Learning • Practicing to Cross Breed Tomato Varieties

[applestar]

I don't have their pictures, but the Whippersnapper crosses that produced fruits were:
Whipper Snapper #1(WWLw) x Faelan's First Snow less variegated
Whipper Snapper #2(WWLw) x Stump of the World? HBR

[applestar]

It turns out cross breeding peppers is not that different. You just have to pay attention to the species. It so happens I have Bolivian Rainbow starting to bloom and I'm hoping to attempt crossing it with my supervariegated Fish pepper.

Here's my first attempt at emasculating the blossoms, which went pretty well -- not that different from tomato blossoms. ...and there are these Fish pepper flower buds that just may bloom in time to be the pollen donor.

image.jpg (41.41 KiB) Viewed 12982 times

...but if I'm understanding this process correctly, IDEALLY, I should use the Fish pepper as the mother for better outcome, so when this plant starts to bloom more profusely, I'll try to cross them the other way with Bolivian Rainbow as the pollen donor

[digitS']

Am I right, AppleStar, the pepper flowers are not closed? There were no petals to remove.

The plants must be comfortable with the light to have bloomed.

Without insect pollinator interference, crossing might be a little easier, as well.

Steve

[applestar]

See the larger Fish pepper flower bud?
That's about the correct stage to remove the petals and anthers (the process is called "emasculating" by the tomato and pepper breeders). At this stage, the anther is too immature to have produced pollen and pollinated the stigma in the same flower.

https://www.extension.org/sites/default ... _parts.jpg

I needed to mark the time on my tags because about 36 hrs later from this stage is when these exposed stigma will become receptive to pollination. At thar point, I will hopefully collect pollen grains from the larger Fish blossom by using the electric toothbrush, and use them to pollinate those Bolivian Rainbow blossoms. I'm supposed to try to apply pollen for two more days, so the smaller Fish blossom will come in handy for additional pollen donor.

[applestar]

So then... I REALLY thought this attempt was a bust because 36 hrs later, the Fish flower bud was still tightly closed and every 12 hrs thereafter for days

It FINALLY unfolded one petal last night, and when I looked at the emasculated Bolivian Rainbow blossoms, one had already wilted, but the other three looked intact. Since it took this long for the Fish blossom to mature, I reasoned that *maybe* ...just maybe... the BR blossoms are still receptive....

So I tried it this morning when the Fish blossom opened all its petals. Buzzing it resulted in satisfying minuscule pile of pollen on my iPhone -- I wasn't going to lose any pollen if I could help it. I used a teeny tiny angle cut flat acrylic painting brush to gently touch the pollen grains to the tip of the stigmas.

I'll keep repeating as long as this single Fish blossom can produce pollen, ...and we shall see.


...maybe they need a little encouragement...

[applestar]

Attempted 2nd and 3rd application of pollen yesterday and today. Now we watch and see if they took.

[Gardener_Wes]

Pretty interesting thread.

[applestar]

Yep. ...and if any of you are interested in trying this, I urge you to practice without too much expectations in the beginning --

It's not easy even indoors with no wind or bugs to deal with, and with container plants that you can raise or lower and turn until the subject blossom is exactly where you need it to be for optimum view and handling. So there's the mechanical dexterity training involved in learning to emasculate the blossoms.... Then there are the critical timing issues and environmental issues that would promote or discourage pollination.

Last one of the previously reported Bolivian Rainbow blossoms dropped off today -- so none of them were successfully pollinated.

But ! ...there were several -- at least FOUR -- super variegated Fish blossoms that were at the right stage to emasculate. So I did that this evening

...trouble IS, I'm not sure if there are/will be any potential pollen donor pepper flower buds to pollinate these with. Too bad because there were two flower buds with almost completely white stem and calyces.

FWIW I'm finding that pepper anthers are easier to break off than the fused tomato anther cones. But the delicate seeming petals are sometimes hard to pull off. But previous experience with tomato blossoms have shown that those petals will dry up and curl inward, and stick to the stigma if not removed, not to mention that in case of tomatoes at least, the yellow petals attract unwanted attention from the bees.

[digitS']

Thanks, digitS

As for the genetics and basic concept of what kind of progeny these may produce, this is always a good guide: https://kdcomm.net/~tomato/gene/genes.html

...you may have seen it before.

...it occurs to me I may have to re-think my tomato garden plans for next year, now that I have these fruits maturing with seeds for all kinds of exciting possibilities

We need to realize that it CAN be done. Right?

