Tomatoville® Gardening Forums


Notices

Member discussion regarding the methods, varieties and merits of growing tomatoes.

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old May 22, 2012   #1
kenny_j
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: holly michigan
Posts: 380
Default Accidental crosses

I sowed a lot of varieties this year, and noticed a few seedlings that had different leaf forms from what should have been. I had a Grubs MG with RL, 2 BW suddeth with RL and several others. I am tempted to grow out the 2 BWS, but don't want to waste garden space for the unkown. What are the odds of these F1's being really tasty? Neighboring plant possibilities are Juane Flammee, Black Cherry, and a couple others. Any one care to share their experience in growing out surprise seedlings? I will not save seeds and don't want to carry it further, just want to know if they are worth growing for the table.
kenny_j is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 23, 2012   #2
carolyn137
Moderator Emeritus
 
carolyn137's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a
Posts: 21,169
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by kenny_j View Post
I sowed a lot of varieties this year, and noticed a few seedlings that had different leaf forms from what should have been. I had a Grubs MG with RL, 2 BW suddeth with RL and several others. I am tempted to grow out the 2 BWS, but don't want to waste garden space for the unkown. What are the odds of these F1's being really tasty? Neighboring plant possibilities are Juane Flammee, Black Cherry, and a couple others. Any one care to share their experience in growing out surprise seedlings? I will not save seeds and don't want to carry it further, just want to know if they are worth growing for the table.
Kenny, there's no way to know what you'll get from accidental crosses until you grow them out, make some selections from the saved F2 seeds from the presumed hybrid and see what you get.

A couple of examples. OTV Brandywine was from an accidental crooss in Craig L's garden, the female parent was Yellow Brandywine but no way to know what the pollen parent was, and it took me out to the F5 before it was a stable OP.

One of three plants of Cherokee Green that I put out had almost white tomatoes and they were the most awful tasting fruits and I never even saved seeds.

And look at all the great varieties that resulted form the accidental cross in Craig's garden between Brandywine and Tad? Little Lucky, Lucky Cross and several more, but it took a lot of time and garden space to grow out those initial saved seeds and make selections to see what the possibilities were.

Each year I would dig up 10 volunteers from my main tomato fieled and transplant them to a side garden to see if I could ID them. Some were varieties I could ID, some were not, some were great tasting, some not. I never worked with those b'c it was just a fun thing that I did for myself.

So it's pot luck, and you can't even make guesses as to what crossed with what , except you should know at least the female parent, b'c insect pollinators are known to fly up to a mile or so.

Just curious but where did you get all those accidental crosses from? Commercial sources, trading seeds, your own garden, etc.?
__________________
Carolyn
carolyn137 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 23, 2012   #3
amideutch
Tomatovillian™
 
amideutch's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Germany 49°26"N 07°36"E
Posts: 5,041
Default

Kenny I to have gotten RL seedlings from Grubs Mystery green and there are PL and RL versions out there. We had a member maybe 5 years back get a BW Suddeth RL that was subsequently grown out and named Big Cheef. Marianas Peace was another that threw out a RL and was named Mariana's Conflict which I have also grown.

If you have the space grow out the RL's and see what you get. If not go with correct leaf type and at least you know what to expect. Ami
__________________
Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways,
totally worn out, shouting ‘...Holy Crap .....What a ride!'
amideutch is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 23, 2012   #4
kenny_j
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: holly michigan
Posts: 380
Default

Carolyn, The brandywines were my saved seed, and I know how stray seeds can fall into the wrong cell when sowing, or show up in a wrong packet, the little devils . Or even a wrong label during the tedious job of potting up hundereds of plants. But I had 2 of the BW RL, soooo. Out of 800 plants I noticed maybe 5-6, one was a kimberley , seeds from erlyberd. The rest were probably trades, I didn't keep track and tossed most of them. I had even planted the Grubs MG yesterday before I noticed it was RL. I guess I was thinking of some of the F1 hybrids that are really good, and wondered if all F1's have good flavor of the 2 parents, and not til F2 that things go haywire. Thanx for the advice, Carolyn. I think I will toss them and use the space for what I know is good,
kj

PS: After baby sitting 800 plants the last couple months, I am finding it easier to commit tomatocide, at least plants that have some kind of problem.

Last edited by kenny_j; May 23, 2012 at 07:50 AM. Reason: add
kenny_j is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 23, 2012   #5
kenny_j
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: holly michigan
Posts: 380
Default

Thanx for the reply Ami, your post appeared as I was typing my last one. I don't have the gardening years left in me , nor the desire to grow out for stabilization, and I am growing a lot of PL plants, cause I get septoria every year, and they seem to do so much better, plus all that photosynthesis!! OK, time for me to hit the garden and PLANT!!!
kenny_j is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 23, 2012   #6
ddsack
Tomatovillian™
 
ddsack's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Northern Minnesota - zone 3
Posts: 3,218
Default

Quote:
We had a member maybe 5 years back get a BW Suddeth RL that was subsequently grown out and named Big Cheef.
This reminds me ... I got some seeds in a seed exchange which were labeled Big Chief, which I assumed were really Big Cheef (since I can't find any variety spelled Chief) I thought the end selection of Big Cheef was supposed to be PL, but all of my four seeds came up as RL's. So - anyone know if Big Cheef RL is otherwise similar to the PL? I'm aware that both leaf types have occurred in the past. I would be less concerned if I'd had a mix of PL's and RL's. I guess I'll know about the color when I see it!
__________________
Dee

**************
ddsack is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 23, 2012   #7
Farmette
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 985
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by ddsack View Post
This reminds me ... I got some seeds in a seed exchange which were labeled Big Chief, which I assumed were really Big Cheef (since I can't find any variety spelled Chief) I thought the end selection of Big Cheef was supposed to be PL, but all of my four seeds came up as RL's. So - anyone know if Big Cheef RL is otherwise similar to the PL? I'm aware that both leaf types have occurred in the past. I would be less concerned if I'd had a mix of PL's and RL's. I guess I'll know about the color when I see it!
Two years ago, I grew out one each of the the RL and PL Big Cheef. The PL seemed to produce more for me and be more disease resistant. Due to space limitations, I am just growing the PL this year. Here is a link to a thread about Big Chief..

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthrea...chief+farmette
Farmette is offline   Reply With Quote
Old May 23, 2012   #8
ddsack
Tomatovillian™
 
ddsack's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Northern Minnesota - zone 3
Posts: 3,218
Default

Well, dang it! Thanks for posting that thread. Sounds like IF what I have really is in some way related to Big Cheef, it's not the best version. Since I have no way of knowing what F gen it is, it's all clear as mud anyway.
Guess I will have to try a bit harder to get the real one.
__________________
Dee

**************
ddsack is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:39 AM.


★ Tomatoville® is a registered trademark of Commerce Holdings, LLC ★ All Content ©2022 Commerce Holdings, LLC ★