Blush x Sweet Casady F1

[jayb]

Blush an elongated bi-coloured cherry type bred by Fred Hemple, Artisan seeds http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Blush , crossed with Sweet Casady a pretty red striped small elongated cherry bred by Tom Wagner, http://www.tatermaterseeds.com/wiki/...e=Sweet+Casady

I thought these two would make a lovely cross, they still might do in later generations, but the taste test of F1's would suggest otherwise! They look lovely and are a nice small size, but taste is plain. Maybe it was just the early tasted fruit and they may improve somewhat?

[jayb]

I've been eating lots of these recently and have to say I've had a turn around, they really are very scummy! I've been leaving them on the vine until very red and they are deliciously sweet, not the same acid rush of Sungold, but a lovely balanced taste. Such a difference to the ones I ate earlier in the year! I'm just grilling some for lunch, hopefully they will be as good cooked as they are by the handful fresh!

[Galina]

Good, you did sound disappointed earlier. A bit of extra sun does make the difference for a lot of tomatoes.

[jayb]

Lol, I guess a little disappointed, they looked so pretty I'd hoped their taste matched and now it does
And with great production, good hang time and they ripen in little bunches

[jayb]

I think they are sooo cute!

[jayb]

I'm growing a couple of the F1's again this year as they turned out to be quite good. I also potted on 3 F2's today I'd hoped for a couple more but for some reason germination was only about 60%. I've found a few tiny maggoty things in the compost which I think might have done for some of my seeds.

[Galina]

They look lovely and still have faint striping too. Do the little compost flies actually eat seeds? Sorry to read. Normally sixty percent germination is not a problem, but with F1s not so good. Thrive little plants!

[jayb]

I think some do indeed eat the inside of the seed which is vulnerable when it softens in damp compost either that or I think they must attack the emerging root/shoot. I looked it up once as I was having a problem with poor germination that year and when I was poking about found one or more of these little maggots clustered around the seeds, they may even be fruit fly larvae? Perhaps that bit of milder weather earlier on, I noticed some little flies in the greenhouse. I think the seed was saved well, though I might have done a naff batch.

[Galina]

I am just curious. Remember I had tomato seeds from you a couple of years ago and could not get them to germinate whatever I did. You came to the rescue and sent some more seeds which did great. Same seed saved same year, same everything else from memory. I often have these little flies/maggots, especially when the compost is a bit naff. Bought some compost early this year and it was sodden and not nice to use. I wonder whether it was out all winter. And yes, little flies. Luckily no harm this year. Bought a second lot of compost and it is very different, same brand, nice to handle and dry and no flies. I have always ignored them, perhaps not a good idea. Learning curve ...............

[jayb]

They do seem able to do a shocking amount of damage for their size, just aggressive eating machines and always target the special varieties! Since I've been germinating my own fresh seed particularly in the little modules its more obvious when something is wrong. Easy to spot one module which has nothing germinating while others alongside with the same seed are going great guns. If you dig around the seed looks fine but chances are there's something lurking in the compost! Yes, best to keep an eye out for those little flies, like you there were none about until I'd bought a few bags of compost, though the weather had warmed so they could have been the greenhouse.

[jayb]

F1 progress, the first truss has pretty much set, just a few flowers left on the end of the truss. I can't really make out any striping yet. Foliage is quite droopy and the plant needs quite a bit of pinching out.

[Galina]

Is that the 'whispy' foliage gene? Looks like the plant is thirsty, but isn't. The fruit is a nice shape. Love plums with little points or 'spindle' shapes.

Your tomatoes do look so well cared for and are always early. Nothing this advanced here. Fab!

[jayb]

Yes, 'wispy' gene, on both sides I think?
Thanks, they have come on quite well as I didn't sow any until March. I adore that type shape too, coupled with stripes...

[Silverleaf]

There's a wispy gene? Genes that make plants look distressed when they're not? Well that's a revelation.

My two Helsing Junction Blues plants both look permanently thirsty with the leaves kind of curled upwards at the sides (they are getting enough water though) and both Sosulka Chernayas look a bit floppy (also correctly watered). Is that what's happening?

[jayb]

Yep, I think several genes though. One seems to be linked to heart shaped fruit although not all hearts have wispy/droopy leaves. Sosulka Chernaya is a wispy type.
I believe both Helsing Junction Blues and Dancing With Smurfs have the same gene giving them a curling leaf which increases the amount of light reaching the fruit, which in turn gives higher amounts of anthocyanin.

[Silverleaf]

Oh good, I'm glad it's not me doing something wrong! Sosulka Chernaya's looked spindly since they were seedlings but they have several trusses of buds growing...

[Silverleaf]

Interesting about HJB and DWS having a curled leaf gene!

[jayb]

All still green, well stripy green, I didn't realise this one was quite so late, pretty much all the other cherries have started to ripen or at least turning colour. I do like their shape though and lovely long sepals, trusses aren't huge.



The red ones in this picture are Floridity F1