Micro Tom

[wykvlvr]

I am growing Micro Tom inside under lights. My seed is from Totally Tomatoes. I have 5 plants, 3 are producing slightly flattened globe shaped tomatoes, 2 have heart shaped tomatoes. Only the globes have produced ripe tomatoes so far even though a heart is marked as first blossom. Wry grin it also turns out the hearts are the ones I was using for my crossing attempts so that is could be a large factor in lack of ripe tomatoes on them.

NOW the interesting part. I have had 3 ripe tomatoes, 2 had the typical blah supermarket flavor Micro Tom is know for. But one was an "oh man that is good" tomato. Sadly I didn't mark down which plant my tomatoes came from a mistake I will not make again. I do have a few almost ripe tomatoes on all three of my globe plants so yes from now on I will mark which of the three plants a tomato came from so I can hopefully track the plant I want to save seeds from.

EDITED TO ADD: Something else interesting about Micro Tom. Most places list it as regular leaf but The World Tomato Society says "Leaves Rugose / Serrated Potato" I had never thought of it as a potato leaf but looking over my plants I can see where that comes from... compared to Baby and Pygmy the Micro Tom has huge leaves.
Micro Tom leaves
Micro Tom leaves by spindledreams, on Flickr
Micro Tom next to Baby a plant almost the same size.
Pygmy, Micro Tom (in pot) and Baby by spindledreams, on Flickr

[SeanInVa]

They are rugose - but an interesting point about the "serrated potato". I had never considered that. I am not sure of the entire heritage of Micro Tom, I think I found that it was developed by University of Florida. I had posted some links that I had previously found here: https://www.tomato-talk.com/forum/th...=1689#post1689

That states it has both the d and mnt genes (dwarf and miniature, respectively). When the d mutation is expressed, it is usually accompanied by dark green, rugose foliage and a strong central stem that gives it a more tree-like growth habit.

[wykvlvr]

Yes I agree the rugose part is correct. The question is are they rugose regular leaf or rugose potato leaf?

I was thinking last night that I can actually try an experiment this year that should answer that question. I always raise Stupice. It is my most reliable producer and it is a potato leaf. If I cross it and Micro Tom the F1 seedlings will answer the question. Any F1 with regular leaves will prove the parent was not a potato leaf. I would only need to grow the seedlings through to the 2nd or 3rd set of real leaves to get that answer then can dump the plants freeing up the space for other grow outs.

[dfollett]

Interesting approach. I like it. The only problem I see if it were me, is my cross attempts are not always successful. A 'self' of the mama would be potato leaf, the same as a successful cross if they are both PL. You would only know for sure if Micro Tom is not PL - In which case the F1 would be PL like you say. Or, if you can be sure you made a successful cross. I would need to make a half dozen crosses and grow F1s from them all to be sure. One would work if it is RL but I'd need several to be sure if it is PL.

[wykvlvr]

I would use Micro Tom as the female in the cross so I can tell a successful cross has happened by the size of the seedlings. Yes even one indet regular leaf seeding would answer the question BUT some potato leaf seedlings don't show their leaf shape until they are older. So I would have to keep any seedlings long enough to be sure they are not going to change to potato leaf which also give me time to be sure they are indet plants indicating I managed a successful cross. If it doesn't work this year there is always next year when I will have multiple potato leaf varieties to play with...

[dfollett]

DUH! In my head I was thinking they were both micros. Of course you could tell if you use the micro as the mama. I must have written that a hundred times and missed it here. Have fun.