Cold tolerant tomatoes, right down Joseph's alley.

[richardw]

I potted up the Matt's Wild Cherry seedlings today,one single seedling(arrow)was way ahead of all the others so i'll be taking notice of this one.





Now in pots in a mix of screened compost and huhu shit basically its powered sawdust






en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huhu_beetle

[steev]

Is that the Lesser Speckled Huhu, or the Great Splattered Huhu?

[richardw]

No, its the Muchappreaciated Byproduct Huhu

[steev]

Ah, the one with the resplendent tail plumage: Huhu utilizable.

[richardw]

Yep,you're on to it,its also known as Scerthecrapoutya when they go the back of your shirt at night.

[steev]

Well played, sir.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Here's what today's tomato harvest looked like. I collected these for seed. There were 5 more Jagodka (C4) fruits harvested, but those were eaten. Hard not to eat the first of season tomatoes. Also not included in the photo are the fruits from D6, which were aborted early but still ripened even after the plant mostly died from a flea beetle attack. It is re-sprouting.

Can you imagine if I had planted 144 Jagodka plants? Oh my heck!!!

[DarJones]

Don't worry Joseph. Next year, you WILL set out 144 Jagodka plants.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

FusionPower: Thanks for this project. I am loving it!

Evaluation of the tomatoes for August 2nd. The harvest column contains a weekly summary: "_" = no fruit harvested that week. "*" = fruit harvested. "number/number" represents the fruit harvested this week and year-to-date fruit harvest.

I deleted the column for the count of the green fruits. It's getting too hard to count accurately. I didn't update the flowering column.

Total this week was 19 ripe fruits. (I did not include in the total the 9 semi-formed fruits from D6 which ripened on the mostly dead plant.)

Earlinorth was the first to flower, but it was 9 weeks from first flower to ripe fruit. The other varieties were 7 weeks from first flower to producing ripe fruit, except for Siberia which only took 6 weeks.

Joseph's Earliest, which was planted at the regular time as small plants (about the 2nd week of June) is now producing ripe fruit in the production fields.

Tag	Name	Flowering	Harvest, Fruit Size, and Notes
A1	Wheatley's Frost Resistant	__*****	_* 2/2. 7 weeks from flowering to ripe fruit.
A2	Tastiheart	___****	__
A3	Superbec	____***	__
A4	Spiridonovskie Red	__*****	_* 2/2. 7 weeks from flowering to ripe fruit.
A5	Siberia	___****	_* 1/1. 6 weeks from flowering to ripe fruit.
A6	Sasha's Altai	____***	__
B1	Purple Russian, RT	______*	__
B2	PI 120256	______*	__
B3	Peron Sprayless	____***	__
B4	Nevskiy Red	__*****	__
B5	Moskovich	___***	__
B6	Matina	_******	** 3/6. 7 weeks from flowering to ripe fruit.
C1	LA 3969	____***	__
X2	Sungold	_******	** Not counting harvested fruits.
C4	Jagodka	_******	** 8/11. 7 weeks from flowering to ripe fruit.
C5	I-3 Red	_____**	__
C6	Earlinorth	*******	_* 3/3. 9 weeks from flowering to ripe fruit.
D1	Boney-M Red	__*****	__
D2	Hybrid Cross	____***	__
D3	Bellstar	___****	__
D4	Barnaulskiy Konsermyi Red, RT	___****	__
D5	Joseph's Direct Seeded, RT	______*	__
D6	Joseph's Earliest	_******	** 9/14. 7 weeks from flowering to ripe fruit.
E1	Joseph's Earliest, RT	___****	__
E2	Joseph's Earliest, RT	__*****	__
E3	Joseph's Earliest Slicer, RT	___****	__
E4	Joseph's Earliest Slicer, RT	___****	__
E5	Joseph's Earliest Slicer, RT	__*****	__
E6	Hybrid -- Mother Joseph's Earliest Slicer, RT	__*****	__

Note for next week: harvested 1 A1 catfaced, and 1 B1 mid-week.

[DarJones]

One of these days, we should discuss Myers Briggs type. I am INTP and suspect Joseph is INTJ.

Joseph, it is becoming more and more obvious that there are some useful traits in the varieties you are growing and that there is very high potential for breeding work to improve production in your conditions.

I would caution against the "blinder" effect where one trait causes a plant to overshadow all others. The most improvement in your conditions will come from identifying plants with exceptional cold tolerance and combining that tolerance with precocious flowering, small fruit size, shorter time from flower to maturity, and increased number of flowers that set fruit. Fruit size deserves more attention, you would benefit from a range of fruit sizes. A small early variety would be balanced by a slightly larger early variety. This would allow you to plant two separate varieties so that one would produce and 2 or 3 weeks later the other would reach maturity.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I am INT(J/P). I identify with the description of either type, and when I take tests sometimes I fall into one category, and sometimes into the other. What's that mean? J/P is the only balanced part of my personality?

One thing that bothers me about this study, is that the plants didn't get a proper freeze test... To me, a proper test would be that 50% of the plants died from exposure. Also some of the plants got into the ground late and didn't even get that much of a test. That's the INTJ part of me objecting to things not being done perfectly and scientifically. But I'm loving Jagodka, even though it did poorly in the freeze test it's producing lots of fruit that appeals to the INTP side of my personality. It grew well in cold weather even though it was frost sensitive. I suppose that I'll end up repeating the trial next year and get more aggressive about setting the plants out in April so that they can get a proper freeze test. Or I might do it the true INTJ way and build a temperature controlled freeze chamber.

The season is still young. Our first frost is expected in 4 to 6 weeks. It seems like some varieties will fail due to not producing ripe fruit in the available growing season. But if they produce green fruits with viable seeds, I'll end up growing them again next year to test for frost/cold tolerance.

I am really spending a lot of time thinking about converting my tomatoes into a promiscuously pollinating population. That idea is like a siren to me, constantly calling my name, beckoning me to abandon all else and follow the call of promiscuous pollination. That is my INTP side coming out to play. I visited a friend a few days ago, and she had dill, oregano, and raspberries blooming in her yard. The bumblebees (and other pollinators) were all over them. Just the kind of thing I need growing next to the tomato patch next summer.

I've conducted this trial in the INTJ way, but I long to allow the plants to promiscuously pollinate, and then I can do the INTP thing in a few years and walk down the row and arbitrarily choose which I want to keep for seed next year. I think that's why I love growing corn.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Here is this week's cold/frost tolerant tomato trial harvest (add in two fruits picked mid-week). Yes it's a collage. I forgot to include one tomato in the photo, and it's a pick for market day, so I was way too tired when I found it to redo the photo.



Here's my main crop for market this week: Truck overflowing with sweet corn.

[nathanp]

That idea is like a siren to me, constantly calling my name, beckoning me to abandon all else and follow the call of promiscuous pollination. That is my INTP side coming out to play.

Funny, I'm an INTP, and that's what appeals to me about growing things.

[richardw]

Joseph- how much do you sell the corm for??

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Aug 10, 2013 16:35:21 GMT -5 richardw said:

Joseph- how much do you sell the corm for??

3/$1.00, 4/$1.00, 5/$1.00, 12/$1.00 depending on size of the cobs, how much other sweet corn is at market, and how eager I am not to take any home with me. If someone pays with SNAP (food assistance to low income families) I generally give them a gift of corn or other vegetables.