Selections from Blue’s Bling X Polish (left), Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom, potato leaf (top), and Little Lucky X Blue’s Bling, regular leaf (right)
I’ve tasted nearly all of the tomatoes that came from my recent crossing work - both with the indeterminate X indeterminate heirlooms, and with the indeterminate X Dwarfs. The results are mixed, with the most excitement arising with the indeterminate varieties.
Let’s start with those.
Glory F1 - Last year I crossed pollen from Dester onto Dwarf Gloria’s Treat, an act that was captured by Joe Lamp’l’s film crew and residing in one of the lessons in our Growing Epic Tomatoes course. A successful cross would result in an indeterminate regular leaf plant, which is what I found when I planted seeds saved from the yellow/red heart shaped fruit on Dwarf Gloria’s Treat, harvested last year.
The tomatoes on Glory F1 were medium to large, pink in color and variably shaped, slightly oblate, through round, with some hearts (as predicted - this color and shape represents the combination of the various dominant traits). The flavor was excellent - well balanced, intense and delicious, rating a strong 8 out of 10 - in line with both parents, which are similarly excellent.
Saved seed was planted, resulting in a 3:1 ratio of indeterminate to dwarf, and in the dwarfs, 3:1 ratio of regular to potato leaf. I have six plants (4 regular leaf dwarf, 2 potato leaf dwarf) happily growing in 5 gallon grow bags, ready to be situated where some currently dead indeterminate plants reside in their straw bales. The most likely colors will be pink and yellow/red bicolor, though it would not surprise me to see red, and yellow as well. Shapes should vary between oblate and heart. Flavor should be excellent. These tomatoes will provide my August into September harvest if I can keep them healthy - frequent rains and heat and humidity are really supercharging disease incidence.
Polish X Blue’s Bling F2 - Two years ago I crossed these two varieties, and the hybrid (grown last year) was a regular leaf indeterminate plant that gave large oblate delicious pink tomatoes. I decided to grow out one variegated potato leaf plant this year (saved seeds from the hybrid gave a 3:1 ratio of regular to potato leaf, and in those potato leaf, 3:1 ratio of green to variegated).
The tomatoes on the F2 plant in this year’s garden are in the one pound range, oblate, smooth, a nice rich purple color, and are quite delicious if allowed to fully ripen. They are very meaty, with the internal structure reflecting that of Polish. I am quite excited about this, as it represents a potato leaf version of Blue’s Bling with slightly better flavor and internal structure. It is a very early generation, so further work will be required to stabilize this fortunate find.
One possible name for this combination going forward is Polish Bling.
Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom F2 - Two years ago I crossed these two varieties, and the hybrid (grown last year) was just superb - a large, pink regular leaf tomato with superior flavor. I decided to grow two plants this year from the saved seed - a potato leaf, and a regular leaf selection. The potato leaf is a very high yielding healthy plant producing large, nearly globe shaped fruit that are yellow shading to pink on the outside, and a glowing pink in the center. When fully ripe, it is delicious, tending to the sweet side of things. I really like this tomato, and it is a good starting point for a rather unusually colored delicious new variety with superb pedigree. One possible working name for this lovely selection is Lillian’s Rose.
The regular leaf plant is quite unusual. It is healthy, vigorous, flowering like crazy, but shy to set fruit. I finally harvested a ripe tomato a few days ago - it is medium sized, pink in color - I’ve yet to check the internal color, or taste it - that comes later today. I am mystified by its struggle to set fruit, but just emphasizes that there are many traits of tomatoes that can surprise when one works with crosses.
Little Lucky X Blue’s Bling F2 - Two years ago I crossed these two varieties, and the hybrid (grown last year) was a regular leaf plant with medium to large round to oblate pink tomatoes with an excellent flavor. I decided to grow out two plants this year from the saved seed, one potato leaf, one regular leaf, both with variegated leaves. The potato leaf plant provided a truly outstanding result - a large smooth oblate tomato that was essentially a pink/yellow/green tricolor - the interior yellow with pink and some green, particularly in the seed gel - with outstanding flavor. A working name for this could be Lucky Bling.
The regular leaf selection is really coming on now, a very healthy, prolific plant providing medium to large bright yellow tomatoes with a bit of red blossom end blush - bright yellow interior with a red ring in the core, and similarly excellent flavor. One possible working name is Swirly Bling.
With four out of five successes in the above selections (and the jury being out on the 5th), I am very pleased. This really only scratches the surface in possibilities on not only the above crosses, but those that I didn’t explore yet - Cherokee Chocolate X Stump of the World, Don’s Double Delight X Cancelmo Family Heirloom, Ferris Wheel X Striped Sweetheart, Green Giant X Cancelmo Family Heirloom, and Cherokee Green X Caitlin’s Lucky Stripes. I may dip into them next year.
Lower fruit shows the interior of Blue’s Bling X Little Lucky, potato leaf
