Solid purple carrots

[raymondo]

Good to hear from you again Michel. Hope all's well. The Morado carrot sounds pretty good. Worth trialling for sure. Thanks for the heads up.

[cesarz]

I've got both "Deep Purple" and "Anatolian Black". I will try to breed them together hopefully getting non-CMS offspring. Isn't it that CMS is due to the female parent's cytoplasm?

If that is the case, any seeds from Deep Purple x Anatolian Black will be male sterile? I will just find another male to breed the Anatolian Black with. Or just keep pure Anatolian Blacks then.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I don't know either carrot, but when I looked them up, Deep Purple was labeled as an F1 hybrid, which means that it is male sterile and will not produce pollen. Because the sterility is due to some factor in the cytoplasm, all of the offspring will likewise be male sterile.

Anatolian Black wasn't called a hybrid so I guess that it is open pollinated and can produce pollen. The pollen can pollinate both the Deep Purple and the Anatolian Black. So you could still make the cross, and use it as a production vegetable. You could recreate this hybrid at any time if you run low on seed.

If Deep Purple was used in a breeding project, each generation its genes would be diluted and it would become more and more like Anatolian Black. I started my carrot landrace with a mixture of hybrids and open pollinated carrots. By the time I became aware of CMS, about 70% of my seed crop was male sterile. I didn't like that, so I examine the carrot flowers with a magnifying glass and pull out any plant that is male sterile.

[richardw]

I too have only recently become aware of CMS and i also will use a magnifying glass to check my Benhorn

[cesarz]

Thanks Joseph. And yes Deep Purple is male sterile, I planted heaps last year and not one has stamens so I was not able to produce any seed because I did not plant the Anatolian Black at the same time. Anatolian Black have stamens and viable pollen and I was able to produce some pure bred seeds from it. This season I would definitely plant them both together which means my Anatolian Black will still be pure even when planted next to the Deep Purple.

I got heaps of Deep Purple seeds for anyone who wants some.

[catanache]

If those seeds are still available, I'd love to have some. One of my friends has become a fan of different colored vegetables so I'd like to grow them for her. None of my normal seed sources have one that's more than skin deep purple. Willing to trade or SASE.

[cesarz]

PM me your address, I'll send some.