Here’s some pics of little tomatoes and then some big little tomatoes. I’m starting to think some of these aren’t quite dwarfs…
I noticed some yellowing in the leaves and did a runoff check. In my hybrid hempy bucket system this triggers a flush through the drippers. EC was fine, so I think I have a few stuck drippers. The roots have been growing crazy dense in these 2gal pots and I think they jammed one or two up.
When that happens the plants bottom feed from the runoff, which is probably mostly oxidized micros since they’re the most unstable. I’m trying to keep a rinse down approach to feeding, so I’ll have to fix it this weekend.
Here’s a little update (literally). This is my shortest girl. I’d wager she’s about 6-7” tall. Purple/black hues, no nanners, nice and hashy too. The nodes are very close and buds are a nice shape. From my batch of plants, I’ll keep seeds from this one.
It’s almost done but the seeds aren’t mature yet. Hopefully I’ll see some brownies soon
I had some time to get out the macro lens and take some shots of these tormented little shorties. Much nicer than using the flash on my phone at capturing the resin bits. Lots of black/purple coloring coming in now.
Just wait until I chop these and y’all see how hilariously small they are. These are all under only 100W of LED total, but I’m really happy I can do a whole run in treepots. I love growing these things. If I can get them all to a consistent 6-8" height (and not accidentally bring them within an inch of death), I think I’ll have a pretty efficient little grow. The one I like doesn’t have much branching at all, so if I can get the structures consistent, I can grow them in pretty high density in my treepots.
Why use fems instead of outcross? With an outcross, take your favorites and find a stud male/fem. Once the cross is made keep selecting for the traits you want…it does take a little longer though…
It’s because I’m uncertain of the inheritance pattern for the dwarf trait. I don’t think I can observe it in males… at least I haven’t seen it yet. I don’t know of other strains that have it. Somehow it survived through a cross and transferred from the Syrian into my Syrian Lebanese hybrid that I’m growing here, even at low rates in F1 seeds.
The most certain way to get a seed population of dwarves I think will have to be selfing or sibling breeding two fems that express it. From there, I think I will be able to experiment with it more to see how it inherits.
In my head, I see this as a potential breeding tool that I use with sativas. It has resin, density, ultra earliness, some have narrow leaves and thcv. But the biggest unknown checkbox is whether I can use the dwarf trait to make it nice for indoors.
If it can, I think I’ll have a great time making hybrids with it that don’t overwhelm the “sativa character” like an Afghan/Pak/Hindu does. I think the right Mediterranean hashplant is a great candidate for making hybrids that favor sativa characteristics, while also making them more fit for indoor grows.
Everything is ripening over here. I’d chop these Syrian x Lebanese, but I’m just waiting for a little more browns in the seeds. I love the little one in the back left. When I chop it, I’ll take a picture of it on a ruler. The node spacing is so small, and it’s very apical. I want this plant to come out every time.
My tomatoes are freaks in the big tent. It’s like 3 vertical feet of vine in there. One or two might be small enough for me to save seeds from, but most are too damn big. The smaller tomatoes in the other tent have a few candidates that are currently a good size and produce fruits of a good size. Many of the plants have fruits that are larger than cherries, but not as large as I want them. That’s expected though.
Fruit colors are ranging from solid yellow to flame orange and maybe bronze? When green, some fruits are a solid color and some have dark green tops. I think the green tops will have green gel interior even when ripe.
It’s funny that one plant is producing solid yellow fruits, because jaune means yellow. But jaune flamme “yellow flame”, has fruits that are clementine orange.
Well tomato harvests have begun. I have yellow tomatoes, orange tomatoes and red tomatoes. I have some tomatoes that have become utter monstrosities, but the good news is that I’m also fermenting seeds from a plant and will start a staggered grow of F3s very soon. I need to chop some unruly plants in my big tent soon after their first big wave of ripe fruits and replace them with new plants of a smaller form factor.
The one I’m moving on with is a lot like the F1 fruits in size and color. In taste it has strong flavor with a good citrusy zing. It’s also from my smaller set of plants, which have also grown bigger than expected, but they might be the perfect size for my big tent in 2 gallon pots.
I was reading some from Craig LeHoullier’s blog. He writes a great blog and really has some great insight and experience.
The next step in this is to save as much seed as possible from the newly created hybrid. It really doesn’t matter what the hybrid tastes like; flavor is complex with tomatoes and inheritance, and the flavor of a new hybrid doesn’t necessarily correlate to the offspring.
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This is a story that can only be partially told - a few weeks remain before we know the final size, shape, color - and best of all - flavor - of these four varieties. If one or more of them seems well worth pursuing, seed is saved, then sent to volunteers next year to try to replicate what I found this year. If they are really promising, I will give one or more names. It is always best to grow as many as possible from this point on, as color, size, flavor, and shape continues to vary greatly.
Eventually - and hopefully - when we are at the 5th, or 6th generation, things will begin to settle down and we can start to work toward finishing any of the promising new varieties. By the 8th, or sometimes even 10th, generation, we can call it a stable new variety.
Ass deep in F2s right now, I’m feeling this. These plants are all over the planet.
Making a dwarf out of aunt Ruby is going to have so much advantage with backcrossing to an existing heirloom. It ought to be quite a bit more tame than this grow, but I’ll still get to see the F2s.
My biggest plant. Had to be flopped to keep it from hitting the lights. Way too big, less terpy than the previous plant and more spicy in aroma. Purple in the leaves.
Almost no branching on this one. It smells amazing like fruity bubblegum. Black leaves that look to me like black leb. Still not what I’m looking for but I like it.
This one has more of my attention. It’s 2nd smallest, but it has a surprisingly good yield, given the circumstances. It’s branchy, and I’m leaning toward apical expressions. I’ll keep seeds from her, but undecided about looking through them.
This is the plant I prize most from my grow. It might be the only true dwarf I got as well. It’s every bit as small as the original Syrian dwarf structure, but far superior in vigor and yield. Purple leaves, smells that are a bit more on the spicy end than fruity. Second most apical of the group. I’ll be growing seeds from this one for sure.
Not at all— is a fairly thc oriented Lebanese, but it worked really well with the blue hemp Lebanese, which is very interesting but much more in the mixed cannabinoids realm like the Syrian.
I liked the hybrid of black lebanon and blue hemp Lebanese more than either strain individually, so that’s why I used it here with the Syrian.
The Syrian actually already has the tendency to produce black foliage as well, so there’s a lot of familiarity between the strains.
