Crossing question

[OmarLittle]

So I've decided as a fun little project to start a tomato cross. As this is my first foray into this, a question occurred to me. Will the variety I select to be the mother plant affect the kind of tomatoes I will get?

I guess I could try both varieties as the mother plant and see the difference. In fact that might be what I do.

If anyone is curious the varieties are Inciardi and Santa Maria

[Mark_Thompson]

Are those two varieties very different from each other? What’s your goal for the cross?

[bower]

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.

[steve ok]

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.

[Mark_Thompson]

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.

If you crossed two red regular leaf pastes how would you tell though?

Pictures below are of Inciardi and Santa Maria Paste from a quick google search.

IMG_1074.jpeg

IMG_1076.jpeg

[Shule]

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.

One thing to add is that a certain mother plant might be easier to pollinate than the other way around.

I'd love to hear about experiments crossing big beefsteaks with cherries each direction and see what the differences are.

[Tormahto]

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.

Does that work with green gel traits, and their susceptibility to be dissed by this pest?