2021 is underway

SOWING 3/20/21

F2s to grow out from 2018 crosses.  F1 fruit were obtained in 2019.

2018 cross #13:   55a7 x pBTD F1(2019): ~60 plants.

Sowed 72 x 1.  Germination was very high, about 70.72.

2018 cross #30: ZPT x GDZ F1(2019):  20 plants.  Sowed 18x2. Here I am simply looking to see if I get anything interesting.  Pure curiosity.   The F1 was likely a successful cross.  If so it proves GDZ is not dominant, but might be interacting with ZPT.   The F1 fruit had ribs and air pockets like ZPT.  

Assuming ZPT phenotype is a single locus, the F1 would be ZPT/+ ; GDZ/+.

If so, ~2/16 should be = either one or the other parental phenotype.  Some may be like the F1, some may appear more “typical” round.  But the interesting ones are ZPT/ZPT ; GDZ/GDZ – 1/16; , or, at least homozygous for one locus and het for the other, which will be around ¼ , combined.

Roma: 18 plants (2017) sowed 18x2.

Home:  2xCG (2015; sowed 2w x 3 seeds), 6xFL (on order), 2xBC (2015, 2wx2), 2x TD (2019, 2wx2), 2xHC (2020, 3x2). All germinated ok

"Original" 2014 cross 55a1.2 F6  - growing 2 plants

4/25/21 - planted 40 plants cross #13

4/30/21 - planted ~20 plants cross #13,  8 plants #30.

Summarizing the 2020 tomato growing year

Summarizing the 2020 tomato growing year

Calcium nitrate to prevent end rot

I did a calcium nitrate application test to see if Ca application would prevent end rot (ER).  It did, although I nearly killed the test plants by over-applying.  I had two test plants and one control.  The strain was Flamme, which is very prone to ER.

Soil: Miracle-gro potting mix.  Test plants had ½ cup of calcium nitrate mixed in the soil. Control had zero.

½ cup ~ 120 g ; x 0.19% calcium (according to label)  = 22.8 g calcium = 0.57 moles.   (Calcium is 24.4% of pure calcium nitrate by molecular weight, but the material is probably not pure calcium nitrate. )

Transplanted the plants into these, 5 gal buckets 5/10/20.

On 6/7/20 I supplemented with even more calcium nitrate.  This time I dissolved 120 g (½ cup) of the calcium nitrate in 500 ml water and applied it directly.

To the control, I added ¼ cup of 29-0-4 fertilizer to supply a similar amount of nitrate as the test.  Note this was a slow-release pellet form; not meant to dissolve quickly!  I dissolved it in 500 ml water as best I could, and added to control.

Well by evening, the two test plants were wilting. Of course, I should have realized that hitting them with a solution of 0.57mol/0.5 L, or more than 1 molar salt, would hurt!   This arrested growth of the test plants.  They did not recover their wilted appearance until ~6/28/20, 3 weeks later.

However – they did catch up, and by season’s end it was clear that the test plants had almost zero end rot.

Final results:

Test plants:  35 fruit.  34: no ER.   ER rate 3%.

Control plant: 53 fruit.   No ER: 27.  ER: 26.   ER rate 49%.

Interestingly, the control plant had much less ER after about Aug 15.

June-July 20:  Control had about 50% ER.  Test plants had no fruit yet.

July 20-Aug 15:  Control had about 50% ER.  Test plants had zero.

Aug 15- end of season:  Control and test plants had almost zero ER.

  

Conclusion:  It works, but don’t use such a concentrated calcium nitrate solution. Try much lower, like 50 mM, perhaps every two weeks.

Indigo crosses

I grew a few plants each of 55a1.2 F4 and 46a2.3 F5, and 1 of 28d3.3F4.

I saved seeds from 55a1.2F4 plant 2.  I will now call this 55a1.2F5.   

I previously thought 55a1.2F4 was not gf/gf, but it actually is gf/gf.

