S. peruvianum & S. pennellii crosses

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

So i finally have fruits forming on the S. peruvianum plants. Does this mean that all the fruits are crosses? They didn't start forming fruits until the habrochaites and pimpinellifolium plants (and maybe others) started having flowers. I take this to mean that they finally found pollen that they finally found some pollen to be genetically different but compatible.

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

Aug 1, 2017 16:17:54 GMT -5 William said:

It could if they are true obligate outcrossers and there is only one peruvianum plant within 40 feet or so...

Well there is one other peruvianum plant but its not super close. That one is actually inter planted with a habrochaites and i noticed fruits on it first before the other one that has had flowers for forever. Either way I'm happy to have some fruits forming.

Also saw a bumblebee visiting the peruvianum flowers and then flowers on the direct seeded tomatoes.

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

Harvested two pennellii F1 hybrid fruits today. Wasn't sure they were ripe cause the yellow is not very pronounced, but they had already started to crack and the stems above the fruit at the joint popped off. Though i'm still not sure they are fully ripe. After all the Wildx5 i grew from joseph that one year that had wild ancestry has a similar trait where the fruits would fall off before ripening weeks later.

They had all green flesh inside / green liquid. They smelled and tasted slightly like an unripe squash. Not pleasant, but not so overly bitter as to seem overly poisonous. Though i imagine if you ate several of these in this state you might get an upset stomach (same with unripe winter squash). They do however seem like they do indeed have more flavor compounds, but hard to tell. The F2 generation and beyond should have some interesting traits to select for. I personally would like to retain the wild-ish leaves and desert tolerance / ability to grow in my crappy soil. But i would like to select for tastier fruits and perhaps larger fruits (though this cherry size isn't too bad actually). I would also like to retain large flowers that are highly attractive to pollinators. They are decently attractive to pollinators as they stand and have a slightly curved slightly exerted stigma.

20170805_093532 by Andrew Barney, on Flickr

20170805_094443 by Andrew Barney, on Flickr

[steev]

Never heard of unripe winter squash causing stomach upset; do you mean raw? I find Guatemalan Blue, cooked, is great up to about 9".

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

Aug 6, 2017 19:24:57 GMT -5 steev said:

Never heard of unripe winter squash causing stomach upset; do you mean raw? I find Guatemalan Blue, cooked, is great up to about 9".

No, it only happened to me once. I think it might have been a Hopi White Squash. Whatever kind it was i dont think i let it sit and "cure" for enough months like you are supposed to. I harvested it and cut it open fairly soon after and the flesh inside was still somewhat green. It had almost sour smell to it and when i tried to bake it with brown sugar like a acorn squash it didn't really sweeten up. Hard to describe if you haven't experienced it. Only happened to me once. Still not quite sure what i did wrong. Just figured i tried eating it too early.

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

Sept 7, 2017 20:01:59 GMT -5 William said:

The individual Solanum cornelio-muelleri x S. Peruvianum I've been referring to as "fast father" has passed away prematurely with tons of berries on the vine. Probably the victim of a rodent attack on the root system. A few of these fell to the ground or had very dry sepals and seemed ripe. So I have them in a little pile at my tomato seed extraction station.

Something similar happened with some fruits of either Solanum peruvianum or S. habrochaites fruits. A few seemed ripe, but i even tried to save seeds from the ones that didn't and were tiny. I think i will get more fruits from the plants still. Been harvesting F1 fruits (F2 seeds) from the S. pennellii hybrid like crazy. Should have plenty of seeds to share with Joseph and probably you as well.

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

I have seeds available to share for the f2 seeds of the S. pennellii hybrid.

[imgrimmer]

Could you both please do a taste test? I am very curious about the taste/distaste of these hybrids.
Thank you!

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

Oct 9, 2017 1:36:54 GMT -5 imgrimmer said:

Could you both please do a taste test? I am very curious about the taste/distaste of these hybrids.
Thank you!

I've reported on the taste before. They taste awful. Need lots of breeding work for sure on that front. that's not to say you couldn't get lucky in the F2 generation.

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

F2 pennellii hybrid i'm trying to grow indoors over the winter. This one is cool because it has potato leaves and it has NO SMELL at all really. Does not smell like a wild tomato and does not smell like a regular tomato. In fact the leaves kind of taste like spinach. I think this line could potentially be a spinach substitute. How bout that?! a Tomato plant with edible foliage?!!

Got me an OralB brand electric toothbrush to attempt manual self pollination. I think i have one fruit forming so far. Curious to know what it looks like. I'm hooping it tends to be more toward an edible domestic tomato. larger size would be nice too.

20171110_100319_cropped by Andrew Barney, on Flickr

[Joseph Lofthouse]

That is a wonderful looking plant!

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

Nov 10, 2017 12:25:02 GMT -5 Joseph Lofthouse said:

That is a wonderful looking plant!

Thanks!

Joseph Lofthouse said:

Flower of LYC 1831, Solanum pennellii. Rather than having an "anther cone" , it has an "anther cylinder". The anthers are not fully joined together. The ends of the cylinder are open so that pollen can easily leave. The stigma is exerted. The flowers are located on an inflorescence high above the foliage. Just the kind of thing that I am looking for to contribute to a promiscuous pollination project.

Oh, i forgot to mention... The F2 has unattached anther cone! They are all free! Just what you are looking for Joseph!

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Nov 10, 2017 13:23:29 GMT -5 keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) said:

Oh, i forgot to mention... The F2 has unattached anther cone! They are all free! Just what you are looking for Joseph!

That's wonderful news! The F2s of the S. habrochaites crosses mostly bore industrialized flowers.

[keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.)]

Here is the same plant a few weeks later. I really like the potato leaf look. something weird though is the lower branches all steeply point downwards. weird. Still a cool plant. I'm still amazed at how fast and big these grow. This one is inside for the winter to try and get a head peek at what an F2 fruit might look like and taste like. Of course MANY F2 plants should be grown since this is the generation that large segregation starts to occur, but that is not possible inside.

Would love to hear about / see about any F2 Pennellii hybrids grown from seed i sent anyone. Anyone growing them during the winter?

[Joseph Lofthouse]

Nov 23, 2017 2:08:40 GMT -5 keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) said:

Would love to hear about / see about any F2 Pennellii hybrids grown from seed i sent anyone. Anyone growing them during the winter?

I planted about a dozen seeds from this cross.

I'm growing S pennellii in a window overwinter. Most of the plants died when I brought them in, but some survived, and one attempt at manual crossing may have been successful: ((S lycopersicum X S habrochaites) X Solanum pennellii)