Friday, August 14, 2009

CAMPARI -Campari(ng) Descendancies
There has been a couple of threads about Campari, namely;

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=12120
http://tomatoville.com/showthread.ph...hlight=campari

...and I thought the topic I am bringing forth deserves a new forefrontation.

Question. Has anyone segregated the recombinations for filial generations of Campari.

Answer. Yes.

I have several lines of Campari descendants to the F-5 level. That is stable enough to assert some expectancies. Just today I extracted a knock off line that looks much like the F-1 Campari and I named it CAM PARIS. Pun intended.

As F-5 seed, I should be able to use it in some test hybrids. I am hoping that I have some of the VVFFTN of the hybrid left over in the inbred.

I will have to look at the other filial generations to select for the best lines as I am trying to duplicate the reputed flavor of the original.

Meanwhile back to the Cross Talk. I have a couple of new selections out of a cross of Green Grape to an F-2 of Campari. The first one is Campptown Ladies, a nice look alike, taste alike of Campari but with the tiny seeds of Green Grape. This one is quite firm. I have F-3 seed of that one.

A full sib-Paris green- (a shade of green tinged with yellow) is a Green Grape type, but of a thingytail size with extraordinary flavors and sweetness. It is rather soft like Green Grape and has larger seed than I would like.

Both of them will be segregated further in the re-combination to fine tune traits that I want. But in case I don't get those traits I crossed the Paris Green with pollen from Camptown Ladies. The cross should be all red if the CL is homozygous for red flesh. The hybrid seed will be selfed next year to get F-2 seed that will shuffle the segregation even further. I would like to get a firm green thingytail tomato with small seed and great flavors and sweetness.

Since Campari has long internodes suitable for greenhouse culture, I will note the growth of the assorted progenies and will send seed/plants to greenhouses for evaluation. I hope to salvage the alphabet soup of disease resistancies.

I extracted seed today of Camptown Ladies crossed with Stupice. There is a local love affair with Stupice, therefore I am trying to introgress Stupice into as many kinds of tomatoes as possible in the effort to get adapted PNW tomato varieties with whatever magic Stupice offers.

I now have F-3 seed of Black Gaspare, named for Gaspare Campari fame. This is a black thingytail tomato that combines Campari, Black Sea Man, Brandywine, and a chilling resistant line. This combination will be tested for chilling resistance so that ripe fruits can be placed in refrigeration without turning mushy.

Yet to be found in my myriads of tomato plots, is some F-2 fruits of the cross of Black Prince, Cherokee Purple and an F-2 Campari. The F-1 had 1 1/2 to 2 inch fruits, round red, 3 locules, and productive as all get out. The plants aren't close, one is in the upper Skagit river valley and the other is in Vancouver, WA., nearly 300 miles from each other. I should not be disappointed in the flavor combos.

I have been extracting seed from the F-2 fruits of Campari and Savantas, a cluster roma. The fruits are even more firm than Campari and I will be looking for jointless pedicels, and a variety of shapes. I am not sure what I have, so I am not naming any of them yet. Most of what I like has the Campari shape.

I will be looking at some yellow cluster recombinants of Campari crosses as soon as I pick them.

Some really tall vines are coming out of the Airy Leaf, Pineapple, Elberta Girl, Campari lines crossed to Green Grape. Yes, all in one pedigree. Most are 2 inch red fruits with green getl indicating the success of the cross. I am impressed of how the Green Grape imparts sweetness and smaller seed size. In these crosses, one doesn't see much of the ancestry of Airy Leaf, Pineapple, or Elberta Girl, just Campari and Green Grape. Maybe I will see those lines show up again in the F-2 generation.

I put much effort into this treatise, but if anything ever comes out of this work, you may anticipate what it may be.

Tom Wagner


Thursday, August 13, 2009