The website is Keith Mueller's. He is responsible for a variety I'm very happy having in my garden, Gary O Sena. Liz Birt and Dora are 2 "sisters" of the same cross between Cherokee Purple and Brandywine. Keith did this deliberately ...

Steve

[applestar]

Still trying with the peppers. Some of the Fish blossoms have failed as expected, but emasculated a couple more and applied pollen from the Bolivian Rainbow.

Also emasculated 5 of these Dwarf Arctic Rose blossoms (the wax envelopes are to hopefully prevent selfing by the other blossoms.)

Utyonok or maybe Maglia Rosa may be available as pollen donor. I was hoping for some Coyote pollen but it's starting to decline now after a good winter run.

In the mean time, the babies from the crosses I attempted earlier are startling to grow

10 seedlings of MRxZKCMWCFFSlv (MRxZCMF) F1in the middle of the tray

[applestar]

They are growing....!

...and more crosses
These are Dwarf Arctic Rose x Maglia Rosa and Dwarf Arctic Rose x Utyonok

Utyonok green fruits in the background

[applestar]

Here's a progress report/update for this little project

Here are the offspring F1's I'm growing. It's been really interesting to note some obvious variations in growth patterns which presumably means the cross "took" (but with which pollen since donors were mixed, Hmm?)

I've put each cross side-by-side with their reference variety. Remember that the fruits they came from were almost all pollinated with pollen from multiple varieties. (FFSlv = Faelan's First Snow less variegated)

What do you think? Any thoughts? I would appreciate opinions on any remarkable details that should be noted at this stage -- I actually don't have any goals in mind other than "shorter container grow-able with great flavor" and "more prolific indeterminate" If these were yours, would single out any of them as keep or cull at this early stage?

Maglia Rosa x (Zluta Kytice, Coyote, Manö, FFSlv) F1

The two on the right look very similar to the Maglia Rosa ref plants -- wispy and droopy/sprawling.



Maglia Rosa x (Stump of the World?HBR, FFSlv, Manö) F1

Lost the top right corner plant. I think I have the map wrong here -- the lost top right was another wispy/MR like plant and bottom left looks like an indeterminate.



Whippersnapper x Stump of the World?HBR F1

I think some of them may have in-between PL kind of leaves with IND growth of SOW and others appear to be short and sprawling like Whippersnapper.



In this last picture, the reference plants of Faelan's First Snow is heavily infested by TRM and not growing well though you can still see a smidgen of variegation on it Also I used two photos from different viewpoints for the crosses.

Whippersnapper x FFSlv F1

The front two on the left are already blooming which (I'm guessing) could be from the early maturing Whippersnapper trait even though they look indeterminate. The short ones may be showing Whippersnapper-like growth.

[applestar]

My little experimental subjects are continuing to grow and there are some obvious differences in growth patterns like indeterminate long internodes vs. shorter dwarf-ish internodes and height/growth rate, wispy vs spreading regular leaf, and now size of blossoms -- I'm seeing big blossoms, medium blossoms, and tiny blossoms which should be a good indicator of fruit size and other genetic traits

Among this summer season's varieties, I've attempted to make these crosses (first listed is the mother -- typically I prep and pollinate 2 blossoms):

Terhune x Ildi
(PL ind pink) x (RL ind MF yellow)

Pink Siberian Tiger x Dwarf Mr. Snow
(RL antho ind pink antho heart) x (RPL dwf white )

Dwarf Mr. Snow x Pink Siberian Tiger
(RPL dwf white ) x (RL antho ind pink antho heart)

Hawaiian Pineapple x Berner Rose
(RL ind yellow red bicolor) x (RL ind pink)

Lucky Cross x Berner Rose
(PL ind yellow red bicolor) x (RL ind pink)

Berner Rose x Dwarf Emerald giant NOT
(RL ind pink) x (RL ind yellow red bicolor)

Gritmire's Pride x Cherokee Lime Stripes
(WL ind pink heart) x (RL ind striped gwr)

Fishlake Oxheart x Maglia Rosa
(WL ind pink heart) x (WL dwf pink elongated pt)

Lucky Cross x Wes
(PL ind yellow red bicolor xlg) x (WL red heart xlg)

{MR x (ZCMWFlv) F1 dwf sm flwr} x Lucky Cross
{MR x (ZCMWFlv) F1 dwf sm flwr} x (PL ind yellow red bicolor xlg)


...some of those blossoms had fallen off the next day -- I.e. Failed to pollinate. This may have been because I put a tulle bag over them thinking I need to protect them from accidental bee or wind pollination, but it got really hot that day. For a couple of those, I repeated the same cross on another set of blossoms.

