Dancing Val (first published 2nd May 2014 now updated)

This cross is in it's early days, currently at  F2. I really like the two parent varieties, Dancing with Smurfs x Variegated Lange Ærmer (DWS x VAL), both bred by Tom Wagner and released by him not yet fully stabilised. See links Variegated Lange Ærmer , Dancing with Smurfs

I made this cross as there are such a varied lot of traits to go into the melting pot, with loads of potential for fruit colour, taste, shape, stripes and with or without 'antho'. Ideally cherry size would be good for me or perhaps a small saladette on strong healthy plants with great taste. I'd be particularly interested in any early plants and if I'm really lucky variegated foliage showing up in the mix too!

Dancing with Smurfs F1 x Variegated Lange Ærmer 

Dancing with Smurfs F1 x Variegated Lange Ærmer 

I had both round and oval fruit shapes in the F1 with faint anthocyanin showing on the shoulders and faint sparkling possible stripes. I've sown a mix of seeds from  the F1 plants, which will I hope give a range of types in the F2 plants. Just ticking some of the boxes will give interesting types and I'm looking forward to these progressing through the season. Updates to follow.

Update 10th June
A surprising number of the plants I'm growing out are determinate. I'm not sure why when both the parents are cordons, I guess it is the mix of unstable genes they have?

I only have a few plants that are variegated from this cross, I really like the looks of this one pictured below. I can't wait to see the colour of the ripe fruit and best of all tasting the first fruits!

DWS x VAL an elongated striped fruit with variegated foliage and
determinate growth habit.

Oh I forgot, looks like faint anthocyanin in the fruit too!

Variegated tomatoes

I really like the beauty of variegated tomato plants, I started my collection with the variety Variegated (although incorrect it's sometimes called a Splash of Cream) and have gone from there. This year I bought 'Potato Leaf Variegated' bred by Keith Mueller and Cherokee Purple Variegated, which was named Faelan's First Snow by the person who found it growing amongst other Cherokee Purple plants at the nursery he worked at. The remainder are varieties I've bred and I'm hoping to develop over time. 

These are some of the plants I'm growing this season;

The variety 'Variegated', this plant has a lot of
variegation.

Potato Leaf Variegated, young plant just waiting to be planted out.

Faelan's First Snow, healthy plants with some
variegation showing on the leaves. 

F3 selection, looks like it will be a Micro Dwarf type

Looking for a variegated heart

Love the variegated patterns on these potato leaves

Variegated Dwarf type, variegation is from paternal line.

I think pretty, looks a bit like frosting

A variegated F1, both parents have this trait.

Another variegated F1, looking for combination of traits but at some point
dwarf, potato leaf, slight possibility of stripes.

F3 selection

F3 potato leaf seletion

Unsure of this one as miss-labelled

Green Zebra Cherry x Variegated Lange Ærmer F1. I had
similar results with the F1's last year.

Small growing determinate

With Antho?

Lange Ærmer and Variegated Lange Ærmer tomatoes

Lange Ærmer, F generation unknown, seeds
originally fromNew World Seeds and Tubers

Lange Ærmer a beautiful indeterminate, Green When Ripe (GWR) striped tomato bred by Tom Wagner. They make large plants and have long wispy looking leaves, the sepals are long. Fruits are very pretty, being elongated and similar in looks to Green Sausage (originally called Green Sleeves by Tom) The fruits I find delicious, firm and nicely sweet with that lovely fresh spicy taste that often goes with GWR tomatoes. They are great eaten fresh in salads and look gorgeous sliced up amongst other coloured and shaped tomatoes. They also cook well, having quite thick fleshy walls and few seeds. 

Ripe fruits, thick walls with few seeds

A line of  Lange Ærmer

A couple of years ago I found one of my Lange Ærmer seedlings showing variegated foliage. I wondered if the variegation would fade as the plant grew older, but the unusual colouration continued to be present in leaves, stem, sepal and faintly on the fruits. As this was a segregating variety I did ponder if Tom Wagner had perhaps used the variety Variegated in the breeding of this tomato but he said it hadn't been used. 

