Multi-Flora Focus Crosses - Round 1

[SeanInVa]

For the first round of MF development, we will focus on the following crosses. Some of these have already had some work done on them.

35X
113X
150X
163X
165X

Some of you might have received other crosses which have MF potential. Please keep growing those out and selecting! The above lines are just ones we are shifting focus to and what I will be sending out this year - it does not mean we don't want to explore others that you have already received!

Please re-read the MF project thread to refresh yourself on the goal and what a compound inflorescence is.

[HL2601]

I have 35x and 150x's going. What do we do if we think any are semi MMF's? Are we strictly looking for MMf's now?

[SeanInVa]

I think there is potential for various levels of MF. As long as it produces compound inflorescences, then it's a candidate. Not all have to produce thousands of flowers.

[wykvlvr]

I received seeds for 11/12x - F3-3-PL in the recent seed swap over at Tomato Junction. It is described as

Micro Multiflora x (Brandywine Cowlicks OR Pink Pioneer x Margaret Curtain)
F2 was PL (12 " small red fruit)

Is this something I should add to my grow outs? Or should I just concentrate on 172X?

[dfollett]

My recommendation would depend on how much growing space you have. The 11/12X F3 will most likely have small red fruit with a small possibility of something purple. It is also likely that quite a few plants will get taller than you want - more variability in plant height - PL or possibly RL will be the leaf type. Not a lot of potential variety there.

The 172X has two different micros in its pedigree - Red Robin and Pinocchio Orange. Most of the plants will likely stay smaller - although you should always start lots of plants and select the shortest. It has the possibility of Carrot Leaf or Regular Leaf with a small chance of Potato leaf. It has the possibility of lots of variability in fruit color - orange - purple - purple w/green stripes among others. There is also a good chance you will see fruit larger than the typical small cherry tomato.

I think there definitely much more potential in the 172X - but they are all fun to grow.

[wykvlvr]

I do think the 172X has some interesting potential. I think I will have at least five F3 plants in my seedlings if not more. I really want to see if the spicy/peppery flavor was carried forward....

[SeanInVa]

I grew out some 172x F2s this summer, for the BLT project. In my usual fashion, the weeds got away from me and caused some issues with the micros I had in the ground, but I was impressed with these even so early on. Unfortunately, many split and the flies got many. I have saved seed from one particular 172x that was prolifically MF and set fruit well, with decent size. It stayed short, but definitely could have used some support.

Here it was about a 5 weeks ago