Nice! I hope you're able to stabilize your cross. I'm trying to make a deliberate cross this year for my first time attempt at breeding a tomato.

Let us know how it goes! I did not do the cross myself, just am trying to grow it out! Pretty exciting. [mention]OhioGardener[/mention] what are you crossing, and what is your goal for the final product?

6/29: Sprayed with soap and Mancozeb (first treatment). Everything looking good. Knock on wood no signs of fungus yet but temps should start rising over 90 now.

After a good fertilizer drench yesterday my Taiga plant has put on what looks like a half foot of growth and is rivaling my pacesetters.

Two more of my crosses setting fruit, plant 4 and plant 8, and plant 4 in particular looks very exciting as it is showing definite lobes.

Plant 4: Plant 8:

About bleach spray, I have had great luck with it.
One thing to consider is that bleach gets weaker with age this is true you can look it up.
So if you use a brand new bleach you wont have the same results you will if you use an older bleach.
Please correct me if I am wrong but it is what I have read when it comes to disinfecting things.
I toasted my tomato leaves with a new bleach this year but the things are doing okay now considering the hell they have been through.
I have long scraggly vines with no leaves ending with new growth,

Your plants look great.

I have had great luck with bleach spray too! One thing that Bill on Tomatoville, who came up with the bleach treatment idea, warns is to always check the strength of the bleach. Some bleaches are concentrated, and you use less bleach.

Most of what I have seen that is available now after the run on the Clorox brand are generic brands and are not concentrated.
Just and FYI if you have never used it.

worth1 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2020 7:26 pm About bleach spray, I have had great luck with it.
One thing to consider is that bleach gets weaker with age this is true you can look it up.
So if you use a brand new bleach you wont have the same results you will if you use an older bleach.
Please correct me if I am wrong but it is what I have read when it comes to disinfecting things.
I toasted my tomato leaves with a new bleach this year but the things are doing okay now considering the hell they have been through.
I have long scraggly vines with no leaves ending with new growth,

Your plants look great.

So did you have good luck, or did you toast them?

Ginger2778 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 30, 2020 8:10 am

worth1 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 29, 2020 7:26 pm About bleach spray, I have had great luck with it.
One thing to consider is that bleach gets weaker with age this is true you can look it up.
So if you use a brand new bleach you wont have the same results you will if you use an older bleach.
Please correct me if I am wrong but it is what I have read when it comes to disinfecting things.
I toasted my tomato leaves with a new bleach this year but the things are doing okay now considering the hell they have been through.
I have long scraggly vines with no leaves ending with new growth,

Your plants look great.

So did you have good luck, or did you toast them?

Toasted some leaves but they were on their way out anyway.
Had some sort of early blight that hit them early on that crept it's way up the vines.
Not for sure what it is but it isn't the dreaded f or v wilt.
I get hit with it every year on and off from the dust from my neighbors lawnmower.

Puttered around in the garden yesterday evening and saw plant 2 and 3 also have set fruit. Plant 2 is particularly exciting because it appears to be ribbed, and judging from the clusters should be cherries or at least a small size. My other fruits are growing at a good clip. This is an exciting time because everything is putting on growth like crazy, and the whole garden is full of promise.

Plant 2:

7/3: Pre-July 4th check! Fertilized everything well and did normal pruning and tying off tasks. It's so fun to see the plants grow. Two of my plants showed a tiny yellow spot so off the stems went, and I sprayed for the first time with copper. I'll douse the plants with soap probably tonight, as I saw a few aphids yesterday.

Otherwise everything looking good. My other Grosse Cotelee plant is now fruiting, and the GC plant that got a running start is looking like this:
Cross updates:

Plant 7. These are getting big! Maybe saladette size?


Hurry up and ripen! Plant 5:


Plant 2, ribs a bit more prominent as it's growing:


Plant 4, looking quite ribbed, and big. I do wonder if this might be a fused blossom. Any way to tell, other than just waiting on other flowers' fruit to mature?

Looking good! It's fascinating watching things grow, especially new things.

You can tell by looking at the blossom end of the tomato if it was a fused blossom or not. If it looks normal, then it is. If the blossom scar looks large and like a huge blob then the chances are it was a fused blossom.

7/4: More fruit! Taiga, Karma Purple and Perfect Storm have all set. Taiga and Karma Purple are especially interesting because the Karma Purple was a later plant-out than Taiga, and yet they both set fruit on virtually the same day.

Now it's back to rainy - massive thunderstorms last night. I'll spray with Mancozeb again tomorrow.

Some pics:

Taiga Karma purple
Perfect Storm
Plant 4, new fruit - looking very similar to the other one. On balance I don’t think it was a fused blossom.
And Grosse Cotelee, for now my biggest fruit:

I snuck out into the garden at lunch today to get away from work for a minute and was so tickled to see my Taiga fruit growing like a weed. It’s so adorable. Also, Malinovaya Zebra has also finally put out buds. It and a volunteer have been my stragglers this year.