Variegated Lange Ærmer

Close up of the partial variegated striping on the fruits,
sepal and stems

Variegated Lange Ærmer fruit on the left,
Lange Ærmer on the right

I saved seed from the variegated plant which I refer to as VAL, initially not knowing much about why a tomato behaves in this way or if it is stable or transferable trait, I have continued to grow out VAL and also used it in breeding projects. So far I have found subsequent generations of VAL have all displayed the same style of variegation although this does vary a bit from plant to plant. I also sent some seed back to Tom, I don't know if he has had similar results. Happily fruits are equally tasty from both types of Lange Ærmer and I hope both of these will be stable varieties in the near future. I have noticed that in a cooler summer fruits are not as elongated. I wonder too, how much of a part cooler growing temperatures have on the variegation seen. 

Little Big Chocolate Yum - update

Just a few pictures of this years young plants all F3's. The variegated leaf colour appears at random and most of the plants have a good amount of colour and pattern. Many of the plants (20) have quite crinkly rugose leaves and although early days they appear to have a compact growing habit.

Mini - Micro tomatoes

Another passion - miniature tomato plants. I guess more of a novelty to many but I love them because they are small enough to grow in pots on a windowsill, in small tubs and hanging baskets. They are easily managed making them great for growing indoors provided they get enough light. And a big bonus during the winter months, they feed my passion when not much else is happening.

Green When Ripe fruits

I'm playing around with developing several varieties, I'm looking for different traits to add interest. I don't think these little beauties are going to rival Brandywine for taste just at the moment, but who knows what is just around the corner!

The mini tomatoes I'm breeding are all in the process of becoming stable varieties. Some are quite new crosses and still very unstable, they will be recombining their genes for colour, height, leaf shape and taste etc. Others are well on the way to being a stable variety like Micro Blue, which now only has small and subtle differences between plants.

Micro Blue, very small growing plant, producing red fruit with anthocyanin (antho) colouring the skin that has been exposed to sunlight. Very slight antho expressed on the leaves in young plants, stems are also seen to be 'blue'

Micro Blue seedling

Mini Splash an F3 seedling is looking promising to become a windowsill type plant. The parent dwarf plant grew to approx two foot, had very little variegation and produced brown/black fruit with thick walls. Tomatoes were sweet and juicy with a good tomato taste.

Mini Splash

Side view of very compact growth

I just spotted this little fellow amongst a group of home-bred F4 siblings.

Looks to be partly woolly, small growing and with blue antho. A possible mini Blue Mammoth in the making? The tomatoes from the parent plant were quite striking.

However you describe these tomatoes, one thing is for sure - I think they are gorgeous!

Splish Splash Yellow tomato

This is a home bred variegated variety, still a long way from being stable. I think likely to be showing a wide selection of traits, parents are an unstable dwarf and a indeterminate. I'm hoping to continue on with my F2 selection  for a compact growing determinate with variegated foliage.

The variegation comes from the variety 'Variegated', the pollen parent of this variety, which is a little surprising as literature indicates variegation in tomatoes is passed on through the female line only. So as yet I'm not sure if this was an anomaly or whether a inherited trait. I've recently sown some F3 seed, fingers crossed some are variegated!

These fruits from last summer were a large cherry size and pale yellow, taste was good and zingy for a yellow fruit.

Little Big Chocolate Yum - a Variegated Dwarf tomato

One of my favourite tomatoes from last year, an F2 dwarf plant with brown-black large cherry size fruit, parents are a home bred dwarf approx 18-24" high crossed with the variety Variegated. Taste was big, if you can describe a tomato like that. Whether it will continue through to the F3 fruit and beyond remains to be seen. Lovely easy plant to grow, approximately 2' high, tree type dwarf and the variegated foliage was gorgeous.

040, a photo by jayb 35 on Flickr.