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Re: [seedsavers] saving tomato seeds
Mayo here.
>From what I've learned and written about seed saving over the years,
potato-leaved, currant and double-flowered varieties have longer stiles than
regular-leaved varieties, which makes them easier for pollinators to access
- hence cross pollinating.
allowing more space between these types (35-50 feet), or having buildings or
plantings of other types (flowers, herbs, beans, etc.) between them is a way
to prevent cross-pollination.
Regular-leaved varieties seem to do very well at producing true seed with 10
- 20 ft between the different varieties.
Then there's always Aunt Ruby....known affectionately in the trade as 'Aunt
Ruby the Harlot'. No matter how careful the grower/seed-saver (or seed
steward....) is with spacing it so it does not cross, there's often a plant
of small red tomatoes with little or no flavor interspersed with the large,
green luscious ones.
When I see this I remember how very little I know about Mother Nature and
her workings, and how blessed I am to be allowed to play in her gardens!
I hope this helps,
Mayo
> Ok, let me open up a big can of worms (or maybe not).
>
> On another list someone asked about saving seeds from tomatoes, among
> other things. I would have just as soon someone else had answered it,
> but I know how it is to ask a question and have it lie there and no one
> answer it, so after a couple of days I replied. True to form, someone
> answered it before my answer hit there. My answer was basically that you
> can save seed from non-potato leaved varieties, non-double flowered and
> non-currant types without worrying too much about crossing. Someone
> immediately "corrected" me by saying all heirloom varieties are "old"
> and have open stile flowers and will cross readily. I would have thought
> if that was the case it would have been noted in at least one of the
> books I've read on seed saving. About the closest thing I saw anywhere
> was to pull a few flowers off the plant and look at the flowers to see
> if they were open or closed, of course, pictures were not provided so
> you knew what to look for. ;-)
>
> Stuff on the net is conflicting. Some say you should isolate or bag
> everything, some say you shouldn't worry about any of it it'll all be
> fine, with all kinds of people in the middle with do this and don't do that.
>
> So, Heirloom varieties with "tomato type leaves"(as opposed to potato
> type leaves): apt to cross without bagging or isolation of more than 5
> feet, or not?
>
> Inquiring minds wanna know,
> Morgan
>
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