Stone House Breeding

01/11/2025

https://www.seriouseats.com/sungold-tomato-history-11804254

These tiny orange tomatoes have dominated farmers markets and restaurant menus since their introduction to the US in the 1990s—all thanks to fervent home gardeners and chefs.

19/10/2025

2025 has come to a close for me. Final field cleanup and cover crop planting is all that remains. I was able to make selections in the most important and valuable MAS lines and other lines which will become hybrid parents in future years.

It's a challenging field and the plants don't do nearly as well as those at home, with similar care. It was a hot hot hot and dry early season which put significant stress on the plants and caused lots of blossom drop and sunscald. So much lost literally cooked fruit. Insect pressure is high in that field, leaf footed bugs being #1. Next year I may try using Surround, a kaolin clay product for some sun protection if we have a similar weather pattern and Spinosad for insect control.

19/10/2025

I've never been a fan of the anthocyanin tomato fad. I do have a few crosses though using an antho parent I quite like from a now defunct small breeding and seed business. This is the darkest in the F2 row, all dwarfs. I'll assess flavor in the F3. These fruit are not yet ripe so I'm not sure what underlying color will be.

23/07/2025

Ten things learned as a plant breeder.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/vegaalfaro_10-things-ive-learned-as-a-young-plant-breeder-activity-7352801831510601728-ZRwx

Plant breeding is more than just moving pollen back and forth. It’s a career that’s pushed me to be a scientist, a communicator, and strategist, oftentimes all at once. Here's 10 things I've learned so far: | 23 comments on LinkedIn

12/07/2025

Weekend farm work . Despite the rain, heat, and stinkbug plague this year taking their toll on the majority of the fruit (sooo much cracked, sunburned, and rotten fruit right now), I have some nice selections. This is an F1 of a striped heart by a good commercial hybrid bred for the southern climate. You can see the faint striping which is not fully recessive.

All plants were selected via markers as heterozygous for 5 disease and pest resistance genes. In the F2 and beyond I'll stabilize the resistant genes to homozygosity using markers.

In a couple of years, this line will be ready to make hybrid test crosses with.

09/07/2025

A really lovely white tomato at F4. The cross was a dwarf x commercial orange hybrid cherry. Several rounds of selection in the F3 got me the size I wanted, 10 oz. The flesh is smooth, very few seeds, and the skin tender. Nice flavor especially for a white tomato.

04/07/2025

Another hot day out making some new selections. Another promising cross. Full size indeterminate plants. One plant is done for with TSWV and removed. Liking the diversity in this cross too which used a commercial hybrid grape as one parent. Note the fruit in the center. Almost every single fruit was split after the inch of rain we had 2 days ago. That is reason enough that it won't be advanced. I like a couple of its siblings though and at least one will be selected to move forward.

02/07/2025

Harvest has started Showing some tomato diversity in the F3 generation. Pinks, reds, dark orange, lobed fruit and some with a ni**le. This is a favorite cross of mine. I harvested all ripe or blushing fruit from 12 of the 20 plants yesterday. Not only can I start tasting, it gives me an idea of early production potential. That's a key trait here in NC. It's early July and we've already had weeks of temps in the 90s and new fruit production has tanked. Disease and insect pressure is setting in quickly across the field. So, early prolific production is a useful trait here.

21/06/2025

Almost 100F and UV index of 11? Summer in NC. No problem with sleeves!

It's a day of tying and staking and pruning out the damage from the storm a few days ago. 😥

On the positive side the first fruit is starting to ripen! Sampled a couple of nice cherry from a line with promise.



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15/06/2025

Hot day out . Rainfall has been good and plants are popping! Of course with high temps (expecting mid 90s next week) rain and humidity it's only a matter of time before Septoria and Early Blight come on with vengeance. Blossom drop and blossom end rot at high temperature is also common. It's just the challenge of growing tomatoes in NC. It's also a great place to test and select for disease tolerance!

25/05/2025

Picture perfect day out at the farm. Plants are loving the mild temps.

17/05/2025

Lovely day out at . Two weeks away from home and things got a little wild. Today was stringing, pruning and staking. The wind is harsh in that field and young plants snap easily. I'll need to replace more than I'd like.