mushy tomato breeding

[gilbert]

Hello,

I have a garden with three hundred tomato plants. About fifty varieties, and I have lost the labels. A perfect chance for landrace tomato breeding!

But, a garden this size produces tons of rotten/ damaged tomatoes that I can't distribute. (This is a gardening cooperative.)

If I fermented and saved the seeds from the reject tomatoes, would I only have rotten tomatoes next year? 

In other words, are these plants genetically prone to rot/ damage, or is it just random? Without even being able to tell one plant from the next in the jungle, it is hard to say.

I know you can't tell me for sure, but I would like some ideas.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

What a great tomato patch!

I believe that by choosing to save fruits from the rotting tomatoes that you will skew the population towards genetics that lead to easier rotting. I'll provide a story to illustrate the point... Last year I trialed a lot of new varieties. I noticed that the tomatoes tended to sit heavily on the ground, and thus rotted. My tomatoes that I have been saving seed from for years had more upright stems: they form arches that support the fruits above the ground rather than laying limp and setting the fruits into the mud to rot. I wasn't intentionally selecting for that trait, it just happened because I don't save seeds from rotting fruits. I suspect that I am also selecting for tomatoes with thicker skin that can better resist contact with the clay, and that can better survive insect attacks. By not saving rotting fruits I am also selecting against plants that are prone to sunburn.

I pick tomatoes at the first sign of blushing, and store them to finish ripening indoors for a couple days. That way the insects and molds don't ruin so many, and my harvest is about 30% greater. It also helps to spread out the harvest so that I don't have so much work to do on pick-for-market-day.