steve ok wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 1:12 pm The first time I attempted a cross the only goal I had was a successful cross. I'm sure this is true for many first timers.

bower wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 7:14 am The only difference in choice of mother plant are the genes that are non-DNA.
Mitochondrial and chloroplast DNA come only from the mother. But there are genes in the DNA that also may affect mtDNA and cpDNA functioning, so in many cases reciprocal crosses would appear to be identical.
Over the years I've noticed a few traits that are easier to recover when they come from the mother in a cross - earliness and cold tolerance are typical traits that can be affected by non-nuclear DNA. By easier to recover, I mean you may still recover the earliness if a later parent is used as the mother, but you may have to grow larger numbers of plants to find an early one.
Another thing I've noticed, is that some disease or pest susceptibilities appear to be passed through the maternal line. Small metabolic differences in non nuclear traits seem to make the descendants more appealing to aphids, for example.
So I personally think the choice of mother plant is worth thinking about if you are trying to introduce some more robust metabolic traits to a favorite fruit. But it may not make any difference, if those goals are not part of your plan.

bower wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 7:14 am The only difference in choice of mother plant are the genes that are non-DNA.
Mitochondrial and chloroplast DNA come only from the mother. But there are genes in the DNA that also may affect mtDNA and cpDNA functioning, so in many cases reciprocal crosses would appear to be identical.
Over the years I've noticed a few traits that are easier to recover when they come from the mother in a cross - earliness and cold tolerance are typical traits that can be affected by non-nuclear DNA. By easier to recover, I mean you may still recover the earliness if a later parent is used as the mother, but you may have to grow larger numbers of plants to find an early one.
Another thing I've noticed, is that some disease or pest susceptibilities appear to be passed through the maternal line. Small metabolic differences in non nuclear traits seem to make the descendants more appealing to aphids, for example.
So I personally think the choice of mother plant is worth thinking about if you are trying to introduce some more robust metabolic traits to a favorite fruit. But it may not make any difference, if those goals are not part of your plan.