Saturday, 6 June 2020

Breeding new black tomatoes

I have started to mess around with breeding new black tomato varieties.  I mean true black tomatoes, the ones that are high in a powerful antioxidant called anthocyanin, not the muddy brown tomatoes that often are called 'black'. 

I have some lines that are segregating and if they are any good will try to stabilise them over the next few years, and other lines are almost stable.  The deep black colour of some of my crosses are incredible.
Some of my ripe black tomatoes - their colour is incredible
When they are unripe, the tomato fruits take on an amazing purple colour.  The black is only on the skin, the colour of the flesh underneath the skin changes the colour of the ripe fruit.  To get the darkest black a clear epidermis appears to work well.

If the tomato fruit is red underneath, the colour of ripe fruit are not overly impressive.  If the tomato is yellow or green underneath it allows the fruit to take on an incredibly dark black colour when ripe.
These ones had black skin and green flesh

The ones that are green under the black taste the best so far.  Unfortunately they are far too difficult to tell when they are ripe, I can't tell if they are ripe unless I gently squeeze them, so I will likely not continue with those lines. 
Unripe fruit displays stunning purple colours when unripe
Some of these black lines are also heterozygous for the woolly gene, others are dwarf, some indeterminate, and others determinate.  I certainly want to keep the high anthocyanin fruit but have a few options with various other traits.

I will see what other traits pop out before I decide which lines to keep. 
The fruits get darker as they ripe
Interesting black/purple unripe tomatoes
I grow things very close as I lack garden space

These tomatoes are incredibly black
I am not intending to release any lines that are not stable varieties.  I may change my mind in the future, or I may eventually sell seeds of lines that I have stabilised.  If this happens they will be listed on my for sale page with other vegetable seeds, perennial vegetables, herbs, and other interesting plants that I sell.

Update: this variety has been stabilised, I call them "Tracey".

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