I too have had a hard time keeping males alive. My first male I had was doing well when the city I lived in rationed water at the end of the season and it died. I tried several more times and they all died, finally the one i have in the garden now seems to be making it, it is on it's 3rd year in ground but still no flowers. The two of mine that did the best were a lot larger then the other ones. I have a hunch it is important to get the largest male you can for increased success. The one I have now I found at a local nursery and it was far bigger than the ones you get on line. As a last resort I was going to buy some pollen from these guys, but now that I have one growing I think I will wait. http://www.pollencollectionandsales.com/

A quick fact to better understand the nature of fig breeding. Of the 30,000 trial seedlings at UCD Davis (through the mid-70's) only 5 new varieties were released. That is with the resources of geneticists and premium caprifigs. Not to say itâÂÂs impossible, but you need to be very very lucky or have lots of patience and resources. You are far more likely to bring a "new" variety to the fig world by searching for unknowns in ethnic neighborhoods. Your other possibility is getting a "sport". Every so often a branch will mutate and have different characteristics from the mother tree. From this you can propagate cuttings of the new variety. Panache is widely believed to be a sport rather than a bred variety.

Hmm, I wonder why it wouldn't be cost effective to hybridize seedless grapes and raise the seedlings -- I read over 15 years ago that some seedless grapes produced seeds that are viable. Something like "Thompson Seedless" where the seeds are almost invisible specks would not be, but "Canadice" a popular home variety of 'seedless' grape, actually has quite large seeds, they just never harden. And there is a range of seedlessness between these extremes. I would think that crossing something like "Thompson Seedless" as a pollen parent with something like "Canadice" as seed parent would produced a high rate of viable seedling with most of the plants being seedless(and cheaper than embryo rescue). I would also think that a rescued embryo would not be guarenteed to be seedless. Two reasons I can think of why this would be more effective for them: The genes that make "Thompson" and "Canadice" 'seedless' may be different mechanisms, so that in crossing them, the resultant seedlings might actually be seeded. 2nd reason: For SunWorld, maybe only the miniscule/nonexistant pips like in "Thompson" are acceptable commercially, so that they concentrating on only the most seedless types.

Tomato Sweet Seedless Hybrid NEW The worldÂs first seedless tomato! Burpee Exclusive. WeÂve come to appreciate seedless watermelons and virtually seedless cucumbers  now the worldÂs first seedless tomato! Beyond the lack of seeds to digest, this tomato is first rate for taste. In fact, precisely because there are no seeds to store the sugars for later use, all the sweetness is immediately available for you to enjoy in every rich slice. This is a totally new tomato on every level  the perfect balance of flavor and sweetness, meat and gel, solid firmness and juiciness. And to top it off, the indeterminate plants have a full package of disease resistance to ensure plenty of healthy yields. 68 Days. ***** The World's First seedless tomato? I think not, far from it. No seeds to store sugars for later use? The seed endosperm does have carbohydrate in it that's used for energy once the seed has germinated. That seed energy is used to grow the wee seedling until the first true leaves appear at which time photosynthesis takes over to make the energy compounds that allow for plant growth, fruit maturation, etc. I think what I'm trying to say is that I'm a bit, shall we say, underwhelmed with the hype given in the blurb. Growing one of the many known parthenocarpic varieties developed by Dr. Baggett will give you the same thing as I see it. Except his are OP, not hybrid. Varieties such as Oregon Spring, Siletz, Santiam, etc. And nowhere do they speak to the often mushiness of almost all parthenocarpic varieties, but the tradeoff is fruit set at low temps in the absence of pollenization, as explained in an above post. And that's why Dr. Baggett developed these varieties, for good fruit set in the PNW where spring temps often are too low for good pollenization. Carolyn Carolyn Here is a link that might be useful: Parthenocarpic Tomatoes ( Google Search)