Shattering types

Boutique Tomatoes · January 9, 2013

I have looked, but have been unable to turn up any information that would tell me if the shattering characteristic of some currant tomato types is controlled by a single gene or what other characteristics might come along for the ride.

One of my crazy, not commercially viable/valuable breeding projects is trying to get a small, sweet tomato with dark antho coloring that will look and taste very much like a berry. I think they'd be interesting from a culinary perspective; I'm imagining using them in desserts for one idea.

After my experiences last year with my daughter taking some Hawaiian Red Currants to a restaurant to discuss the kinds of things they'd like to see locally available I asked here for ideas and have been thinking about it some.

I'm going to try a number of crosses with currant and small fruited cherry lines this season, but another characteristic I'd like to play with is the shattering characteristic as a harvest mechanism as described here http://www.liseed.org/curranttom.html. If you could plant them through a landscape cloth ramp and have the ripe tomatoes simply fall down for collection it would make them a lot easier to harvest.

One thing that concerns me is that so many variety descriptions of currant types say " More vigorous vines than the shattering type" which makes me wonder if there are some bad things that come along for the ride that might be difficult to get away from, so I was trying to find information on the genetics.

Darren Abbey · January 10, 2013

Have you looked into Solanum nigrum? In short, it is what people in the UK and USA refer to as deadly nightshade, but that people in the rest of the world eat routinely without any poisonings. It has the taste of a sweet, slightly odd, tomato... and is very dark purple. It is used in the deep south in 'poisonberry pie', under the idea that the 'toxin' breaks down during cooking.

You can find them under the trade name 'Sunberry' or 'Garden Huckleberry'. I have vaguely defined plans for this plant similar to what you describe.

Boutique Tomatoes · January 10, 2013

I've seen it, but my interest is more about incorporating the shattering characteristic into a currant tomato breeding line to make harvesting them easier for the moment.

Harvesting the currant types is time consuming and that combined with the thin skin makes them less than appealing to market growers. But seeing chef's eyes light up when they saw the tiny tomatoes made me start thinking that if you could get a little thicker skin and a way to harvest them somewhat mechanically by shaking the plants every few days you might have something appealing to a specialty grower.

If there exists a breeding line with the shattering characteristic and a jointless pedicel so that they would come off the plant without the stems to puncture other fruits when collected, that would be a wonderful find. But I don't know what I'm searching for in looking for the shattering characteristic in breeding lines, so I was hoping for one of the experts to give me a clue as to what I should be looking for in the genes, and if it came with a price of some undesirable characteristics as well.

Darren Abbey · January 10, 2013

I apparently focused on your phrase, 'dark antho coloring' to the exclusion of most of what you were talking about.

This does sound like an interesting idea, however.

Darren Abbey · January 22, 2013

http://www.tomwagnerseeds.com/index....tion-blue.html

This variety might be a useful genetic contribution to your idea.

Boutique Tomatoes · January 23, 2013

Yep, I grew it last year and did some of the seed production for Tom. He also has a segregant of Fahrenheit Blues that is more uniformly blue than the ones I had last year.

HJB's was incredibly prolific for me, so I think it's going to be the one I use in these crosses unless the new Fahrenheit Blues is similarly productive.

January 9, 2013	#1
Boutique Tomatoes Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Northeast Wisconsin, Zone 5a Posts: 1,109	Shattering types I have looked, but have been unable to turn up any information that would tell me if the shattering characteristic of some currant tomato types is controlled by a single gene or what other characteristics might come along for the ride. One of my crazy, not commercially viable/valuable breeding projects is trying to get a small, sweet tomato with dark antho coloring that will look and taste very much like a berry. I think they'd be interesting from a culinary perspective; I'm imagining using them in desserts for one idea. After my experiences last year with my daughter taking some Hawaiian Red Currants to a restaurant to discuss the kinds of things they'd like to see locally available I asked here for ideas and have been thinking about it some. I'm going to try a number of crosses with currant and small fruited cherry lines this season, but another characteristic I'd like to play with is the shattering characteristic as a harvest mechanism as described here http://www.liseed.org/curranttom.html. If you could plant them through a landscape cloth ramp and have the ripe tomatoes simply fall down for collection it would make them a lot easier to harvest. One thing that concerns me is that so many variety descriptions of currant types say " More vigorous vines than the shattering type" which makes me wonder if there are some bad things that come along for the ride that might be difficult to get away from, so I was trying to find information on the genetics.

January 10, 2013	#2
Darren Abbey Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Minnesota Posts: 586	Have you looked into Solanum nigrum? In short, it is what people in the UK and USA refer to as deadly nightshade, but that people in the rest of the world eat routinely without any poisonings. It has the taste of a sweet, slightly odd, tomato... and is very dark purple. It is used in the deep south in 'poisonberry pie', under the idea that the 'toxin' breaks down during cooking. You can find them under the trade name 'Sunberry' or 'Garden Huckleberry'. I have vaguely defined plans for this plant similar to what you describe. Last edited by Darren Abbey; January 10, 2013 at 11:33 AM.

January 22, 2013	#5
Darren Abbey Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Minnesota Posts: 586	http://www.tomwagnerseeds.com/index....tion-blue.html This variety might be a useful genetic contribution to your idea.

January 23, 2013	#6
Boutique Tomatoes Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Northeast Wisconsin, Zone 5a Posts: 1,109	Yep, I grew it last year and did some of the seed production for Tom. He also has a segregant of Fahrenheit Blues that is more uniformly blue than the ones I had last year. HJB's was incredibly prolific for me, so I think it's going to be the one I use in these crosses unless the new Fahrenheit Blues is similarly productive.