Sowed my domestic tomatoes as well as pimpinellifolium and cheesmanie crosses on 22.5 on bare ground with small patch of peppers just to see how much there is to go before it’s viable to direct sow them this way. There is total around 30m2, most of which is 2 or 3 generation direct sown. On top these there is separate 10m2 of habrochaites crosses that I direct sowed with the help of black biofilm and cloth to give better change to ripen. Part of those are F2s and part are F1s made to domestic F1s so unstable, but first generation.
Even if the current weather is causing a little concern for some projects, highs of barely over 15C/59F and nights getting close to frost seems quite perfect way to test the cold tolerance of tomatoes and get some early selection.
Ps. sticks are different lines, traits or generations and sown depending how much space I want to give them. I expect first generation direct sown be more varied so I have them separate to give those also a fair change before mixing with those with similar background. At the end of this season there should be just different groups based on amount of certain wild species and traits like LB tolerance.
Will be interested to see how this goes. I have about 20 square meters of direct sown tomatoes, first and second generation. They have germinated about a week ago, and it’s been cold and rainy this week in Quebec with lows around 4-5C and highs around 7-12C
Tomatoes had emerged a couple of days ago. Took some 10-11 days compared to 4 days last year. Last year was unusually warm at the time of sowing so it was expected that they take longer.
Habrochaites F1/F2 crosses had also emerged, a little earlier with the help of biofilm and cloth. Removed the cloth to make it easier to take care of them. Yet to take closer look how many there are, but should be ok. I later realized that it might be a little mistake sow half wilds this way as there might be domestic volunteers. I sowed them where I had habrochaites crosses last year and far from where I had domestics, but with tilling they might be everywhere. Have to see if there are some suspect looking plants. I don’t know what to expect with F2s, whether there can be some close to domestic looking. Gotta be more careful next year.
Weeded habrochaites crosses. They had grown well dispite being quite weeded over. Also don’t seem to mind average finnish summer weather after I took of cloth. Now they should really explode into growth. Interesting to see that there is already quite a bit of variance in the F2s. Some are light green, some have purple stems and some had gone completely purple from the conditions. Some look more habrochaites and some more domestic. Interested to see how fruits turn out. Based on amount of tomato volunteers in ground cherries that are next to these, it looks like there probably aren’t many that volunteered within habrochaites cross beds. It’s also likely that those that are are also habrochaites F2s as I grew them in the same spot last year.
Tomatoes weren’t first priority for weeding/thinning as they are fast enough that little delay in growth isn’t going to matter as much. That said, it was about time to do it and would have been easier had I done first culling right after emergence. About week ago I did go through between lines with sciccors and later took some of the biggest weeds as a fast remedy, but with cool wet weather you can’t slow down the growth of weeds. Now it’s done, but there are still 10-20 times the amount of seedlings to final amounts so I’ll need to make another culling by the end of the month. At least it get’s easier now to see what I’m doing.
Compared to last year they are a little behind, but it doesn’t seem like the difference has changed that much since emergence. Last year drought slowed down early growth a bit and this year it’s been cool weather. Fastest seem to be half wilds just like last year with pimpinellifolium crosses maybe slightly faster than cheesmaniea crosses. Also possibly new F1 crosses are faster than F2s, but the differences aren’t that big. Nothing that especially stands out of all, but ofcourse there are some that stand out of their neighbours.
Wet weather has started LB season much earlier than in previous years. I could see some affected potato plants in the neighbouring plots. Not sure if weather will stay favourable for it to make difference to tomatoes. As there are plenty of extras it wouldn’t be bad if it made some early selection. Have to follow how the situation develops.
Habrochaites F2 crosses are starting to take off. Did some weeding and culling, but I’m a little unsure how to do selection. Most of the best growers look very much like habrochaites or F1s and I’m not sure if that’s indicative of also other traits like the fruit. I couldn’t really cull them over some miserable looking domestic types. I did leave some average looking to grow alongside habrochaites types. They can be a little tighter than usual and if they produce some fruits, then they are good enough. This year is more of a learning experience. I still have plenty of F2s to make a better grow-out the next year. Of the domestic types, there was one spectacular looking that ticks all the boxes at the moment. Looks like it has at least partially dwarf or bushy growth type. Like all others, it still has habrochaites smell in it’s leaves or the smell just stuck after I tried the habrochaites types. I couldn’t get tomato smell from domestic tomatoes either.
Absolutelly stunning domestic type. There is some habrochaites looking coloration in the stem, but besides possible leaf smell there isn’t other traits indicative of habrochaites at the moment.
Made some (almost) last selection and made some interesting opservations. One of the habrochaites types had well defined serrated leaves compared to others. Also noticed first buds in my favorite domestic type plant. It feels like they are growing slow, but comparing the pictures it’s still quite a lot of growth in less than two weeks with temps mostly under 20C. It looks like weather type is about to change and forecast is showing highs around 25C from weekend on for as lond as forecast goes. I expect them to go bonkers.
