Cross Pollination Tomato!

[brakedancer]

well my problem was only related to last year basically...but my garden lays in a low area and with the wet spring it didn't prduce well ..and the fact that I believe I recieved a little drift of roundup from the neighbor across the road when he sprayed his CRP field..at one point my plants looked like they were actually stressed from lack of moisture..leaves wrinkleing..the soil seemed plenty moist..

with your cross pollination subject I was hopeing to learn something that I didn't know before..if raising different varieties of tomatoes next to eack other effected the fruit..

[Nainoa]

well my problem was only related to last year basically...but my garden lays in a low area and with the wet spring it didn't prduce well ..and the fact that I believe I recieved a little drift of roundup from the neighbor across the road when he sprayed his CRP field..at one point my plants looked like they were actually stressed from lack of moisture..leaves wrinkleing..the soil seemed plenty moist..

with your cross pollination subject I was hopeing to learn something that I didn't know before..if raising different varieties of tomatoes next to eack other effected the fruit..

If your plants are in a low lying area and it's constantly wet, if you see Yellow forming in between the veins on the leaves, it means they are too wet to bring up enough minerals. Magnesium is a short term fix... Check a bag of Epsom salt for the proper application amount.

When you plant this year I would think about adding some sand.

*******

When it comes to cross pollination....

Tomatoes are just fine self pollinating... So it's not like apples where if they don't have another apple tree to cross pollinate with they make for a miserable yield etc...

However with tomatoes if you do have a separate pollinator they will form fruit sooner and be less likely to drop their fruit.

So in a sense yes you do get a better yield... But not for Genetic reasons... More in the sense that 2+ plants creates twice the pollination opportunities.

******

As for my (Technical) "Hybrid" situation...

Last year I had 2 show up... One I called "Pony Boy" which was a glacier tomato which must have picked up genes from my neighbor's yellow toms (I haven't grown yellows in many years) and so I saved its seeds...

I named it "Pony Boy" because it "Always stays golden."

The first Pony Boy germination test came up yesterday!

Went to go do morning inventory in the greenhouse... And OVERNIGHT 8 of 16 of the "Sanzowine" are full up with their cotyledon leaves out... While at the same time the original parents (San Marzano and Brandywine) each only have 2 that are breaking the surface!

So based on cultivar comparison they are equal to or sooner than their parents.

The question of whether or not the Hybrids produced mules is answered... They are NOT mules!

Next step is to spend the next month seeing how their true leaves develop!

[Nainoa]

Update: Sanzowine is developing the true leaves of a San Marzano... And it is still outgrowing both of it's parents!

[rumeye]

Nainoa In your honest opinion, would the brandywine make a good salsa tomato ? Also I am going to start from seed the Brandywine and the San Marzano's. Which cultivar do you use there seems to be a few different ones for each of these tomatoes.You also talked about the Indiana weave or somthing like that. I am really tired of the cages, need a different system. Any tips would be much appreciated.

[Nainoa]

Nainoa In your honest opinion, would the brandywine make a good salsa tomato ? Also I am going to start from seed the Brandywine and the San Marzano's. Which cultivar do you use there seems to be a few different ones for each of these tomatoes.You also talked about the Indiana weave or somthing like that. I am really tired of the cages, need a different system. Any tips would be much appreciated.

In my Garden 75% of all the plants I grow are San Marzano. The only time a Brandywine makes it's way into a salsa or into a tomato jar is if I'm picking San Marzanos and I spot a Brandywine that has just split.

When it comes to preserving Brandywine on it's own, I'll strip them of seeds and gel,then I'll splay them out with the skins still on (And skin side down) in the food dehydrator (On the lowest levels so they dry faster!)

Once they are stone dry, I put them in my spice grinder and make "Tomato Powder" Which I'll either put into chili spice blens with my dehyrated and ground peppers at the end of a bumper crop OR just store in a wax paper sealed shaker in the freezer to say punch up a thin marinara sauce etc...

They just don't have the right meat to water/gel and seed content for traditional canning.

[Nainoa]

When it comes to cultivar selection.

Currently I grow Standard Brandywine and Standard San Marzano.

