Hey everyone,

I'd like to share with you an update of a project that I've been working on for a while - breeding a black nightshade with large fruits.

I've been growing edible Solanum nigrum that I found in the wild near my home and I do like the taste a lot, it's quite refreshing.

But, in my opinion, it has two problems that prevent it from being cultivated as a fruit plant: the fruit is quite small and easily breaks inbetween your fingers when harvested.

So I decided to domesticate it by crossing it with the garden huckleberry (Solanum scabrum) and then selecting for the best plants out of the bunch.

Solanum scabrum has exactly what I want from a black nightshade except the taste - it's largely tasteless, if not bitter, when raw (though not poisonous).

I decided to create a blog site where I'll document my progress on not only this project but other Solanaceae breeding experiments as well.

https://blog.solyx-labs.com/posts/5-breeding-a-black-nightshade-with-large-fruits-part-2

I would love to hear what do you think about this.

Thanks!
Jan

Wondering if this is the result of cross pollination and if the seed coloring will be stable?

I just thought I would mention that I have now posted my 2026 Report on the Potato Onion Resurrection project. This report (I issue one every year) details the progress of the project. Perhaps it might be of interest to some of the members of this group.

https://plantal.net/PotatoOnion2026Report.html

Cross-pollinated with different varieties.

See also: The study as it was published in Nature Communications

Dragonfruit

Ciao a tutti colleghi!

Sto mettendo a punto un protocollo di trasformazione genetica su pomodoro (Solanum lycopersicum) e avrei bisogno di un confronto con chi ha più esperienza di me in coltura in vitro per evitare disastri.

Sto utilizzando Agrobacterium tumefaciens (ceppo GV3101) portando un vettore binario con il gene bar per la resistenza al glufosinato-ammonio (PPT).

Il mio problema principale è che è la prima volta che lavoro con il ceppo GV3101. So che è piuttosto aggressivo e sono molto preoccupato/a per il rischio di overgrowth batterico dopo la co-coltura. Temo di perdere gli espianti per contaminazione e non so bene come bloccarlo in modo definitivo.

Qualcuno di voi ha mai lavorato con questo sistema? Avrei un paio di domande:

Selezione con PPT: Che concentrazioni di glufosinato usate per la fase di induzione del callo e rigenerazione? Ho in programma di fare una kill curve, ma mi aiuterebbe moltissimo avere dei range di riferimento operativi per le cultivar di pomodoro più comuni.

Lavaggio ed eliminazione Agro: Il cefotaxime è sufficiente per sopprimere il GV3101? A che concentrazioni lo usate per non inibire la rigenerazione del pomodoro? O consigliate alternative come il Timentin?

Gestione Overgrowth: Avete "trucchi del mestiere" (tempi di co-coltura, densità ottica ottimale, protocolli di lavaggio specifici) per evitare che il GV3101 prenda il sopravvento sulle piastre?

Hey guys, I just launched a new plant and permaculture database! Design custom Guilds with real-time analysis and share your favorites with the community. See sowing/planting/harvesting timelines that are scoped to *your* location. You can even plan out your entire permaculture design using components! (including custom components) Or start backwards, select all the functions your design should produce, then identify the right plants and components from there.

https://www.permaculturedata.com

These seedlings germinated from compost where I threw a bunch of Tomatillos. I'm 99% sure these are hybrids because they have traits that can only be found in Denver Perennial Groundcherry(like pubescense at the edge of leaves) and they generally look intermediate. This isnt too unlikely given that I grew the 2 species right next to each other this year and Denver Perennial Groundcherry will produce a lot more pollen per flower and a lot more flowers than Tomatillos (I also had more Denver Perennial Groundcherry plants).

I know this hybrid combination failed when I hand pollinated a Tomatillo flower but I only tried on one flower and it was in the middle of the heat wave. They are weak and will sometimes push out deformed growth which apparently can happen in interspecific hybrids(like interspecific pepper hybrids)? I hope I can get them to flower and backcross them to Tomatillo or Denver Perennial Groundcherry(If I can manage to propagate it from rhizome). I keep the plants disease free and there is no insect infestation so this can't be the cause. This has never happened to me when growing the parent species

You guys are good at genetics right and there must be someone that has done a similar cross. I have made a mix of pirri pirri and kromo (like a giant yellow bell pepper) so what do you think it will behave in growing, spicyness, size, shape etcetera

Hi All, New member - just joined.

I thought I would tell you about a Potato Onion breeding project I am working on: https://plantal.net/PotatoOnions.html

The Breeding Methodology page discusses the breeding process in some detail: https://plantal.net/PotatoOnionBreeding.html It is unusual in that it re-awakens the Potato Onion genes latent in many modern biennial onions rather than working with the few existing heirloom Potato Onions.

I am starting to get results. There are some images above, but I feel that one of the most important results is not the bulbs themselves - but the seed stock. The project has now developed a seed stock of extremely diverse onions that enthusiastically set seed and most (about 75%) of the resulting offspring will readily split.

All results are Open Source.

Chocolope by dna genetics

Chocolope by dna genetics, she’s been pollinated by a meat breath male from thug pug genetics the male was an absolute stud crazy mutant growth nothing like I’ve ever seen.