A few days ago we got the seed catalogues from our gardening club. Yesterday I took our order in and slipped it into the slot in the clubhouse door. Feb or march they ought to be in. Our spuds and toms we get from a different source. The spuds we will order sometime in january. Now then, we got a note from one of our tom seed sources— a seed-breeder. They asked if we would be interested in running some trials for them with some new hybrid types. What an honour! Annnnnd, what an interesting opportunity. The focus of this trial is resistance. For instance Clacosporium fulvum and Phytophthora infestans— known as “tomato leaf mould” and “blight”, respectively. They also want to know about other things like taste and production. They are for inside the greenhouse as well as outside in the open air. We immediately began with drawing up a schematic of the veggie plot with what will be planted where, with respect to our crop rotation (this year, last year and next). He wants a certain number of seed sorts planted, but we do not have the room, because of our own schedule. What to do then? We had a conversation with our gardening neighbours and they agreed to let us use a small area to plant the plantlets. We will do all of the care and they may have all the harvest for their concession of ground. Of course we will have to taste a couple of each of the tom plants for the test recording. Wish us luck. I will post bits of progress from time to time.
Looking foreword to watching your progress with next seasons plantlets. Hoping the seeds are treated with TSP for the virus’ they are vulnerable . How lucky are your neighbors at the garden plots to get the harvest as a treat for allowing you the use of their space. What a deal…! Sending lots of good wishes , vibes and luck with your new venture.
How exciting!! I'll be waiting for your trial results ... I've been having issues with wilt the last few years and am looking for some more resistant varieties to try. Taste is very important too!
Pac—I do not know if they have been treated or not. The seeds do not even have plant names, just codes. Thanks for the good wishes. I am enthousiastic. Netty—it really is exciting. I like this sort of thing. I will post updates. I know about the wilting. I once had that when I inadvertently planted my strawbs in an old bed where the spuds had been a couple of years before. My whole crop collapsed and died. Sheesh! I am now super, super careful with what goes where.
Just curious : Can you treat the seeds with powder for virus? If not use sterile soil by heating to high temps to kill resistant pathogens/ organisms in soil - even worms can spread to roots. Sounds like a fun experiment. Yikes sorry to hear a whole crop was lost. What happened? Inquiring minds want to know !
Sjoerd, that seed company couldn't have picked a better person to try out their new seeds! I, too, am interested to hear the results. Keep us posted, and keep up the good gardening!
Pac— I do not know if I could apply powders to seeds. I have never done that. I know that there are some farmers around here that use coated seeds. yeah, it was sad about hose strawb plants that collapsed. I consulted the plant suppliers and they told me what it was and what to do to avoid the problem. Marlin— once we get going with the test project, I will begin the progress reports. It sounds like fun and a project right up my alley.
