Breeding tomatoes for the home gardener - Page 2

matilda'skid · February 10, 2011

It would take lots of patience to take a cross to F6 or so and save all the good ones at each level. But making an F1 hybrid sounds fun. I guess if you got something good you would keep going with it. This is interesting.

Stepheninky · February 10, 2011

As original posted I am not an expert nor do I do it scholastically, professionally, or anything else. I admit knowledge in breeding is very limited. I am just a home gardener with an interest and passion in it and learning myself as well. I posted the how to, to try and help people that are interested in the topic get started doing it. I also kept it very basic intentionally to not intimidate people just starting out. I have asked for constructive criticism

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stepheninky

http://tomatoprojects.blogspot.com/2...s-at-home.html

Just put together a blog post on how to make crosses for the home gardener would love it if anyone would check it out and give me some input such as anything I might have left out or did not make clear.

I tried to make it as un technical as I could.

Thanks for the feed back, Would appreciate more detail as to what you think my blog stated incorrectly or wrong. Another breeder that does not post here on another board stated looks really good though detailed pics to go with the steps would help. To me that is good feed back as in a few months I can add detailed pics, its something I can change, correct, or do something about. I also added a video so that people could better understand it.

Anyways, I hope the article is of some help to people and I am aways happy to edit or change it as needed to make sure the steps are easily understood and correct. Thanks again for those that took the time to read it and give constructive advice.

emzybo · February 10, 2011

Sorry that I got away from the intent of your original post earlier. I did view your blog post and found it informative and interesting, but I do agree with others about detailed pics. Particularly, close-up photos of different parts of the process would benefit viewers. (The video on the blog is zoomed a little too far out for me to see the detail work of the cross at times.) Thanks for the post because you got me very excited about hopefully doing my own crosses someday!! (That is, after I beef up my not-so-wonderful gardening skills, lol!) I know my husband & I definitely have the space to grow a decent about of tomato plants for crosses here!

matilda'skid · February 10, 2011

Original you answered emzybo's question. I printed it (had to reload paper in my printer) and bookmarked your other link. Thank you for bringing up that information. I have to say anyone who understands that gene list would be totally bored by my stupid questions and comments. Thanks all for the discussion. Thanks for Tomatoville.

The name Lucky Cross has new meaning for me.

Stepheninky · February 10, 2011

Lucky Cross is originally from Craig LeHoullier (A well known member of this site) from a Brandywine and an unknown bee-produced cross. Thats why it was so lucky, that he grew out and selected for it.

As for that list of traits since as pointed out I am no expert I will still try and answer that question with my meager knowlage .

For example:

In tomatoes, red fruit (R) is dominant over yellow fruit (r)

So if you cross two plants RR (red fruited plant) x rr (yellow fruited plant)

All the f1 plants will be Rr (this has to do with how genes match up in tomatoes) this F1 hybrid will be red because red is dominate over yellow colored fruit.

The f2 generation will have a 1:2:1 ratio and will look like this
RR= red
Rr = red
Rr = red
rr = yellow

so on average if you are trying to breed a yellow fruited plant 1 out of 4 will have that trait.

In single gene mono-gene breeding once that recessive trait shows all future plants from that line will be yellow fruited.

If you then grow out the plants again the plants that were
RR = will remain red
Rr = will repeat the 1:2:1 ratio
and the rr will remain yellow

Hope that makes sense

as you add in other traits and more grow outs and something called linkages etc... It gets more complicated that is why I did not go into so much in my article.

To me breeding is not just a science there is an art to it as well.

For the home gardener its more about making a cross and then in the f2 seeing what shows up and then selecting based or your likes. It does help to understand the Dominate/recessive relationship thats true but I (IMHO) do not think its the most important thing.

Anyways hope this helps explain your original question better and that my lack of expertise did not screw up the explanation to badly.

matilda'skid · February 10, 2011

I don't think you have a lack of expertise if your goal is to get average gardeners interested.

February 10, 2011	#20
Stepheninky Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Kentucky Posts: 682	Lucky Cross is originally from Craig LeHoullier (A well known member of this site) from a Brandywine and an unknown bee-produced cross. Thats why it was so lucky, that he grew out and selected for it. As for that list of traits since as pointed out I am no expert I will still try and answer that question with my meager knowlage . For example: In tomatoes, red fruit (R) is dominant over yellow fruit (r) So if you cross two plants RR (red fruited plant) x rr (yellow fruited plant) All the f1 plants will be Rr (this has to do with how genes match up in tomatoes) this F1 hybrid will be red because red is dominate over yellow colored fruit. The f2 generation will have a 1:2:1 ratio and will look like this RR= red Rr = red Rr = red rr = yellow so on average if you are trying to breed a yellow fruited plant 1 out of 4 will have that trait. In single gene mono-gene breeding once that recessive trait shows all future plants from that line will be yellow fruited. If you then grow out the plants again the plants that were RR = will remain red Rr = will repeat the 1:2:1 ratio and the rr will remain yellow Hope that makes sense as you add in other traits and more grow outs and something called linkages etc... It gets more complicated that is why I did not go into so much in my article. To me breeding is not just a science there is an art to it as well. For the home gardener its more about making a cross and then in the f2 seeing what shows up and then selecting based or your likes. It does help to understand the Dominate/recessive relationship thats true but I (IMHO) do not think its the most important thing. Anyways hope this helps explain your original question better and that my lack of expertise did not screw up the explanation to badly. __________________ tomatoprojects.blogspot.com

February 10, 2011	#16
matilda'skid Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Missouri Posts: 309	It would take lots of patience to take a cross to F6 or so and save all the good ones at each level. But making an F1 hybrid sounds fun. I guess if you got something good you would keep going with it. This is interesting.

February 10, 2011	#18
emzybo Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: NE Alabama Posts: 28	Sorry that I got away from the intent of your original post earlier. I did view your blog post and found it informative and interesting, but I do agree with others about detailed pics. Particularly, close-up photos of different parts of the process would benefit viewers. (The video on the blog is zoomed a little too far out for me to see the detail work of the cross at times.) Thanks for the post because you got me very excited about hopefully doing my own crosses someday!! (That is, after I beef up my not-so-wonderful gardening skills, lol!) I know my husband & I definitely have the space to grow a decent about of tomato plants for crosses here!