I don't know how long it takes to be sure they have fruit set. In the wintertime, some pollinated mother blossoms persisted for as much as a week before inexplicably dropping. They also still have to get through the August heat and drought and the foliage disease pressure, and produce mature fruits. (I really HAVE to get around to doing this earlier -- like as soon as 2nd set of floral trusses appear -- trouble then, though is that the trusses are way low on the plants and difficult to get to, see, and handle.... Lots to learn still )

So far, I have these:

...one of the crosses I specifically wanted to attempt is same cross as Pamplemousse de Grandpere (Grandfather's Grapefruit) which was originally created by crossing Berner Rose (Rose de Berne) with Pineapple. I obtained Berner Rose seeds but failed to obtain Pineapple -- what I had was Hawaiian Pineapple So I'm trying to cross them but after prepping the Berner Rose, I realized there were no Hawaiian Pineapple blossoms to supply the pollen -- I tried with another bi-color pollen donor, but yesterday, I saw that both Berner Rose blossoms had failed.

I did attempt Hawaiian Pineapple x Berner Rose and Lucky Cross x Berner Rose and you can see those blossoms among the pictured pollinated blossoms.

[digitS']

AppleStar, you have really got it going! Best of Luck.

For the third year, I have the 3 varieties in containers not 10 feet from the deck. For the second year, all flowers are being ignored ...

After the first year debacle, I'm just pretending that I'm ready to make the attempts at crossing but then enjoying the ripe fruit that's so handy, crossings not made. Can I blame DW? Her small hands might be successful if'n she would take an interest ...

Steve

[applestar]

Well, I think it'll be something I would do only for fun -- so not stressing over it much. In fact, I'm seeing most of those attempted crosses failing at this point. So I was rather premature in showing what I did. -- So it will be like a special present to find any of them take and produce fruit to maturity.

It's probably a good thing too since I don't have that much room to grow the subsequent generations.

Already, I'm feeling the pressure to save seeds from all of these

6/20 MRxZCMWF F1 2/28/15 ind 7/29 3' big flwrs



6/20 MRxSFM F1 2.27-3.9 wispy? 7/29 2' med flwrs


6/20 WSxFFSlv F1 2/27 dwf 7/29 3' med flwrs
6/20 WSxFFSlv F1 2/26 ind 7/29 20" sm flwrs
6/20 WSxFFSlv F1 2/27 dwf 7/29 3' med flwrs

[applestar]

My very first mature cross was Whippersnapper x Faelan's First Snow least variegated, F1

About the size of a small saladette and a little larger than a large cherry. Sweet pink color when harvest ripe (soft give at blossom end). It has a split at stem end so I think I will need to cut it open sooner than later. The cracking could be coming from the Cherokee Purple ancestry (Faelan's First Snow is believed to be an accidental bee cross with Cherokee Purple as the mother).

[applestar]

...aaand my NEW-est baby: Dwarf Arctic Rose x Utyonok, F1

...hopefully the other three seedlings are just taking their time and will be sprouting soon...

[applestar]

My winter crosses are starting to ripen

WS x FFSlv (Whippersnapper x Faelans First Snow less variegated), F1
- plant #3F
- plant #7M

MR x ZCMWF (Maglia Rosa x [mixed pollen of Zluta Kytice, Coyote, Matt's Wild, FFSlv]), F1 plant #4B

MR x SFM (Maglia Rosa x [mixed pollen of Stump of the World not HBR, FFSlv, Manö]), F1 plant #1F

MR x ZCMWF, F1 plant #5

[digitS']

Taste .

.. tests ...

scheduled?

Steve

[applestar]

OK, OK!

DD2 and I had our first tasting of two winter crosses today. When I took the photos, I didn't realize the digital scale's unit had switched to ml (?) ...so I tried to convert to equivalent weights and settled on 1/2 oz and 1 oz as shown.

Fruits of Plant #4B of MR x ZCMWF, F1 is the one that I was MOST hopeful of good results... And I'm SO HAPPY I was not disappointed.

DESCRIPTION: Maglia Rosa mother with mixed pollen of (Zluta Kytice, Coyote, Matt's Wild, and Faelan's First Snow less variegated) used to pollinate, so father could be any of these.

Plant #4B is a RL long-vined rambling indeterminate. It's trying to outgrow a severe TRM infestation. It has also retained the wild ability to use the leaf as a tendril to cling to support.

