Heirloom Vegetable 2 page PDF

Aimed for Florida folks but useful for other locations too.

Bill

Or

Reply to
Bill who putters
Loading thread data ...

What do they mean by open pollinated?

It was always my understanding that potato leaf tomatos were pollinated by insects and the varieties that had regular leaves were self pollinating, even to the point of being pollinated before the blossom actually opened.

Is this incorrect? Does it mean that you can't save the seeds from a regular leaf variety?

I have alot of varieties of tomatoes planted and would like to save seed but I don't want to waste my time with a lot of (probably bad) crosses next year.

Varieties include: Brandywine yellow zebra black krim beefsteak cherokee purple golden globe break of day green zebra and a couple more that I am having trouble remembering right now.

Some of these are fairly close together, within a 100 feet, but all are within 200 feet.

What say you wizards of the gardens.

basilisk

Reply to
basilisk

Essentially it means that there is no human intervention in the reproductive process in order to maintain a relatively pure strain.

Check out this. And, once again, I highly recommend Suzanne Ashworth's "Seed to Seed".

formatting link

Yes you can save seeds from these.

If your plants are seperated by that distance you are more than good to go on saving seeds. I save seeds from varieties growing next to one another and have no crosses yet, though possible it is unlikely. Just as with beans. They are self fertile and rarely cross on their own.

Potato leaf varieties will do fine if separated by the length of the garden. Don't save seed from any double fruits.

Charlie

Reply to
Charlie

Thanks this confirms what I believed, this is going to be my first year saving tomato seed, I have been starting my own plants from seed for several years now and enjoy the great variety available from seed.

Besides the limited variety of nursery raised plants they have been costly, as I try to set out about 100 tomatos a year.

I always save a few squash seed and plant a couple of hills from them, it's always fun to see what they have cross pollinated into.

basilisk

Reply to
basilisk

It is good to have fun. Charlie and that grouch Billy have useful experience and share it with joy.

Bill

Reply to
Bill who putters

Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners, by Suzanne Ashworth and Kent Whealy

formatting link
(Reference to Amazon isn't an endorsement. You may find the book cheaper, somewhere else.)

p. 155-156

POLLINATION, CROSSING AND ISOLATION The extent of cross-pollination in tomatoes has been a controversy among seed savers for a long time. Some say that crossing is rampant, while others have reportedly never seen crossing after years of growing different varieties next to one anollicr. Charlie Rick, whose tomato breeding accomplishments are legendary, describes the evolution of the tomato in Potential Genetic Resources in Tomato Species (1952). "The ancestral tomato species could not reproduce by self-pollination.... . It had a long style, extending far beyond the anther tube, to facilitate cross-pollination by insects. . . . .As this ancestral species evolved into the wild predecessor of the cultivated tomato it developed the ability to self-pollinate. . . . .With this development, the style became shorter but still protruded beyond the anther tube. . . . .As the tomato migrated northward, the style continued to shorten and in some species totally retracted inside the anther tube, precluding any possibility of insect crossing. . . . ,"

Tomatoes are inbreeding plants. Most modern tomato varieties have totally retracted styles. Such flower structure severely limits (and may totally preclude) any crossing between these varieties. Three groups of tomato varieties have been found to have protruding styles, however: currant tomatoes, L. pimpinellifolium; all of the potato-leaved varieties of L. lycopersicum', and any fruit formed from double blossoms on beefsteak types of L. lycopersicum. Potato leaved tomatoes have rampant vines and smooth-edged leaves that resemble the leaves of a potato plant.

Although not all tomato varieties have been examined. most modern varieties available commercially will not cross with one another due to their retracted styles. Seed savers should therefore have no problem with cross-pollination when growing one currant tomato (or one potato-leaved variety) and any number of modern varieties with styles that are covered by their anther tubes. Caging can be used to prevent crossing when more than one variety of L. pimpinellifolium or more than one potato-leaved variety of L. lycopersicum are grown in close proximity. Double blossoms, commonly seen in amongst the early flowers of beefsteak tomatoes, often have exposed stigmas, making them more prone to insect cross-pollination. Seeds should not be saved from double fruits for this reason.

To determine the style position for any given tomato variety, choose

10-20 new blossoms from several different plants. Examine each blossom with a magnifying glass to see if the style is recessed or protruding. The anther tube will open as the fruit forms, so it is important to choose newly opened blossoms

Most tomato varieties will set more fruit if their flowers are agitated or tripped. This increases the amount of pollen traveling down the anther tube. The wind usually provides sufficient agitation, but fans are often used to simulate the wind in greenhouse situations. Daily shaking can be used to increase flower set in caged plants.

Reply to
Billy

I have three areas that I garden in, well seperated from each other but I didn't give it a lot of thought before I set my plants out, I will need to be a little cautious about what I save this year.

Hopefully I'll have my varieties better organised next year.

basilisk

Reply to
basilisk

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.