'Hummingbird F2' Tomato Breeding Population

Solanum spp.

Origin: Paradise, Utah

Improvement status: Breeding population

Seeds per packet: ~20

Germination tested 12/2023: 88%

Life cycle: Annual

This exciting new breeding population from our friend Joseph Lofthouse of Paradise, Utah, is sure to generate some awesome new tomatoes in the future — including without much intervention from humans, as a major goal of Joseph's has long been to breed more "promiscuous" tomatoes capable of out-crossing, rather than simply self-pollinating before the flower even opens, by crossing them with wild species. Here's what Joseph says about 'Hummingbird F2':

"A selection from the Profoundly Promiscuous and Totally Tasty Tomatoes project. This generation, F2, will exhibit maximum diversity. Select for what you love. Orange, yellow, or red cherry-sized fruits may show up. An occasional plant may yield fruits as large as tennis balls. Solanum pimpinellifolium, a red-fruited wild currant tomato, contributed 50% of the genetics to Hummingbird, domestic tomatoes contributed about 35%, and the green-fruited wild species Solanum habrochaites and Solanum pennellii contributed about 7.5% each. Selected for two years for more open flowers and fruits. The ancestors of this population were selected for more than a decade for quick maturity in a short-season mountain ecosystem. Solanum pimpinellifolium grows weedy in northern Utah."

GROWING TIPS: Grow as any other tomato, starting seeds indoors a few weeks before last frost. Most of these are likely to be indeterminate, so we recommend utilizing a trellis.