I’m having serious doubts about my 2026 tomato garden. Just had deer hit the garden at the apartment. The garden land gardens seem to be small and far behind due to frost, hail, and perhaps heat and inadequate weeding. Time may not be on my side depending on when first frost chooses to come. Got seed tomatoes back from one additional cross this weekend. All protected from the June 8th frost by heat radiating from a thick sand layer- so not genetics. Interesting but frustrating 2026 results so far.
Tomato season is gradually picking up. Most of my plants still seem to mostly have leaves and flowers with little fruit. However seven F1 lines are producing ripe fruit.
Line 523 is an F1 of 294 x PI129143 and it has precisely one small red fruit with anthocyanin shoulders. The F2 seed within has the potential to produce some really wonderful cherry tomatoes. Given that 294 is a fancy tasty green when ripe with anthocyanin skin and stripes. The specific plant this cross was made on was potato leaf- which I find a helpful marker for cross takes.
1 Like
I attempted as many as 55 unique crosses today and yesterday with my cherry tomato which is a blue bicolor potato leaf 50% wild accession currant tomato #303 as the father. My plan with this is to get lots more lines that are greater than 50% wild and indigenous and fancy. When the 294 descendants start to segregate next year I’ll try to find a striped blue green when ripe to make crosses with. I know from the cross that got me 294 that the crosses between blue bicolors and striped blue skinned green when ripe tomatoes will be highly variable and exciting. I doubt all attempts will succeed but it was a good effort in a year I haven’t had much time yet to attempt crosses. In some cases the mother was simply red genetics, in others there is already some fancy parentage and these will have a high potential to segregate to fancy types in 2027. That is should the crosses take.
I’ve continued collecting tomatoes for seed and it looks like this latest picking is 18 F1s. Highlights include two crosses with 294 and one with the best tasting variant of 339. One of the more important goals next year will be to get fancy segregants from these 294 cross lines. So a larger growout!
From last weekend there are about 11 cross takes.
I think also it is getting close to time to stop making crosses for the year- so this may be it!
2 Likes
Saved Seed 08-30-2026
298
F3?
Small
Ok
Is a blue bicolor MMM X PZ X MMM X PH5
523
F2
Large Packet
More
294 GWR Antho Stripes x PI 129143
533
F2
Medium
Ok
EO X ET x LA0410
544
F2
Medium
Ok
310 Yellow Bicolor Good Flavor X 129143
550
F2
Large
Ok
321 Sunviva X X LA 1385
551
F2
Medium
Ok
321 (Sunviva X) X 129143
569
F2
Large Packet
More
339 Blue Bicolor Dwarf from Promiscuous Project Cross Best Flavor x LA1385
570
F2
Medium
Ok
339 mild x 129143
583
F2
Large
Ok
365 Blue Yellow Heart Reed Collaboration with some Purple Zebra x 129143
587
F2
Medium
Ok
4-124 x 129143
610
F2
Small
Ok
499 (Dwarf Moby’s x 303) Yellow Antho x LA0410
623
F2
Large
Ok
501 Blue Bicolor x LA0410
635
F2
Small
Ok
515 (358 (Payette x MMM x Sweet Cherriette)X 319(MMM x Galapagense X X MMM X LA2329))Antho Bicolor x PI 129143
636
F2
Small
Ok
5-66 orange? X 129143
643
F2
Medium
Ok
Fisher’s (Benewah x Beefmaster) x EO X PI 129143
649
F2
Large Packet
Ok
LA0410 x 284 gonna be red
650
F2
Small
Ok
LA0410 X 286
651
F2
Medium
More
LA0410 X 294 has light stripes and antho and excellent flavor
654
F2
Small
Ok
LA0410 x 339
655
F2
Medium
Ok
LA0410 x 366 Dwarf
659
F2
Small
Ok
100%
662
F2
Medium
Ok
Marchenengel x LA1385
663
F2
Medium
Ok
Matt’s Wild x 314
664
F2
Medium
Ok
129143 x 283
665
F2
Medium
Ok
129143 x 303
669
F2
Small
Ok
SH13 X LA 1385
Sunsugar
F2
Small
Ok