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Old November 29, 2012   #7
bower
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Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
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Count me as a volunteer, Dar, to test cold tolerance and help growout F2's and so on!

A tomato that can tolerate 22 F may even survive overwinter in my unheated greenhouse. We do not get extreme low temperatures here due to the ocean effect on climate. Our coldest temps are around -12 C, and not usually for more than 2 weeks in a year (January or February). Instead we have a freeze-thaw cycle that repeats multiple times in every month of the year, and the typical winter lows are a few C below zero. But we don't get much sunshine in a normal year either, so year round there's a need for cold tolerance, even in the greenhouse. There is also a lot of variation on a year to year basis - severe crop losses in 2011 for example due to a very cold and wet summer. 7/10 cultivars I trialed that summer did not produce more than a fruit or two.

I am always looking for cold tolerant tomatoes to trial, and gathering the genetic material for breeding purposes. Might I ask whether there is any seed for the 22F tomato to spare? I would be happy to return you 100's of saved seeds to maintain your fresh stock, in exchange for one seed to grow out in my greenhouse (closed, no pollinators).
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