The fruit is 1/2 oz grape cherry that looks red/yellow marbled (is there a term for this?). I thought it might be clear but the skin/epi is solid yellow. I guess this is pink flesh and the prominent yellow veining makes it look sort of bi-color, especially with the yellow gel (But I'm guessing "bi-color" is not the right way to describe this.)

My impression was front end SWEET, then fresh tasting and salty, then tangy -- overall EXCELLENT!
DD2 said it was Sweet, very flavorful, and sweet aftertaste. Overall impression is SWEET.

13 ml = 0.44 fl.oz., 13 g = 0.45 oz (Approx. 1/2 oz)
.
.
.
We also tasted fruits from Plant #7M of WS x FFSlv, F1

DESCRIPTION: Whippersnapper mother and Faelan's First
Snow less variegated father.

I'll have to look at Plant #7M closely again to describe it. But I think it's a RL indeterminate.

The fruit is approx. 1 oz pink globe 3-locule saladette with tendency to split. Clear epi and pink flesh and pink gel.

My impression was front end SALTY, then sweet, then tangy with lingering acid. Overall also EXCELLENT.
DD2 said it had a STRONG flavor,sweet with good aftertaste. lingering tingly. She liked this one better.

image.jpg (33.15 KiB) Viewed 12885 times

29 ml = 0.98 fl.oz., 29 g = 1.02 oz (Approx. 1 oz)


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.
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[applestar]

With the yellow epi MR x ZKCMWF Plant #4B, would that automatically disqualify clear epi Coyote and FFS as the father? The rambling vine growth (also exhibited by Plant #1F, BTW) could have come from Zluta Kytice or Matt's Wild (or Coyote) I suppose.

Look at Plant #1F -- it's over 7 ft tall, but this one's somewhat rounder grape cherry fruits might be purple (or brown) -- would that automatically make the father FFS?. Those first two were so russeted by the TRM infestation that it was hard to tell, so I'm waiting for the next truss to ripen.

[applestar]

Maglia Rosa x SFM, F1

DESCRIPTION: Maglia Rosa mother and mixed pollen of (Stump of the World HBR*, Faelan's First Snow less variegated, and Manö)

* "Stump of the World HBR" is a volunteer that grew in HBR (vegetable bed designated as "Haybale Row") last year. PL indeterminate. Fruits were pink beefsteak shaped slicers with slightly ruffled dark green shoulders while still immature, it was tentatively ID'd as Stump of the World but some questions remain.

This one is Plant #1F

I have three plants of this cross --

[applestar]

Brief update on my crosses:

9/6
MR x SFM, F1 #1F (2)
MR x ZCMWF, F1 #4B (3)
Maglia Rosa for reference
WS x FFSlv, F1 #3F (2)
WS x FFSlv, F1 #2F (2)
WS x SOW?hbr, F1 #5B

9/10
MR x ZCMWF, F1 #1F -- small pink grape... XCoyote?

today
WS x FFSlv, F1 #7M -- not split
WS x FFSlv, F1 #1F -- not split
WS x SOW?hbr, F1 #6B (2) -- split at blushed
MR x ZCMWF, F1 #5B -- small red grape... xMWC?
WS x FFSlv, F1#3F and #4F -- split while green color break

I'm finding woefully prevalent cases of splitting in my Whippersnapper x FFSlv and Whippersnapper x SOW?hbr Crosses. ...I don't want to change the color though. I picked these two parents specifically because I wanted pink or purple.

After yesterday's all day rain, Plant #6B of Whipper Snapper x Stump of the World?hbr, F1 had split fruits… even ones while still green, not even blushed but maybe color break stage. I tried eating a blushed #6B and found it had super yummy green gel but crunchy and thin-walled (hopefully due to being only blushed) almost sweet fresh tasting flesh.

WS x SOW?hbr, F1 #6B

[imafan26]

It is hard to do anything about the rain. But overall a very successful endeavor crossing the tomatoes. It sounds like most of them turned out pretty good.

[applestar]

Update Photos of Dwarf Arctic Rose x Utyonok F1 seedlings.

They are showing very promising stout and dwarf (short internode) structure that might be really good for winter indoor growing and container growing, intermingling with flowers without unsightly tomato supports....

[applestar]

SOOOO EXCITED!!!

