Fall Radish Breeding Report

Well, the Fall radishes did so much better this year by getting them into the ground a little earlier (I think it was August 29th). We planted a long row of seeds that we'd saved from 'Long Black Spanish' and a short row that we'd saved from 'Roseheart'. After thinning and selectively favoring any purple foliaged types, the LBS row ended up being about 50:50 split between normal LBS and F1 hybrids from 'Roseheart' intercrosses. All but one of the 'Roseheart' row were F1 hybrids.
The first picture shows how lush they'd grown. They had just been nipped by the frost a little.

 

The second picture shows two LBS (top left) and the lone 'Roseheart' (top right), below them are five F1 hybrids between these two varieties.

 

The third picture (below) shows the variation in shape and size among the F1s. They're on a large pizza box to give you an idea what size they are. 

 

The nest two pictures below show Roseheart (left), LBS (right) and F1 between them. 

We decided to try some "French" style - sliced and sprinkled with salt, on top of buttered bread. It really does cancel out some of the heat - pretty tasty this way!