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[newatthiskat]

Was wondering if anyone here has crossed berkley tie dye pink with brandywine suddeth? I am sitting here reading and thinking of those flowers and how much I want to try it
Kat

[hasshoes]

You should!

I see those pics of BTD pink and drool. . . hopefully my two seedlings will overcome the crud and make it this year.

You also might consider Brandywine-esque types to breed it too that are more prolific but taste great. (Like Earls or Stump? Haven't had those yet. . . fingers crossed for this year .)

If you need anyone for a growout project next year I will def. sign up.

[newatthiskat]

I was thinking of having brandywine suddeth being the male and berkley tie dye pink the female. I am just afraid I will butcher the poor plant but hey I have time now that I can not work for at least a few weeks so I am going to try it.

[Farmette]

Count me in too if you do a growout project!

[dice]

You might go the other direction (using Brandywine Sudduth
as the female parent and Berkely Tie-Dye Pink as the pollen
donor). It is kind of a tradeoff between being able to tell
immediately when the seeds sprout whether the plant is
the cross and which plant will set a fruit more easily.

Since Brandywine is PL, and PL is a recessive trait, if you use
the RL Pink Berkely Tie-Dye as the pollen donor, crossed seeds
in the Brandywine fruit that you harvest from the hand-crossed
bud will show up as RL seedlings when sprouted (and uncrossed
Brandywine seeds will still be PL).

You do not have to wait to see the fruit to see if the plant is
the cross or a plant from a seed that was self-pollenated.
(Self-pollenation can happen earlier than we expect on
unopened buds.)

If you use the Berkely Tie-Dye Pink as the female parent, then
both crossed and uncrossed seeds will produce RL plants, and
you will not know for sure if the cross took until you see the
ripe fruit (you might know a little earlier than that if the plants
are very different, even if both are RL).

If Brandywine is having difficulty setting fruit, though,
compared to the Berkely Tie-Dye Pink, the way that you
originally considered doing it might be the only course
that will work. You could try it both directions, and if the
Brandywine sets a fruit on your hand-crossed bud, use the
seeds from that one to get the leaf type early indicator.
If it does not, you still have the hand-crossed Berkely Tie-Dye
Pink fruit to work with.

[newatthiskat]

Good Idea Dice! Will be working on that this week. Meaning attempting today to emasculate I hope. I will take your advise and use both plants.
Kat

[dice]

Successfully emasculating a bud without breaking the pistil
in the center of it takes a little practice. (Twitching is
deprecated.) You might want to try emasculating a few buds
on something that has lots of them (not necessarily a cherry
tomato, as their tiny size is a problem in itself) until you feel
confident that you have a technique that will work.