MZ I’m growing for the Carolyn tribute from old seed that she sent Shawn Conant before she passed. They germinated really well considering their age but this one got a late plant out, was spindly and took forever to put on growth. I am assuming because of the age of the seed but I’m not too sure. I planted out others late at the same time and they’re doing better.

In any case my lunch time hookey was rewarded with buds!

This is the first time I am growing any heart varieties and am looking forward to them. Taiga, Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, and if I remember right I think MZ is a heart also.

Taiga
MZ

KathyDC wrote: ↑Thu Jul 09, 2020 6:06 pm I snuck out into the garden at lunch today to get away from work for a minute and was so tickled to see my Taiga fruit growing like a weed. It’s so adorable. Also, Malinovaya Zebra has also finally put out buds. It and a volunteer have been my stragglers this year.

MZ I’m growing for the Carolyn tribute from old seed that she sent Shawn Conant before she passed. They germinated really well considering their age but this one got a late plant out, was spindly and took forever to put on growth. I am assuming because of the age of the seed but I’m not too sure. I planted out others late at the same time and they’re doing better.

In any case my lunch time hookey was rewarded with buds!

This is the first time I am growing any heart varieties and am looking forward to them. Taiga, Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, and if I remember right I think MZ is a heart also.

Taiga

643BB184-A5C0-4235-BBA5-B2B542AEEDA6.jpeg

MZ

E4C03B04-97D6-47E1-94B7-413F9384295B.jpeg

Taiga is looking very perfect. The hearts are much beloved by most in The tomato world. So meaty and so pretty.

Very pretty ones, hope you will love the taste
KarenO

Been a bit tardy updating here -- Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart, my other crosses and the volunteer have all now set fruit. The only ones left to set are Malinovaya Zebra and the Taiga plant that got an early set back when some critter munched on it. (The other one is doing great.)

I did see definite yellowing, looked like early blight, on one of the lower stems of one of my Grosse Cotelee plants; off it went and I sprayed. The fruit are looking so good -- definitely my biggest so far.

Another one soon did the same and I sprayed again, this time with Mancozeb and copper. I also did a fair bit of cursing..... sorry neighbors! But since then, I haven't seen any more yellowed leaves, so I'm hoping that did the trick for now. I may spray Daconil this weekend, because disease stress will really start ramping up now through September.

Here's what the GC fruit look like:
And my Taiga fruit just because it makes me smile:
I took a work Zoom call out back in the garden today, and as soon as it was done I took a minute to water. That's one good thing, I guess, about being stuck at home. I noticed one of my crosses, plant 7, is putting out all kinds of different fruit. It's so interesting, how one plant can put out so many different shapes:

My volunteer is also putting out some interesting-looking fruit. They look almost like bullets.

I've only grown two plants that had this long tubular shape, one was Green Zebra and the other was a yellow with a bit of a red blush on some of them, unfortunately I can't remember what the variety was called..... dang!

Quick update! I picked my first blushing tomato, from plant 7, which is the one above with all the different shapes on one plant. It's about the size of a golf ball -- I guess saladette would be the best way to describe. Picked yesterday, 7/21. I suspect there will be another one from the same plant ready to pick today.
So exciting to see something finally turning! Because of all the birds in my yard, I pick at first blush and ripen inside pretty much everything.

Unfortunately the fungal issues have continued to crop up with my one Grosse Cotelee plant, as well as Perfect Storm and one of my crossed plants (I think plant 4). And I hurt my foot pretty badly making it very painful to walk any distance at all, so I haven't had a chance to spray since this past weekend. We are getting summer showers now at mid-week and I'm anxious to go spray again -- maybe tonight, if my foot cooperates.

For now, I will soothe myself with this pretty globe, which is turning redder each day.

Also, my Taiga plant has put out two fruit -- and they are GIGANTIC! I've never grown this plant before so I'm not sure how big they're supposed to get, but these two are very impressive. I'll try to get a picture when I go out back later.

At this point. 7/22, everything except Malinovaya Zebra has set fruit.

Update from 7/23:

I did manage to get out last night and hit everything with copper spray. More rain forecast for today, UGH! The good news I did reasonably OK stumping around with my hurt foot. Hopefully that will clear up soon.

The better news is another plant, 5, had blushing fruit. And two already bird-pecked! ARGH! I skip one day in the garden, with just the tiniest hint of red, and birds had a nice drink of water. Anyway, I guess they can have two. But that's it!

I also saw the barest hint of red on a Grosse Cotelee fruit, so I snatched that one off. It's a beauty!

Plant 5 cherries, and GC:

Just some fun shots from this weekend!