Congats Mantis!
Look forward to regular updates from the proud father!

Mark

Fantastic Mantis :-) I don't know anything about Nepal - are they big/small what makes them a good candidate for crossing, especially with the Tommy Toe?

Hi Mabb. I have not grown them before but they are meant to be a good main crop type, medium sized round red and taste pretty good. They are said to be very sturdy plants as well which I can vouch for allready. There was no real reason for which was crossed with which, as I am just trying to get the mechanics of crossing worked out. Nepal has large flowers which makes them easier to work with when removing the anthers, and Tommy Toe was the only one that would give up any quantity of pollen.

Well done Richard. First generation should all be uniform and be be small, round and red. Second gen and onwards should be where the interesting things start happening. In theory, you should grow as many of the second gen as possible so that as many variations as possible will show up. But we of limited space don't have that luxury.
Have fun.

Ray, I just hope I can get the crossed fruit to seed saving ripeness. I am keen now to try other crosses now that one has worked. I realise now that I haven't been patient enough in the past. After removing the female parts of the flower you must wait a couple of days for the stamen to become receptive of the pollen. Also, I dabbed the stamen with pollen every day for a week or so. Won't be rushing into commercial production in a hurry thats for sure :-)