Can anyone help me with tomato 101?

[Holachicka]

I'm looking for good info on tomatoes, I am a newby and really want to understand about determinate vs interdeterminate, what cross pollinates ect. I was hoping that some of you might know of a very informative article, or is willing to take the time to explain... A few years back I had a few different varieties in my garden and they ended up all seeming to cross pollinate and give me mixed up fruit! I'm hoping to avoid that this year!!

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Ridgerunner]

The short definition of a determinate tomato is that it sets fruit all at once while the indeterminate bears fruit all season. If you want a big canning of tomatoes, use determinante. If you want a tomato for lunch all summer, choose an indeterminate. Of course, it is not this clear cut. My determinantes do tend to have one big harvest at one time, but they tend to bear some fruit all season. And I can mostly indeterminates.

The indeterminates tend to be more viney, growing a lot larger vines and needing staking a lot worse. If you prune determinates, you reduce the amount of tomatoes it will bear significantly, while with the inderterminate, it will keep growing new vines and you will get more tomatoes. If you keep pruning the indeterminates, they will bear fewer tomatoes, but you would really need to stay after the pruning.

I'll not answer the pollination question cause I'm not sure I'm qualified. I'll let someone else handle that. Not sure exactly what you are saying anyway. Are you saying you saved seeds and the next year's plants had those awful tomatoes or are you saying you bought different plants and the plants you bought had the bad tomatoes?

 

[Holachicka]

Thanks! Well, as far as what I planted... I planted black krim, early girl and something else (sorry can't remember)... and at first the black krim set the normal tomatoes that I was used to for that variety, but then the started to set fruit that seemed much smaller, and lighter in color, and I can't quite rememvber, but i think the early girls were setting darker larger fruit... It was a few years ago... do they cross pollinate to make black krim/early girl tomatoes?

 

[beavis]

Black Krim are open pollinated, meaning if you save the seed and plant next year, you will get Black Krim.

Early Girl are F1 Hybrids. The seed you save will not necessarily produce Early Girl next year.

As far as I know, tomatoes are self-pollinating, so you need not worry about cross pollination.

 

[GrowsLotsaPeppers]

There are circumstances well beyond pollinization that can have some of the same results as you report. Water, weather, soil conditions, fertilization, random dumb luck... all factor in. It's gardening. Some of it is determinate. Some of it, not so much.

Control what you can. Plant in different areas, and use different plant and seed sources.

Still time to get a few plants in the ground or barrels, and get fencing around them...

 

[hoodat]

Thanks! Well, as far as what I planted... I planted black krim, early girl and something else (sorry can't remember)... and at first the black krim set the normal tomatoes that I was used to for that variety, but then the started to set fruit that seemed much smaller, and lighter in color, and I can't quite rememvber, but i think the early girls were setting darker larger fruit... It was a few years ago... do they cross pollinate to make black krim/early girl tomatoes?

Cross pollination will not affect the fruit on plants alread in the ground. It only affects the DNA of plants from those seeds that you plant next year. If a plant suddenly changes the qualities of the fruit it is bearing it is due to some other factor.
Yes BTW tomatos readily cross pollinate. The blossoms can self fertilize but they can also cross due to wind or pollinating insect activity.

 

[patandchickens]

Thanks! Well, as far as what I planted... I planted black krim, early girl and something else (sorry can't remember)... and at first the black krim set the normal tomatoes that I was used to for that variety, but then the started to set fruit that seemed much smaller, and lighter in color, and I can't quite rememvber, but i think the early girls were setting darker larger fruit.

Nope, it was either your imagination or changes caused by seasonal effects (temperature, fertilizer levels, moisture, etc).

The pollen that hits a tomato flower has zero effect on the tomato that flower produces.

So, one less thing to worry about

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Holachicka]

Thanks for the help! I knew I had a vivid imagination!
Hoodat, whenever my one year old see's your picture, she gets a huge grin and starts waving to you! Too cute!
Does anyone know of any articles or websites I can use to read up on tomatoes? I'd really like to have a better understanding of them...

 

[digitS']

Holachicka, I recently came across this "Hort on the Internet" webpage of links from North Carolina State University. It seems real helpful for a lot of vegetable crops.

NCSU didn't include information from 2 of my favorite sources, however, Purdue and Cornell. Here are a couple of good guides:

Tomatoes pdf, Purdue

Tomatoes, Cornell

digitS'
who also sometimes finds himself waving at Hoodat.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You might try this at the California Exrtension Service site.

http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/pdf/8159.pdf