I noticed this F2 seedling of WS x FFSlv from the #7 plant is showing variegation on its leaves

[applestar]

...and now WS x FFSlv F2 has a first floral truss -- very low on the plant and showing multiple suckers early on, which may be trait inherited from Whippersnapper, which is a sprawling type variety good for growing in hanging baskets. Just need it to grow a little more to see if this one will be, too. Also keeping an eye on the internodes to see it this is going to show more of an indeterminate growth like the Faelan's First Snow (variegated Cherokee Purple possible cross).

[applestar]

...couldn't help posting this morning's picture with first blossom to unfold.
It's a little hard to tell with all that going on, but the variegated leaf in the bottom left is one of its leaves.

(And yes, there are actually TWO floral trusses )

[applestar]

Here are some F2 seedlings from Maglia Rosa x ZCMWF F1 Plant #4B (these F2 seedlings will be designated MRxZCMWFlv F2-4B). It's interesting to note the obvious differences in leaf shapes. I'm not good at telling the indeterminate growth patterns apart from possible Maglia Rosa type wispy short (not genuine dwarf) growth patterns, but I'm hoping to see them segregate into distinct patterns. So far, I'm not sure if the shorter ones are just slow....

To make it easier to compare, I'm growing some Maglia Rosa seedlings:

Biggest plant still in the garage (2 views of a same plant)

During the winter, the number of seedlings I can grow are limited. But I wanted to get a jump on the next generation. It will be possible to try to grow more during the main growing season next year.

[applestar]

MR x ZCMWF -- Here are two other lines of this cross I'm going to pursue -- F2-1F, from the #1F plant with small pink cherries, and F2-5B, from the #5B plant with small red cherries:

...another picture of #1F fruits:

[applestar]

Still scrambling to cobble together and organize my notes on this one.

MR x SFM -- Maglia Rosa x (mixed pollen from Stump of the World HBR, Faelan's First Snow less variegated, and Manö)

I was MOST intrigued by these fruits on #2F plant. I'm not growing the F2-2F seeds this winter, but will be growing them for the main season next year.

image.jpg (47.7 KiB) Viewed 13495 times

...but looking back at the photo I posted of 1F, I need to go back and find those, too. I believe 1F was the earlier and more productive plant (the cluster of four fruits in front of 2F's *may* have been 1F's.... But 2F fruits were much bigger on a shorter plant, I believe... And had the prominent nipple/point. For comparison, the two elongated cherry in the photo (one split) are Maglia Rosa.

[applestar]

WS x FFSlv F2-7

...looks like I need to uppot to a final container

[applestar]

Dwarf Arctic Rose x Utyonok F1

...this one was started early -- in fact on schedule for Winter Indoor growout. But it seems like that was actually its undoing, because this one and another variety I started on time were rapidly overcome by severe TRM (tomato russet mite) infestation.

I can't tell if the stress was the reason that all of the seedlings ended up with a single fruit before deteriorating. First one barely managed to ripen its fruit.

Consider the history of the Dwarf Arctic Rose mother -- It originally grew a terminating floral truss with a mega fruit, then was overrun by TRM, then grew new side shoots and grew on with normal growth structures and masses of loaded floral trusses.

Subject: 2014-15 Winter Indoor Tomatoes... + sugar snaps and cucumber

Here's another look at the two Dwarf Arctic Rose plants. One put out a megabloom while still small and set a single fruit very early on, then stayed out in the cooling garage V8 Nursery and took a long time to mature the fruit, but when the garage temp fell into 40's it was brought inside while the large fruit still green. The other plant was brought indoors relatively early on, but became infested by TRM and struggled to mature the first cluster of three fruits.

They are both still in the 1/2 gallon rice milk cartons.

The three smaller fruits are 1.5", 1.75" and 2" at widest diameter. The mega fruit is 3"

Subject: 2014-15 Winter Indoor Tomatoes... + sugar snaps and cucumber

Can you believe this is the Dwarf Arctic Rose that had the mega fruit on terminating main trunk?

I kept it in an isolated but less ideal location, so it's a bit spindly but the new sucker is free of TRM. I buried the rootball that was in the 1/2 gal rice milk container all the way at the bottom of this 2 gal bucket, so I think it will sit and take stock, then take off in this new location in the upstairs SE facing window. I'll top the container with additional fresh potting mix in another month or so.

You can also see the double-OJ containers planted with Utyonok which has replaced the Coyote. It has two tiny floral trusses starting to grow.

...and perhaps you can also see that the outer window is frosted this 14°F morning and there is snow on the ground outside.

[applestar]

Subject: 2015-2016 Winter Indoor (Tomatoes, etc.) Garden

Whippersnapper X Faelan's First Snow F2 -- although it had many more fruit clusters that started to form on the 4-5 upper branches, none of them opened enough to set fruits. I'm not sure if that was because of the sudden dip in temperature we experienced, the darkest days of the year, or what.

