I just finished cutting back some of our Celebrity tomatoes, which is a determinate variety (determinate=sets fruit pretty much all at once and that's it for the year). One year I didn't get my fall tomatoes started, so I cut back my Celebrities, hoping to get maybe a tomato or two. As soon as the weather got a bit cooler they started to grow, blossom, and set fruit! We actually had as good a harvest in the fall as we had in the spring. Now I don't bother with new plants for fall--I just rejuvenate our old ones. Has anyone else gotten two crops out of a determinate variety?
Well, MG--I only grow one type of determinate tom and once it sets fruits it continues giving fruits and making more flowers until I stop it. It started forming toms in june and is still producing fruit. Perhaps it is the type of determinate, or perhaps it my care...or both. I don't know, but I am glad that it soesn't just have one bunch of toms and then quit....I'd be in trouble.
Odds is what your growing are reduced internode length, semi-determinate tomato. AKA semi-determinate. Which does set out secondary and occasionaly thirtiary fruit sets. On progressively shorter stems. I'd have to go bug Tainia or Carolyn Male for names of true determinate tomato, there aren't many.
Aha! I was going by what the plant tag said (determinate). I guess that "semi-determinate" was too long word for that little tag. That sure explains why we are getting a second crop. Thanks!
Hi Jane, my seed cat. does list them as semi determinate. We can't get a second crop here, not enough grow time. so as soon as the first frost hits ours are done. and we pull everything out. Our first frost usually is in Oct. Last year it was Oct. 5 and we lost a huge crop of decent toms. I was just out and picked again this morning and I picked another bushel off of them and I didn't even pick them clean. I ran out of baskets while I was over there. these are great producers. I picked on Sat and cleaned the row due to the forecast and I picked over a bushel then.
I've had a similar experience with Celebrity tomatoes. I didn't get as many with the second crop as I did the first but we had tomatoes through October. The day before the first predicted frost (October 30) I took out the plants and saved a bunch of the green tomatoes. We had our last garden tomato on December 9th, my oldest son's birthday. This year I planted Roma tomatoes and Early Girls and Punta Banda Cherry tomatoes. I didn't plant any Celebrity and I regret it.
Cool, determinate tomatoes set fruit pretty much within a short time frame, which makes them really handy for canning and freezing. Instead of trying to can small batches, or save up tomatoes to fill a canner, you can pick a bushel (as Carolyn did) and can to your heart's content. I like Celebrities because they aren't too big (I can whole ones in wide-mouth jars), they are tasty fresh, and they do produce well.
Semi determinate tomato are mostly open pollinated. But come very close to showing hybrid clonal vigor. There thats an answer but it may not tell ya what you want to know. The more perfectly a cultivar is-are all identical to to each other the better it produces a crop big enough for mechanical harvest. For the home gardener this means the better it produces enough of a crop to can. Oh bush beans, or rutgers, for the canner, by the canner full. I love my Abraham Lincoln tomato. The fact that it only one ripens on each plant at a time works perfectly for my fresh eating. Not so much if I wanna fill up a canner (or sixteen) with ripe fruit to proccess. Does that semi-determinate tomato plant make more total fruit than my indeterminate production of one ripe one at a time? Probably not. The end use is different, not more.
We planted 25 celebrity toms for the farmers market, along with several other varieties, and we have been picking them by the bushel for several weeks. they keep producing large quantities for us and most of them are easily 12-16oz toms. I counted as I put them in a peck basket the other day and I was able to only fit 20 small ones and 16 large ones in the basket. P.S. several hours later.... Went to pick my celebrities for today and I picked 1 1/2 bushels, again. they are still loaded with green ones and flowers are still coming on. So...it looks as if I will be picking for quite some time. I'm not convinced that this is really a determinate type tomato. only that the plant its self is. It doesn't keep growing and look like a jungle plant as the season progresses.
Carolyn, your Celebrity sounds like a keeper. I understood that determinate plants would only produce so many tomatoes. Am I mistaken?
GP, I really don't have a good answer for you. I think every variety is going to be different. I also grew oregon spring, which is also a determinate, nor would I grow it again, and it yielded very few toms compared to the celebrities. trial and error(experiencing first hand which ones not to grow again) is the real test of which yields well, has nice fruit, good flavor, etc. of the traits that appeal to you, is the real answer. Asking for advice, when you are choosing seeds or plants, is invaluable also. Everyone may have a different opinion about a particular variety, so researching them this season is an excellent choice for next years garden. Ask at farm stands and farmers markets( of those who actually grow their own produce) for their thoughts and opinions on which determinates or indeterminates they would grow again and why. Don't hesitate to buy "samples" of specific varieties so you can taste them.
Determinate or indeterminate tomatoes I actually paid no attention this year to determinate or otherwise. The Italians, grown from seeds I saved, have wretched looking plants, but huge tomatoes. The other plants are vibrant green and lots of leave, but smaller fruit. Over all, I am delighted with the crop so far. I am sorry that I lost my tags and am not sure which are my Mortgage Lifters. I think I can identify them, but not positive. I doubt I will ever plant the Hillbilly tomato again. They are huge, but they tend to split around. Not at the top, but in rings around the center.
GP, I grew mortgage lifters one year, If i remember, they were HUGE red toms, I wouldn't grow them again, I like a smaller tomato than them. I wasn't real impressed with the flavor, either, but, each to his own, otherwise it wouldn't be offered each year by the seed companies.
