Thanks, all her books look really interesting. I’ll check them out
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All of my survivors are in the area I direct seeded with my big tomatoes and it’s a mix of 11 varieties. The norms, Cherokee Purple, Black Krim, German Pink, etc. I can identify the German Pink cause of the potato leaf but the rest are all still surprises! My cherry tomato area had my gifts from the bees last year. Orange and red cherries that were so sweet. Like candy kind of sweet. Unfortunately I believe they were lost to voles and a very very huge groundhog! 
Thank goodness I did plant a few of them in soilblocks and just had my first few today. Orange, sweet, firm, drought tolerant, growing and maturing in shade. Right on! Nothing like you guys have going on but kind of diverse genetics starting to roll!
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Ah, I see, so then all stable varieties by the sounds of it. If you still have flowers and time for fruits to form and ripen, you might want to cross all the survivors and then you could start getting progress over the next few of years. Otherwise it’s just a case of selecting stable varieties that do well in your area, as opposed to adapting the plants to your environment, right?
They are all ones I’ve grown for a couple years and produce well for me and my gardening style. My goal for this year is to lovingly neglect them! Not alot of ripe fruit to speak of. That’s totally why I clicked on the post. I understand the brutal first year feeling. Hard on my psyche but I’ve been trying to stay strong and not get out the hose. I’ve only watered 3 times this year and we are headed into D2 again. Last year was a crazy productive year. Still have all kinds of canned tomato products but it’s not enough to get us through the winter till next harvest. I just kind of felt it was going to be an early frost and they are predicting one at the end of September here. (Almost a month before our usual and it used to be in November) Supposed to rain this weekend and I really really hope it does. Time is slipping into the future and I want to eat tomatoes!
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I see. Well, I would guess you are unlikely to end up with anything different than the ones you bought originally, in that case, since stable tomato varieties have allogomous chromosomes, so there will be no variation to select from, aside from extraordinarily small amounts of random genetic mutation and perhaps some slight epigenetic changes. Or perhaps the rare occasional accidental cross that you just so happen to save the seeds for and plant.
On the other hand, if you cross them, in the F2 generation you will have all different plants, only limited by the genetic difference between the two that you cross. Or, if you grew tomatoes with a higher rate of outcrossing, such as Joseph’s, then you have a somewhat higher chance that the seeds you happen to plant might be crossed. Similarly, if you started with some of Joseph’s seeds or some other hybrid swarm or grex, you’d not need to cross them but the genetics would still be in a state of flux, hence there can be genetic adaptation to your conditions. This all gives a considerably different situation to merely growing stable varieties, and selecting through your conditions which stable varieties you want to keep growing, which is really the heirloom method rather than the landrace method. Well… I suppose it’s not as strict as heirloom seed sellers, who would isolate more to make sure they’re ‘pure’. And the quantity you are growing at should help the crossing rate. But still, it will be low.
Of course if you are happy with very little variation or adaptation, that’s great and you might have good results like that.However I believe you will have much better results if crossing is encouraged, as soon as possible.
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You my friend are correct and I owe you a debt of gratitude. I was stressing plants but that is just stress if they don’t have the genetic diversity to back it up. I do believe the orange tomato has wild genetics in it. There are orange currants on a walking trail a block or so over. I tasted them all last year before I saved the seed from them. A couple I spit out cause they didn’t taste right and I didn’t save the seed. Additionally, it is growing and producing mature fruit and that is the only tomato I planted/ seeded that has done that this year. The only tomato this season to reach maturity besides the volunteer area that the dog kept watered and warmed the soil in the spring! I did intend to begin crossing this Spring.
Direct Seeded Tomatoes 4/20/23
North Side of Home from Porch to
Shed, Beefsteak in the West to halfway point then Cherry Type in the East part of garden including Hugelkultur Bed
½ teaspoon = 1 part, around 120 seeds
Cherry Type
German Lunchbox, 20H,21H,22H - x 3 parts
Black Cherry, 21H,22H
Red Cherry, OP22
Little Orange, OP22
Winter Grape, 21H
Little Cherokee Purple, 2oH
Julia Belle, OP21,22H
Yellow Cherry, OP22
Beefsteak Type
White Tomesol, 22H
Rutgers, 22H
Black Krim, 21H
Hungarian Heart, 20H,21H
Black Krim/Cherokee Purple Mix, 20H
Cherokee Purple, 21H
Southern Illinois Grown Red Beefsteak, 21H
Tennessee BigRainbow, 22H
German Pink, 20H,21H - x 2 parts
Absolutely I’d adore to get my hands on an established grex and I will place my order early this year. The cucumbers from you all are doing great!
I like to say that the best laid seeds of gardener Julia were blown away or eaten by voles this year! Seriously, thank you for your detailed answer and help figuring all that out. Isn’t it funny how you can’t see stuff right in front of you then you hear it out loud and it all clicks? I’m still missing a piece of the puzzle!
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