Stone House Breeding

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Stone House Breeding

Breeding unique tomato varieties for the challenges of NC at Good Hope Farm in Cary.

24/05/2026

A little afternoon project out at the farm. Making low tunnel hoops out of 1/2" galvanized conduit. An old pallet and some pieces of 2x2 screwed down after drawing the ~4' diameter arc make the jig to bend the conduit on. A little high school geometry (see, I did need to know how to calculate the circumference of a circle from the radius!) to determine where to start the bend and voila'! 5 hoops that will be covered in insect netting to beat the squash vine borers and squash bugs.

I like these from a stability and standpoint over PVC hoops.

15/05/2026

May 15 and one of the biggest challenges of growing tomatoes in the South East is already showing up in my field. Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus on a commercial hybrid that does not carry the only effective resistance gene known, Sw5.

TSWV, despite its name, has a wide host range of several hundred plant species, including other solanums like peppers. The virus is only known to be spread in the field by Thrips, an extremely difficult pest to control, especially under organic practices. There is a large reservoir of plants surrounding this field to harbor thrips and the virus. Because of the prevalence of TSWV here, Sw5 is in every one of my breeding lines.

Because evolution happens, there are reported strains of TSWV that overcome the resistance conferred by the Sw5 plant gene. New genes for resistance are needed to stay ahead of the virus.

I'll remove these plants to try to slow spread to nearby plants from the thrips.

26/04/2026

These pieces of DNA, separated and stained so they are visible under blue light, tell me the genetics of the plants when they have only cotyledons. Some plants have a nematode resistance allele, some have only the susceptible allele, some have both. The susceptible plants will be discarded. Genetic analysis speeds selection by eliminating undesired plants before taking up field space.

17/04/2026

Still time! Sold out of some varieties and low on some more.

13/04/2026

And we're off! 500ish plants are ready to go!

28/03/2026

> 1,000 plants. A subset will be chosen to score for five different disease and pest resistance markers. I can score three markers at a time now so the workload is much reduced from previous years. Lab consumables are not cheap either. Maybe 100 will go to the field. It's going to be a long week and late nights in the lab. Coffee maker on!

25/03/2026

Project plan is on track. Sale plants are ready to go into 4" pots this weekend from these 200 cell flats. Sale date is April 18-19.

22/03/2026

Getting ready for summer garden!

14/03/2026

1200 seeds sown! A selection of these plants will be screened for molecular markers for disease resistance by taking a small piece of cotyledon for DNA extraction. A subset that are positive for all markers will be potted up for planting in the field. The rest discarded. Breeding is a numbers game!

Only 950 more to sow.

09/03/2026

600 tomatoes sown, 29 varieties in the sale this year! Open pollinated, heirloom, and some exceptional hybrid varieties. Cherry, grape, oxhearts, slicers of all colors. Life is too short to grow boring tomatoes!

Sale date is set for the weekend of April 18. More details to come!

23/02/2026

First 98 peppers are popping up! 2026 plant sale list coming soon. Still a couple of weeks away from tomato sowing!

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