I have in the past grown Brandywine OTV and had good success, the only reason why I grow a standard Brandywine ATM is because I had a REALLY good Brandywine plant that had superior flavor and a little blight resistance, two years ago and I saved his seeds.

For San Marzano... I only grow the original. I have in the past tried "San Marzano Redorta" and was completely unimpressed.

The flavor of the Redorta is there... BUT redorta is a more vineline plant with weapier branches, so it is more work in caging, and it makes only a few large, slow ripening tomatoes that are like the size of a kids mini-football!

When it comes to training the tomatoes... I believe what you're looking for is "Florida Weave." (Which is worth a google)

For me, I've settled on planting the tomatoes deep and putting a small cage around them (Just to give them some wind protection early in their lives) and then as they grow up I shove Furring strips (50 cents per at Menards) Around them in a triangle.

I put the 8 foot wood strips into the ground 2 feet... Then tie and cross tie cheap sissal or 1/4 nylon twine to make support rungs for the plants to get support six feet up.

[Nainoa]

UPDATE on Sanzowine...

The "Swines" continue to grow faster than their parents... What is really turning out to be interesting is that San Marzano has an irregular leaf like most tomatoes... And the Brandywine has a broad potato leaf.

The "Swine" have the irregular leaf pattern... BUT the leaves themselves are broader and fatter than a regular San Marzano... It's almost like a San Marzano with a quasi Maple Leaf!

Don't know that it mounts up to a hill of beans... But it's interesting enough to note!

[mainbutter]

But I figure it's a better use of my short time on this Earth to spend my spare time with my hands in the dirt than it is with my butt in a chair watching dancing with the chimps (Or whatever is popular these days!)

agreed! we certainly don't turn a profit since we eat everything that we get out of our garden, and dollar for dollar, pound for pound if we bought from a grocery store I doubt we'd come out much ahead, but doing it yourself sure is rewarding, enjoyable, and delicious

[Nainoa]

Well... When you look at it I started out three years ago with $150 gift card, that I used to invest in upgrading my set up, expanding greenhouse, growlights, potting soil, new seeds.

Then sold seedlings, which funded my garden and a little bit more profit to then expand the next year and do the same thing... Then expand the next year etc... On up...

Three years now, when you add up the net savings in food cost, trade and cash and I've taken that $150 and turned it into a NET profit/savings of $5490!

[rumeye]

Nainoa What would be a good salsa tomato ?

[Nainoa]

Nainoa What would be a good salsa tomato ?

Heirloom if you can find it, San Marzano (This is what I grow from seeds I save every single year)

If you just want to take the easy route and buy plants from a nursery when the time comes, then I'd go with Roma.

Really Roma is a great sauce/salsa tomato, and it took me years of trying other types of Heirloom sauce/plum tomatoes before I found the San Marzano that beats it.

And even then the Marzanoes only beat it in cooked applications. Straight off the vine and say into a food processor for a fresh salsa, you wouldn't notice a difference.

[KEN W]

Any Rome type tomato will work best.They have more solids and less juice than your reguular tomato.Which means a thicker salsa.

I also grow San Marzano along with a variety called Saucey,which is earlier.

I also save seeds from them as they are not hybrids.

[Nainoa]

Yeah there are some Roma Tomatoes that aren't hyrbid... But it's not all of them.

But in general all of the tomatoes you get in a "can" at the grocery store are Roma tomatoes.

[flipper]

*******

When it comes to cross pollination....

Tomatoes are just fine self pollinating... So it's not like apples where if they don't have another apple tree to cross pollinate with they make for a miserable yield etc...

However with tomatoes if you do have a separate pollinator they will form fruit sooner and be less likely to drop their fruit.

So in a sense yes you do get a better yield... But not for Genetic reasons... More in the sense that 2+ plants creates twice the pollination opportunities.

******

As a fellow tomato nut who has grown heirlooms for the better part of my 56 years I strongly, but respectfully, disagree with your assertion that a separate polinator will improve yield or decrease drop in tomatoes..

[Nainoa]

No problem... I don't think you understood the full context of that conversation segment though.