Captain Lucky - YUMM - and F6-7?

[tam91]

I have started harvesting my Captain Lucky tomatoes (thanks SO much Suze). Wow are they gorgeous - and delicious. Very tangy, I love them.

I planted only a couple seeds from Suze this year (oops, didn't know I was supposed to plant them all) and I got one potato leaf and one regular leaf. As directed, I grew the potato leaf.

My understanding is that these seeds are F6. So, for next year, should I presume I should grow the ones I saved (I did bag blossoms) or grow the remaining one's from Suze?

Just to make sure, here's a sliced fruit - does this look right? I was wondering if mine was a bit more red than the other photos I've seen.

Yummy!

[travis]

Mine were not that red inside, and not that red at the skin. They did have a distinct blush on the bottom half of the tomato, but the inside retained much more green than what you show. The red marbling did not obscure the green so much. Seeds also from Suze, and all showed potato leaf so far. Delicious.

[tam91]

Looking at other pictures, it seems like what I have is not correct. It is, however, beautiful and delicious.

Hopefully Suze will come across the thread, and comment.

[lurley]

How ripe was the tomato? I did find on a few that they would get slightly more red in them as they verged on over ripe, where when ripe but still firm they were much more green with just the blush on the bottom. This was on fruit from the same plant.

[tam91]

Hmm, not sure (I ate it all up). At the time, I didn't notice it seeming over-ripe, but I suppose it could have been heading there. I'll have to see how some other fruits turn out.

[kath]

My Captain Lucky plant (F6) produced the following pretty and delicious fruit. It was more sweet than tangy and since it was the first fruit, it also had a bit of dry mealiness going on along with a lot of the other varieties I grew this year.

I'm looking forward to trying the F7 and First Mate next season.

[tam91]

Now that looks more like mine. But mine wasn't sweet at all. Interesting.

[fortyonenorth]

Sliced and ate our first Captain Lucky today. Wow! What a tomato. Sweet and tart and tangy and gorgeous. Just wonderful. It's clearly a standout for us this year - easily among the top two or three.

[tam91]

I agree - Captain Lucky and KBX are my new favorites this year. Interestingly, Maiden's Gold reminds me very much of KBX also - another terrific new one.

I just wonder - as mine (and apparently Kath's) are more red than Suze's - does everyone think these are stable? Or are they getting more red with the new generation? Or is it just environmental... (Apologies if I'm not right on the possibilities).

[kath]

Originally Posted by tam91

I just wonder - as mine (and apparently Kath's) are more red than Suze's - does everyone think these are stable? Or are they getting more red with the new generation? Or is it just environmental... (Apologies if I'm not right on the possibilities).

I'm interested to hear the responses to this question, too, as this tomato was one of this year's faves for a neighbor and I won't be surprised if she wants me to grow another plant for her next year. I saved seeds but don't know how to advise her about what her chances might be of getting the same tomato. She grows in containers and might not want to take a chance if the likelihood is small that she'll get the same fruit.

[kath]

Double post- sorry.

[tam91]

Oh Carolyn.... paging Carolyn...

(I bet she knows the answer)

[nctomatoman]

Ah, the question on stability - once you are in the F6 and beyond, the chance increases greatly that you will be able to get the same tomato from saved seed - but 6 generations isn't 10 or 12, so there is always a slight chance you will see something a bit, or very, different. From our experience with the dwarf project, the more recessive genes, the faster (relatively speaking) the stabilization. So for a variety like Dwarf Emerald Giant - which was dwarf, potato leaf and green when ripe (all 3 being recessive traits), it actually showed very little variation from about the F4 or F5. Some of the others were/are more stubborn/needed more selection.

We decided that the first nine dwarfs were ready at between F7 and F10 stage, depending upon what we were seeing.

And, of course, this all depends upon not having any insect-created crossing - which can happen to any variety at any time when not blossom- bagged, albeit at a small percentage of possibility!

[tam91]

Happily, Captain Lucky was one of the few tomatoes that formed a fruit in the bag for me this year. So we'll see what I get next year.

[fortyonenorth]

In this thread http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...t=17386&page=2 Winterfly says that his results were dramatically (not subtly) different that what was expected, leading him to suspect a cross.

I didn't take a picture of my fruit sliced, but I remember it was very similar to your photo, Tracy. The green was very pronounced - I'd even say shimmering. My first thought was that, on the inside, it looked a lot like Everett's Rusty Oxheart http://www.mariseeds.com/seedcatalog...heart%2011.jpg It had more green than in your pic Kath, but I think that fruit-to-fruit difference is well within the variation you'd see from any plant - especially since we're considering plants grown in different parts of the country in a very crazy weather year.

Did you get seeds from me, Kath? The reason I ask is that I had two packets - one from Winterfly and one from Suze. I still have the packet from Suze, so I must have sent you all or some of the seed from Winterfly. I can't remember if his seed was from 2009 or 2010 - you might want to check to see if I noted. If it's 2010, I suppose it might be questionable.