First flowers are starting to open. Like last year pimpinellifolium crosses are the fastest, but unlike last year there is more variance and not all opening on the same day. Hence I haven’t done final selection yet, but once it’s clear which do it first I’ll make harder selection. In terms of time this year they were about 10 days later, although they were already 4 days behind at emergence so they have fared fairly well after that. At least the best. Domestic crosses haven’t been that pleased. Last year they weren’t that much behind wild crosses, but this year most are well behind and quite sorry looking. Can’t say things have improved with the warmer weather so it’s possible they have gotten some root damage from wetness. There are some crosses that did much better, but it’s not going to be a great harvest. At least high selection pressure. Also there isn’t much time to do crosses. It is what it is. It was expected that this would happen some years. Changes are that next is better.
One mix of pimpinellifolium F3 (I think) has quite a bit of carrot leafed plants. Good to see some domestic traits. Wonder if there are also some with bigger fruits this year?
First of the habrochaites F2s has also opened it’s first flower and buds are starting to show. A bit later than ideal, but at least should get some viable seeds. Just barely have time to make some crosses to 50% lyco/25%pimp/25%chees population to start trialling and building multispecies population.
Why does it seem that the growth is slow, but when you look back at the pictures they were smaller than you remembered they were? First half pimp is ripening alas it’s a plant that has suffered from early blight so wont save seeds apart from some crosses that I made. There are a few plants that seem to be susceptible to early blight like some of the pimp assecions I had, but no widespread problems. LB has remained under control as it has been fairly dry since the heat wave started and there has been only occasional showers or more rainy days after it cooled down. Frost left damage to some of the shorter and more late plants. Mostly in the domestic with some tops damaged in cheesmaniea crosses. No real damage to fruits. A few plants dropped fruits from cold shock, but leaves seem to have protected fruits so that there isn’t direct damage from frost. Pimp crosses are doing the best and are starting to have quite a bit of green fruit. If only they were little earlier they would have made quite a bit more. This year they were about 10 days behind in the flowering and might not have been any more behind in ripening fruits, but 15C/59F and frosty or close to frost nights do slow down the ripening quite a bit. Now it looks like it will be fairly good weather for the coming 2 weeks period considering time of the year. Highs 17-20C/63-68F and lows little over/under 10C/50F. Happy if I can make final picking mid september or later.
Some more are ripening. I waited until a few days ago to pick the first as I wasn’t sure about the colour, even if it was quite evident quite fast that they would be orange. It’s just first pimp cross that is other than shades of red. There is also some segregation on the size of the F2. Nothing huge, but starting to be too big to call them cherry tomatoes. There are also some that are going back to pimp. I’m not saving seeds from those that aren’t at least fair cherry tomato sized or those that have lost leaves because of early blight, except if I had made crosses.
My favorite plant from habro cross F2s had ripened, as much as you could expect from habro cross this early on. I suppose it’s good news as it confirms that it’s a habro cross and not some volunteer. That’s also the only bad side as it has many good traits from domestic. Growth habbit is nice, as is yield and fruit size has improved. They didn’t have too many seeds as most seemed like they had aborted, but those seeds they had were bigger domestic types. About 10 seeds a fruit and there is going to be few dozen fruits that are developed enough to have viable seeds. Best part is that I got also crosses with lyco/chees/pimp. I’m hoping that will erase most of the taste problems and maybe open some new positive taste traits.
Some turned out to be too domestic looking that I have to consider them to be volunteers. That was the risk with direct sowing. Next year I’ll take some precautiones, but still haven’t made up my mind how I will do it. Using small transplants (some do transplant rolls to pack as many in a small space) might be best as maybe isn’t as important to test them as it is to know that they are actually what I want. Then choose from those that look domestic early on as it seems like anything that looks like habro, at least in this stage, will have fruits and all other traits just about like habro. Those domestic looking I’m still saving if they are worth saving, like this one. It was still very fast. It did look like it came out of nowhere. Maybe it had germinated from deeper? Once it warmed a little it really exploded.
First half pimp is ripening alas it’s a plant that has suffered from early blight so wont save seeds apart from some crosses that I made. There are a few plants that seem to be susceptible to early blight like some of the pimp assecions I had, but no widespread problems. LB has remained under control as it has been fairly dry since the heat wave started and there has been only occasional showers or more rainy days after it cooled down. Frost left damage to some of the shorter and more late plants. Mostly in the domestic with some tops damaged in cheesmaniea crosses. No real damage to fruits. A few plants dropped fruits from cold shock, but leaves seem to have protected fruits so that there isn’t direct damage from frost. Pimp crosses are doing the best and are starting to have quite a bit of green fruit. If only they were little earlier they would have made quite a bit more. This year they were about 10 days behind in the flowering and might not have been any more behind in ripening fruits, but 15C/59F and frosty or close to frost nights do slow down the ripening quite a bit. Now it looks like it will be fairly good weather for the coming 2 weeks period considering time of the year. Highs 17-20C/63-68F and lows little over/under 10C/50F. Happy if I can make final picking mid september or later.
