Ooh since we are sharing minor issues! Silly me completely forgot stunted growth can be an issue if planting heat loving crops too early and im worried that my choice to plant my seedlings directly in the soil instead of potting up may have shocked em. Im hopeful and concerned at the same time. I was trying to avoid all of the transplanting to larger pots because i viewed it as baby-ing and unnecessary steps id like to eliminate from my process but… maybe people do it for a reason (duh!)
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Your tomato plants are looking good! Having to buy more canning jars for processing your abundance of tomatoes is an excellent “problem” to have 
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Looking forward to the resulting genetics from direct sown Obligate Outcrossing. I think this type of selection will be useful for northern growers.
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I wouldn’t worry about it too much with your tomatoes, especially since you winter sowed them. Cucumbers are both less cold-tolerant and more prone to transplant shock. Just pay attention to how they each respond and consider adjusting slightly next year if it seems like they need it.
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I started 8 two-inch cells each of promiscuous returned and obligate outcrossing indoors on March 1, planted them out over a few days in late mid to late April without up potting. Goal was to increase survival rate with limited seeds but minimize time in pots and still allow for some early season cool soil/damp evenings selection pressure.
So far, so good. Obligate outcrossing are a bit behind promiscuous returned as others have noted, but they are all starting to grow again after transplanting and are putting out second sets of true leaves now with a long stretch of warm weather in the forecast. I direct seeded the remainder of the seeds from my packets today, but probably should have done that about a month ago.
I’m particularly interested in this purple-potato leaf type in the promiscuous returned group.
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Ooh thank you for the reassurance! Im certain ive read about it before but wasnt fresh in my mind until discussing the cucumber situation. Ever since then ive been worried about my tomatoes. I am glad i took notes of transplant days so i can keep that in mind for next year! Most seedlings do look like they are starting to sprout new leaves veeerrryy slowly but with warmer weather coming this week im hoping to see some noticeable growth.
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Nice to see some of your tomato plants in ground without being potted up, i was wondering if i was irresponsible for trying that hahaha. Mine also have little yellowing on the cotyledons.. is that a normal thing as they start to wither and die off while true leaves form? I notice that my obligate outcrossing seem to be ahead of the promiscious seedlings.
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It is normal, but this early it’s likely a sign of minor nutrient deficiencies related to transplant stress or cool soil temperature. Seedlings will often drop their youngest leaves earlier than usual when their roots are disturbed or they have trouble finding the resources they need to grow.
Soil temperature is a primary driver of nutrient availability in spring because it regulates the microbial life that keeps nutrients cycling and makes them available to plant roots. Plant genetics can influence at the margins what individual plants can tolerate and how effectively they make relationships with the microbes that are present, but there are limits based on the physics and chemistry of the soil, too. I always want to plant/transplant things earlier than it makes sense to—it’s a constant struggle.
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Thank you for a thorough explanation, that makes a lot of sense! I had no idea about the soil temperature having such a large role to play towards nutrient uptake and availability. So cool!
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I direct seed two weeks before last expected spring frost due to my short growing season. My plants need every possible day of growth since I might only have 85-100 frost free days. A little envious of those of you with longer growing seasons that don’t have to time things so tightly.
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Totally understandable! I’m still new to working with the wider genetic base of the promiscuous strains of tomatoes and it’s possible they will be more capable here than others I’ve grown before. It’s a different challenge to have a long frost free season but very little true summer heat. Even with everything I said above, I’m still pushing this population to grow outside earlier than all the local gardening materials tell me to. I think direct seeded plants are probably better at handling the early season cool temperatures, and I intend to try that approach next year after collecting more seed.
Peas, favas, greens, etc thrive here but I struggle to get many mature tomatoes without starting them early indoors and babying them.
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My Promiscuously Pollinating tomatoes descended from the winners of my frost/cold tolerance trials.
The variety that came to me as Jagodka (from Russia via Canada) produced heavily in cold weather. It won the trials and every line in the project descends from it.
Another ancestor, Solanum habrochaites, came from 11,000 feet elevation in the Andes mountains.
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Your strain of Jagodka and Brad are ancestors to most of my breeding lines even all the domestic ones because I crossed Brad x Brad Gate’s Blue Gold in 2017 and then that x Big Hill which is half Jagodka and then used the result heavily in crossing. A few crosses here and there lack that ancestry but I suspect that given my general formula for crossing that those will be crossed again- likely picking up the ancestry before I consider releasing them. One thought I’ve had is to systematically cross more domestic and other wild and indigenous breeding lines back into the promiscuous project and I think that might be best accomplished by crossing with the Promiscuous x LA2329 S. habrochaites cross I made a few years back. Though I’ve failed to plant any of it so far this year- and it may be too late as it takes longer to produce! Always more to do next year.
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Checking in on my profoundly promiscuous and obligate outcrossing… Nice to see a second set of true leaves stretching out! It is a challenge for me to avoid adding any worm castings, manure or compost but i just wanna let em do their thing in my soil and see how quickly i can adapt the tomatoes to my area without pampering. Im sure all of the random legume seeds i sowed prior to planting the little maters are helpin boost some nutrients in the soil.
Some of my nicest Profoundly Promiscuous:
Some of my nicest Obligate Outcrossing:
I also transplanted some regular ol san marzano tomato seedlings at the same time, only i have them in a woodchip/horse manure sheet mulch bed i made in February, which is my own experiment to see how different crops grow in comparison to my sad dirt work-in-progress soil. Thought id share a couple pics to compare with the gts tomatoes 
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As of yesterday 5 of the direct seeded tomatoes have popped up. Nothing beyond seed leaves so far.
Apparently the nurse plants also have the bonus of keeping the rabbits from eating the tomato plants (though I think they have been chewing on my pea plants as well).
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I had lots of seeds (thousands) saved from last year but little motivation/time for bed prep for direct sown plantings right now.
I ended up with a nice amended bed that can support 20 final plants where I placed 50+ seeds around each final spot
Another smaller bed (10 final plant max?) I scattered tomato seed like a cover crop, raked and called it a day.
Then I proceeded to scatter tomato seeds in hostile areas of my garden. In leaf mulch, next to a ditch, in the grass… Hoping that one plant will make it out of this, showing weediness potential.
I did keep some seeds before I got carried away too much.
On top of all that silliness, I do have a couple dozen plants growing in pots, waiting for milder weather.
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Well, we had a freeze last night of 28.9°F and I no longer have any of the direct seeded tomatoes. There were only 4 left out of the 6 that came up due to something eating some of them anyway. I have plenty of the promiscuous seedlings I started inside still, so I will probably just put some of those into the same area rather than starting more of the direct seeded ones at this point. At least I have some healthy looking radishes and turnips as a consolation prize
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4 is more than none in my world
Well it was 4. Now it is none. All 4 got killed by the frost, I mean.
Oh I see, I misunderstood! Unfortunate. I guess you will be able to produce seed and try again next year.