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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] hybrid vs. selection

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  • From: "William H Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT illinois.edu>
  • To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] hybrid vs. selection
  • Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2011 09:24:02 -0600

It's pretty easy to cross tomatoes manually. Just before the flowers open,
the whole corolla (set of petals) will come off with tweezers in one pull.
That leaves the embryo and pistil exposed. You can take an open flower from
another variety, open it to expose the anthers with the pollen being
released, and physically brush the pollen onto the tip of the stigma of the
flower on the mother plant. Cover it with something that will protect it
from insects and floating pollen, and you've made a cross. Let the fruit
grow and ripen, then harvest the fruit. Save the seed and you will have a
bunch of children of the two parent plants. But be careful. Thinking like
that (children) will make it hard to throw them away! ";>)

Anyway, the point is that the plant doesn't control pollen very well, so
even without bees you'll get some out-crossing between adjacent plants. I
suspect this is what led to the discovery of novel heirlooms in the past.
It's also one of the reasons GMOs put neighboring growers at risk,
especially when the owners of the gene patent aren't responsible, by law,
for the proliferation of the pollen across the countryside. But they can
claim ownership of anything that accepts and integrates the pollen.

Bill
William H. Shoemaker
Sr. Research Specialist, Food Crops
University of Illinois - Crop Sciences
St Charles Horticulture Research Center
535 Randall Road, St Charles, IL, 60174
630-584-7254, FAX-584-4610
wshoemak AT illinois.edu


Yes, Thank you, Bill!

I knew tomatoes were self-pollinating, but I had struggled with the
statement that they won't outcross. My friend buys bees to pollinate
his greenhouse tomatoes, and that indicated to me that they do outcross.





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