Recycled Tomato Plants

[CrazyFeathers]

Question: Last year I planted yellow tomatoes like cherry tomato's and I gave buckets of them away, I could not believe how many were on each plant - lesson learned. I have a bunch of tomato plants coming up randomly in the garden and I think they are these yellow tomato's, will these produce fruit this year or should I pull them? Thanks I will patiently wait for guidance from some seasoned gardeners.

 

[seedcorn]

If you don't want a bunch, pull them. I pull volunteers by the hundreds.

 

[CrazyFeathers]

@seedcorn thank you for the response. At least now I know the correct terminology for these tomatoes.

 

[seedcorn]

Wrong place, too many, they are called. Weeds. Cherry tomatoes are very good at multiplying and surviving.

 

[CrazyFeathers]

So is a cherry tomato a perennial?

 

[ducks4you]

Only in Hawaii, or the Florida Keyes!!
Here's what I do. I pull up and transplant healthy cherry tomatoes. When they volunteer, if they aren't in the way, I let them live. If they get in the way afterwards, I yank them out. No harm, no foul.

 

[lesa]

Agree with Ducks...if you have the room enjoy the surprise. If you don't yank them up. If your season is long enough they will certainly grow fruit.

 

[Smart Red]

I transplanted several volunteer tomatoes that set seed from last year's fruit. Yellow pear tomatoes seem to me to be very prolific volunteers. I save some and toss the rest of the plants. Chance are good that the plants will be the same as those you had last year in that space. If they were very good and welcomed by those you shared with, why not save a few and dig under the rest.

 

[Canam]

How funny that I just saw this.
I had a "volunteer" pop up with my corn and almost yanked it, thinking it was a weed... then Bam! Almost instantly it took off and got top heavy. I have 8 newbies growing on it now and had to steak it. For the weather being as it is now, im surprised

 

[digitS']

The tractor guy showed up so late that I noticed while weeding last week that I had no volunteers that were taller than 1 1/2". He actually tilled last year's tomato patch twice.

There was no reason to save 1 1/2" volunteers in the middle of June so this won't be a year when I can feel soft-hearted and save a volunteer.

It has never worked out well for me. On any year, over half of my tomatoes are hybrids. I had a wonderfully productive red cherry once but the fruit wasn't sweet.

One year, I had a Russian heirloom that had some problems with a fungus disease. The next year, there was a volunteer where it had grown. I left it. The plant became so sick, it died!

Sometimes, a volunteer plant in my garden won't have time to ripen 1 fruit by the first frost.

Steve