Since these are NOT y/y, it is hard to see the gf/gf from outside.  Sliced open it was obvious. (“identical to Carbon.”)

46a2.3 F5 are gf/gf;y/y and indigo.  These seeds were from 2 years ago and so I had already grown the F5 last year.  These were decent as before.  Were prone to sunscalding but I got started late in 2020 and that was partly why – in late July the heat and sun get really bad. Perhaps y/y is more prone to sunscalding?

28d3.3F4 did not have much at all purple.  A nice cherry, but prone to cracking with overwatering.  I sort of prefer Black Cherry which was very sweet this year.

Heirlooms

I derived Tangerine Dream from a store-bought orange globe “

heirloom”.  Seems to breed true and was a decent yellow-orange beefsteaky tomato.  Would grow again.

Flamme calcium tests

Flamme is prone to end rot.  I have three plants in buckets.  Two have each been supplemented with 1/2 cup pure calcium nitrate;  one with none as control.

Transplanting to 5-gal buckets

On May 7, 9, etc.  I starting moving the plants from cowpots into the buckets.  The plants are well rooted - roots are beginning to go right thru the cowpots.

I put a brick in each bucket to stabilize it.  Planting medium is simply Miracle Gro potting mix.

Crepe Myrtle branches:  I saved a bunch of pruned, fresh, straight branches, though after storing about a month in the garage they are all warping a bit and are not quite straight anymore.  Next time, to prevent warping after harvesting them, immediately anchor them on both ends to a T-post till use  (if possible, need to test this.).

2x  46a2.3 F5, 
2x  55a1.2 F4, 
1x:  28d3.3 F4.

2x CA
1x BC
1x HC  maybe 1 more?
1x FB
1x TD

Still need to transplant FL.  Will grow 4 I think; spike 2 with lots of calcium to test if helps stave off end rot.
Still need to transplant Roma.

Disinfecting last year's 5 gal. container buckets

On 5/4/20 I disinfected last year's 5 gal. container buckets as follows:

1. Rinsed off all dirt and debris as best I could with hose.

2. Made Disinfectant:  a 10:1 mix of water and 5% hypochlorite bleach; 5 gal of water + 2 quarts bleach, in a large white tub.  (Actually the bleach was "outdoor cleaner" from home depot, but it's basically 5% hypochlorite with prob a small amount of a detergent!)

3. I could place a bucket one at a time on their side in the disinfectant tub and roll it to cover all surfaces. Then placed the bucket upright in another tub while I rinsed the next one.  Let them stand a few minutes to disinfect.  

4. Finally, rinsed them by rotating them well in a separate tub of water.  Let drip dry in stacks.   

Tomato sowing - April 2020

Tomato sowing, 4/18/20.

For various reasons, I decided not to do a big grow-out this year from any 2019 F2 seeds.  Looking forward to doing that next year if all goes well.

This year I plan to have about 18 container tomatoes in the backyard.

They will be:

•46a2.3 F5, 55a1.2 F4, and 28d3.3 F4.

Each germinated well.

• Previous heirlooms: CA, FL (2016), BC, HC: also all germinated fine. HC had only 3 seeds left! but they all germinated.

Finally, I am growing two heirlooms I saved from Kroger!

• FB/Funky Bell :  a red, small-to-medium, bell-pepper-shaped tomato.  I guess the fruit weight was about 30 grams.

• TD/Tangerine dream:  a medium slicer, very nice globe/beefsteak with orange-y color.

I sowed into standard seed starter mix, heat mat.  Germination went fine.  Also sowed basil, cilantro, and banana pepper plants.

Sowing was 4/18/20.   Transplanted to cowpots, standard miracle-gro potting soil, around 4/24/20.   Hardening off, then fully outside around 5/1/20.

From August 2019

An assortment.

1. White Beauty

2. Mortgage Lifter

3. Carbon?

4. Black Cherry

5. Flamme

6. 28D3.3  F5

7. Uluru Ochre

8. 46A2.3 F5 ?