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erikkrush

Mixed seedlings- Granny Cantrell

erikkrush
11 years ago

I am growing six granny cantrell seedlings from tomatofest seeds. The first set of true leaves have grown and 3 are cleary potato leaf and 3 are regular leaf. Is it too soon to judge the true leaf type? If not, do I keep only the RL plants and assume they are the real deal, or dump them all and get new seeds? Thanks for the help.

Comments (7)

  • digdirt2
    11 years ago

    First set of true leaves can often be mis-leading. Young, small, shape not fully developed. Wait.

    Dave

  • carolyn137
    11 years ago

    Looking at the link from Tania's site below, no one has mentionend anything about PL foliage. If you can tell PL from RL at this stage, which you say you can, then I would assume that you have crossed seed.

    And selecting just RL plants may still not give you what Granny Cantrell should be,

    You may want to consider contacting Gary at Tomatofest and asking him if he's had any reports about folks getting crossed seed for this variety and explain what you got. If it were a stray PL seed you wouldn't be getting the ratio of PL to RL that you are getting,

    Carolyn

    Here is a link that might be useful: Granny Cantrell

  • carolyn137
    11 years ago

    Dave's point is well taken as well.

    Because sometimes the earliest true leaves may lookPL and then change to RL as the plants grow more.

    But if all of your seedlings are at the same stage of growth and you say you can clearly see that some seedlings are RL and some are PL, I have to wonder.

    Nothing wrong with waiting a bit more to see what happens,

    Carolyn

  • erikkrush
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    As a follow-up, I contacted Gary from Tomatofest and received the following information.

    "This strain often has both leaf types. However, the plant and fruit characteristics are the same."

    I guess I will grow both leaf types and see what I get.

  • carolyn137
    11 years ago

    When I went to check something I lost my original post here so I'll try to remember what I said. LOL

    Go back and look at the link to this variety I gave above from Tania's site and not one mentioned anything other than RL .

    I then went to the nearest SSE Yearbook on the floor next to the computer and not ONE of the many folks who listed it said anything other than RL,

    As I said above, with a 1 to 1 ratio of PL to RL it's not a stray seed problem.

    If I were you,which I'm not, and you have time I'd get new seeds and I went back to Tania's page and noted the seed sources for 2013 and would suggest the following:

    Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
    Blue Ribbon Tomatoes, Maria sells off ebay
    Knapps Veggies,

    And I suggest new seeds since if crossed seeds even the RL might not be true b'c no one knows what it might have crossed with and as a result adding new genes to the RL's you're seeing.

    You can also wait until next year to get seeds unless growing Cantrell this summer is a priorityfor you.

    Hope that helps,.

    Carolyn

  • gardenscout
    11 years ago

    I have grown Granny Cantrell many times in recent years and they almost always trick me into thinking they are going to be PL. The first few true leaves might look like a little mitten, but as they get older they start putting out RL leaves.

    Dave had it right -- just wait a bit.

    Hope you like the Grannys -- one of my favorites.

  • carolyn137
    11 years ago

    I'd agree about the waiting if it weren't for the fact that the original poster said that plants with RL and plants with PL leaves were seen at the same time:

    (I am growing six granny cantrell seedlings from tomatofest seeds. The first set of true leaves have grown and 3 are cleary potato leaf and 3 are regular leaf. Is it too soon to judge the true leaf type? If not, do I keep only the RL plants and assume they are the real deal, or dump them all and get new seeds? Thanks for the help.)

    And then Gary Ibsen came back and said that the variety could be either PL or RL, which I indicated above that I couldn't find folks who said it was PL, gave the link to Tania's site and also checked several SSE Yearbook listings and couldn't find anyone who said PL.

    Pesonally I don't make the call on a new variety others have not grown until the second set of true leaves appear..

    Gotta love tomatoes and their traits, LOL

    Carolyn

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