Stone House Breeding

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.

01/05/2025

Gorgeous week out . The field is nearly planted with a few remaining holes to be completed in mid-May. The inset plant might not look like much but it's one of many in the field this year selected using Marker Assisted Selection in my humble, home garage, lab. It's fixed homozygous for 5 disease resistance genes. I'll be able to do test crosses for hybrid dwarfs in 2 or 3 years. Fingers crossed for a good season and flavorful tomatoes!

09/04/2025

Sale plants out enjoying the sun, fully hardened off and ready to go in the ground! They grew faster than anticipated with the unseasonably warm temps and rain we had the last week!

Sat. April 12: 10 am -1 pm
Sun April 13: 1 pm - 3 pm

The weather looks cloudy and cool those days.

01/04/2025

Last week was a busy time preparing for the 2025 season. The weather was perfect! The cover crop (vetch, rye and red clover) was mowed and new hilled beds made with the rotary plow incorporating leaf mulch. I also used Harmony Ag chicken manure based organic fertilizer. The landscape fabric is back down ready for planting the last week of April through mid-May. Now I have many hours of lab time scheduled for marker assessment.