosses), from these eleven, nine yielded ripe fruits from which I saved seed (so far). The results are as follows:
-2 plants: orange-red cherries --Parent plant probably Gardener's Delight, 15 feet away, past 5-6 other plants, but maybe Dr Carolyn yellow, also a good distance away.
-1 plant: wispy foliage and a green plum shaped fryuit, but when planted in the ground is now producing pepper shaped fruit--has to be Green Sausage; parent was two plants away.
-1 plant: red globe tomato, Possibly Zarnitza, adjacent plant-1 plant with black tomato with green flesh.
-1 plant: black globe with green flesh--parent adjacent
-2 plants: black globe with green-pink flesh--parent adjacent
-1 plant: black beefsteak, green-pink flesh--parent possibly Cherokee Purple 15 feet away past 5-6 other plants.
-1 plant: green globe - parent Green Giant, 4-5 plants awayScraggly plant with few flowers
I did not keep track of which plants came from which LGS fruits, but these results (four LGS fruits with five to seven different pollen contributors) indicate that flowers definitely get mixed pollen off of bees or differnet pollen off of different bees, and not just one accidental shot of pollen from one bee from the nearest plants.
The overall ratio of crossed seed was lower for these LGSs than most of the other fruits I tested (2-10% vs. an average of 12% for the PL varieties I tested (more like 20% if I factor in the probability that the PLs are also crossed with other PL plants). I only grew out half or less of the seed from each LGS fruit (50 seeds each) so there may be even more parents in the remaining seeds. The two LGS parent plants were being partially overgrown by larger plants behind them (Paul Robeson, Black Prince, Black Krim, and Zarnitza)
I got nearly 100% germination and more or less 25% dwarfs out of the F2s. I can pretty much tell a dwarf even before the first true leaves come out just by height difference, if the seeds are well spaced. I have about a half dozen dwarfs of both the cherry, and the the Black with green flesh planted out, all with buds now, and a half dozen or so of both the Green Sausage dwarfs and a black with green-pink flesh almost big enough to be planted out. I won't have time (or room) to plant the LGSxGreen Giant seed or the black beefsteak this year.
Its been a fun little project so far, and gave me a reason to break out the lights and plant tomatoes in the middle of winter.
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