Supermarket Tomatoes

[Garf]

Plant #3 is trying to grow leaves, but they are small and distorted. I will probably soon trash the plant.

[Garf]

I finally pulled #3 plant. #4 is still alive. #1 still has a few blossoms on it. I have started 8 more seeds, also supermarket tomato seeds. I now have 8 seedlings. We'll see how they do.

[Garf]

Plant #1 has been pulled. The 8 seedlings are doing well. I fertilized the tub that plants #1&2 were in and will transfer 2 seedlings to it shortly.

[Elliot]

what people do not always realize is that supermarket tomatoes if grown at our home gardens would taste great. The supermarket tomatoes at the supermarket are picked green and left to ripen on the trucks.

[Garf]

Originally Posted by Elliot

what people do not always realize is that supermarket tomatoes if grown at our home gardens would taste great. The supermarket tomatoes at the supermarket are picked green and left to ripen on the trucks.

Or gassed with ethylene gas. Mine tasted very good when vine ripened.

[Garf]

This ends this thread. I will start a new one shortly for the fall/winter season. I have a new batch of 8 supermarket tomato seeds started. I already have one 18 gallon tub ready for 2 of them. I will start some others later.

[Garf]

Originally Posted by Garf

This ends this thread. I will start a new one shortly for the fall/winter season.

So much for ending this thread. This is incredible. I have 2 new babies on the lone survivor of a Miami summer on a plant from the first batch of supermarket tomatoes. Is it any wonder why I'm pursuing these?

[HotSalsa]

Keep the thread alive! I'm interested to see what becomes of these later in the spring. I'm in FL too, and have planted many a seed from the grocery store hoping it would turn into something tasty.

[Garf]

The babies are growing.

[Garf]

I finally have blushing tomatoes on the lone surviving plant from the first batch. This ends the head count at 72. Size is 1 3/4"

[PA_Julia]

Looks great Garf! Let us know how it tastes!!!

[Garf]

I picked the second blushing tomato today. That's it for now.

[Garf]

Both tomatoes have been eaten and approved by my taste tester. A third has been picked.

[MarlynnMarcks]

Originally Posted by travis

I've grown out many F1 hybrid tomatoes, and even used some of them in direct crosses with my open pollinated lines or even with other F1 hybrid types. In fact, I got the idea from examining North Carolina State University's breeding line program, and pursue it with some successes and other failures.

For example, three of NCSU's best TSWV-resistant breeding lines are direct grow-outs of the Amelia F1 hybrid. In other instances, Texas A&M's Blazer F1 was used by NCSU as a direct parental input for greater hotset capability in other breeding lines.

NCSU's use of F1 hybrids as inputs or to develop open pollinated, true breeding seed lines must be an accepted practice as their results are proven over time in many excellent breeding lines and resultant F1 seed products, particularly in the Mountain Series.

Two of the more recent successes I've had with growing out seed taken from store bought F1 hybrid tomatoes have been with regard to Kumato and Tasti-Lee. In both cases the majority of F2, F3, an F4 plants have done very well and produced excellent fruit in terms of production, appearance, and flavor. In one case, I am now getting some interesting and excellent F2 and F3 results from crossing a particularly good example of Kumato F2 with a smaller, sweeter cherry relative of Sun Gold.

And yes, I have had some rank failures when growing out F2 seeds from other F1 hybrid tomatoes. For example, Brandy Boy and Merced were two such instances where not until the F3 and F4 did I come to the realization that I had wasted a whole lot of time and garden space!

So, I say go for it and enjoy the trip. You might get lucky!

How did Tasti Lee do? I know they are Florida bred but when I buy them at Publix, they still taste like regular grocery store tomatoes. Are home grown ones better tasting?