Now the lower cluster of fruits are finally starting to blush and the entire plant is starting to yellow, but this looks more like Determinate senescence that the Whippersnapper mother went through when I grew them last year. So it might just be that its time is up.



These pink (clear epi) fruits were distinctly sweet even though they were grown in the Winter Indoor Garden

One other possibility that I can think of is that one of my DD's has been using the nearby computer every night and staying up until the morning sometimes, leaving the plant lights on all night -- I wonder if that could affect a determinate variety tomato to burn through its lifespan faster...?

Subject: 2015-2016 Winter Indoor (Tomatoes, etc.) Garden

Whippersnapper x Faelan's First Snow F2

[applestar]

Now I'm growing the F3 seeds of Whippersnapper x Faelan's First Snow lv, and three of the seedlings are showing first hints of variegation on their 2nd set of true leaves

image.jpeg (46.68 KiB) Viewed 13305 times

Since the F2 had variegated leaves, this is as expected. I'm growing a whole bunch of seedlings to select the best variegated offsprings.

...these won't be showing variegation for a while though....

[applestar]

This is not my cross, but the breeder is trying to get a combination of variegation and antho expression.

Paddymc's Blue Variegated Tiger F2

I wasn't going to look at them tonight -- I already looked glanced at them this morning ...but the tomato tots are at that difficult age when they keep touching the light bulbs no matter how many times you tell them "NO" and restrict them.

(Sing-song) ~Do you see what I see?~




*** ACTUALLY, I would love to hear from people with more experience looking at antho and variegated expressions. What DO you see? I got the macro lense out to get close ups of these leaves:



But don't get excited about the extra antho leaf's pale spots -- this one might have been touching light bulbs. But I will keep an eye on it.

[Mr green]

What you do with all the tomatoes? You must either sell them or eat them daily! As for the variegation I don't know much about it but I think they may look pretty. But must have good tasting fruit if I'm gonna grow them. There are alot better ornamental plants other than tomatoes.

Didnt know the word Antho so I looked it up and its from greek and means flower? That threw me away even more all I see is leafy looking leaves. I see some odd leaf shapes tho.

[applestar]

First variegated tomato seeds I ever obtained was from Faelan's First Snow. This was a tomato plant discovered among a flat of Cherokee Purple and wisely snatched up I believe by an employee of the garden center. He grew it out and saved seeds from a fruit that looked every bit like the other Cherokee Purple he was growing. He grew the saved seeds the following year and realized that he was getting variegated plants again. At this point, he grew out the best ones he had and offered the seeds from the resulting fruits on a tomato forum and I jumped at the chance. The finder with screen name Lochlain(n?) was encouraged to name his find, and Faelan's First Snow was the name he chose.

I was fairly new at this so I just grew as many seeds as I could and had decent results. But more experienced growers and hobby breeders grew hundreds and selected the best variegated plants with which they made crosses with other varieties, some with pre-existing variegated varieties that were known to have excellent variegation but mediocre fruits.

So there are quite a few on-going and segregating crosses that are being stabilized now.

But mine are self pollinated and still have that Cherokee Purple type fruits -- clear skinned, dark, luscious, lingering great flavor as well as decent beefsteak size though not huge. I don't know if the tomato experts have concluded that the original find was a Cherokee Purple sport (Spontaneous mutation). Apparently, the circumstances and influencing factors were not sufficiently controlled to make a definitive determination, although the story has been told and re-told and discussed on several tomato and gardening forums by the individuals involved.

I'm getting ready to uppot the seedlings from the more variegated plant in 2014 (Last year, I only grew the less variegated due to seedling failure). Some of these are looking very nice. I'll post better photos later on.

---

antho was my shorthand for anthocyanin. Here's a good article: https://horticulture.oregonstate.edu/purple_tomato_faq

[applestar]

Subject: Applestar's 2014 Tomato Gardens

Took this picture at the last minute so please excuse the sloppy presentation.
We ate the First Faelan's First Snow

[Mr green]

Thanks for the background applestar it sounds very interesting indeed. It looks like a perfect slicer I would make thick slices and put them on a sandwich. Very nice looking tomato I really like the color!

Thanks for the links and clearing out my misunderstanding! Google aint always that helpfull ha! I'm slightly familar with the anthocyanin and its called antocyanin in Swedish. Sometimes you just need help to get things right!