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MKX_ tomato project

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Radishrain –

MKX_ is a tomato breeding project. MKX_A F1 was the first plant of the project, grown in 2017, and was a cross between Medovaya Kaplya and another tomato. The cross evidently happened in my own garden in 2016 (when I grew the true Medovaya Kaplya, and probably over a hundred other tomato varieties).

The father of the cross would seem to be a regular leaf, round, red tomato, possibly with deeply attached calyces that can't be removed without removing part of the tomato (which seems to be a recessive trait), but I don't know what variety it was.

The Snacker_ project is a child of MKX_A, however, MKX_ lives on, and not just through Snacker_. In 2022, I grew MKX-A F2 seeds, and under colder-than-usual seed-starting conditions, three plants survived (very few tomatoes of other varieties that I started at that time survived); the MKX_ plants that survived and are still alive are called MKX_B (PL), MKX_B0 (RL), and MKX_B1 (RL).

MKX_B is the first tomato to have set fruit in my garden, in 2022 (which wasn't entirely a surprise, considering I planted it in the historically best-producing spot in the garden, which also tends to get early fruit--but it's still impressive, as it's far outpacing all the others, including the probable Galapagos Island volunteers). So far, it has 7 fruits that have set on its first truss (probably with more coming), and until today (AFAIK) no other tomatoes had set fruit, yet (but plenty were blooming, and I noticed that two volunteers set fruit--probably Galapagos Island). MKX_B fruits appear to be somewhat ovate; I don't know what color they will be (red or yellow, I imagine).

MKX_B1 was very vigorous during the seed-starting process (more so than MKX_B), but it died back at one point, and is quickly catching up. MKX_B0 is the smallest of the three, but it's doing well.

MKX_B was also vigorous during the seed-starting process (not quite as vigorous as MKX_B1), and is remarkably vigorous post-transplant.

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Radishrain

Re: MKX_ tomato project

The first fruit of MKX_B began to ripen, today (52 days from transplant):

https://www.tomatojunction.com/topic3653.html

Climate: BSk
USDA hardiness zone: 6

Radishrain

Re: MKX_ tomato project

MKX_B appears to be yellow-fruited. So, the leaf type, the fruit color, and maybe the fruit shape are stable, so far.

Other things to make are stable in future are taste, days to maturity, plant size, heat-tolerance, damping-off-tolerance, and cold-tolerance.

Climate: BSk
USDA hardiness zone: 6

Radishrain

Re: MKX_ tomato project

This post was updated on .

In reply to this post by Radishrain

I seeded the first fruit of MKX_B. The seeds were actually pretty big (almost the size of those big Early GIrl F2 seeds we used to see in 2014--but more rounded than those). There were 80 developed seeds (and a few undeveloped ones); that's a lot of seeds for one small fruit (nice; I like lots of seeds). However, I didn't taste the seeds, nor the gel around them (since I'm saving those to grow). Considering the enormity of seeds, and the gel around them, I'm guessing they would make up a large portion of the flavor.

The taste of the walls was interesting. It wasn't the same as Snacker_. It had some of those honey-type smells that Medovaya Kaplya has, but it wasn't terribly sweet (Snacker_ is sweeter); it wasn't entirely devoid of sweetness, however. It was mild, but not as mild as that one yellow cherry tomato cross that tasted like it was high in malic acid. Another taster liked it, but she said she needed to taste more of them to rate it (probably with the seeds, too).

Okay, I ate the gel sacks on the seeds, removing them in my mouth and eating the get sakcs, while saving the seeds (I swallowed 20 seeds on accident; so, I have 60 left). It definitely wasn't ripe. The gel had a very unripe taste. I think it could probably taste a lot better if it were riper. It has a fruity-ish honey-ish smell.

The calyx removed quite easily from the fruit without damaging it (I'm very grateful for that; deep-rooted calyces seem to be a recessive trait that the F1 carried, as Snacker_B0, a descendant of the F1, had them).

About 8 to 10 minutes after I ate it, I noticed a fresh cilantro aftertaste in my mouth. It's a good thing I like cilantro! I haven't always liked it, however.

Here are some pictures: