Botany Quiz: What is an indeterminate tomato?

This is one of the hardest things to explain to tomato plant customers. We usually offer Big Beef, a indeterminate & Celebrity, a determinate variety.
People don't really know what they want or need.

These are indeterminate variety, Buffalo. Especially bred for greenhouse production.

Bernie

I got this one right!! Whoopee! but I actually thought all cultivated tomatos were like this - hence the need to stop after the third truss - to encourage them to concentrate on ripening what they have not setting more and more.

This is one I really knew. I have Park's Whopper Improved growing in a container right now and it is an indeterminate variety.

Wow - guessed and got it right.

How do you know if it's determinate or indeterminate? I don't remember seeing it on the label but maybe I just didn't notice. What are Big Boys? I think they are indeterminate.

I got the Parks whopper too, I have mine in a homemade Earth Box. It is twice as green as the ones we have in the ground.
Sandra

Thanks to DG, I got this one right! A year ago (before I joined) I wouldn't have known the answer!

The way it was explained to me on the Tomato Forum, the determinates stay shorter, more bush-like, and tend to set all their fruit at once, which is good if you want it all to ripen together for canning or something. The indeterminates are more vine-like in their growth, and can reach 10-12 feet, requiring a lot more staking. They produce fruit over a long period, which is great if you want to extend your tomato harvest over a longer period.

This is my first year with indeterminates, and I think I need to improve my support system! These are some strong, healthy tomato plants, and they look like they want to conquer my cages! LOL

Bernie, if they don't know what they want, it's probably indeterminate. People who can know they want determinates.

Tell them it's like roses - once flowering, blooming one huge bloom at one time. Or blooming in smaller flushes throughout the summer.

Gwen

Some cultivars may be determinate and indeterminate depending on the strain. I grew an indeterminate Rutgers then mistakenly purchased the determinate strain. For my needs--a continous crop over a long season--the determinate was wasted space.

In addition, Rutgers and others are sometimes classified as "semi-determinate".

Bottom line: read the label.

With just the 2 of us I wanted indeter. and got them. We were able to enjoy them for several weeks. I don't can and don't like to freeze tomatoes - we just like them fresh. The labels I looked at all told me which type they were.

Ann

I'm glad this came up, as I was one who thought the vining vs. non-vining issue was the only difference between determinate and non-determinate. Didn't know it had anything to do with fruit production...wow! Being a gardener means constantly learning. : )

Finally one I knew!!

Amazing so many people do not know the answer to this question. People often just buy tomato plants and have no concept, unless it is the same one they plant year after year. If you have access to a computer or call your local extension office to determine if there is a specific tomato plant that does better than others in your area or region.'

Oregon State University does a wonderful job for us here in the Pacific Northwest in developing a strain of tomato plants for our area, cooler temperatures, mildew resistant, etc. There are several now on the market specifically for the Pacific Northwest. It is worth checking with your local extension agent or simply doing a Goggle search to see what thrives in your area. And YES................if you are a back yard gardener the "indeterminate" is most likely best to suit your needs.

Oberfeldwebel

If you like fresh tomatoes, plant them under cover & take good care of them.
I've had tomatoes in the greenhouse for 9 years. They are planted in the ground & nearly in the same holes every year. Never a disease in there, no blight, no nothing. One year I had a few white flies.
I put the plants in the ground the middle of April. I am now getting ripe ones. I will harvest into November. After that the heating bill would break me, so I let them freeze. The plants will be 15 to 18 feet long by November.

Right on Bernie. I even get get people staring at me who are members of a local garden club, when I ask if their tomatoes are determinate or indeterminate. They seem to think I am pulling their leg.

It is amazing what some gardeners do not know. Guess I'm nuts. I have to know and understand as much nitty gritty as you all can teach me or I am able to absorb.

My friend Badseed taught me this one as she sold me some determinate ones for my small patio pots. Thanks, Chele!

Determinate tomatoes are primarily of interest to commercial farmers who can harvest the whole lot in one go with a combine harvester. Makes for vastly cheaper harvesting, but does also demand the ability to deal with the whole lot in one go.

Resin

Indeterminate, determinate, if you cannot get a tomato to grow, you need to figure out what I am doing wrong! Using tomato paste out of a can is the pits. Life should not and at one time was not this difficult.

If you'se folks with a good crop are not too far - I have a vehicle that gets good mileage and will pay for good tomatoes.

Google says 19 hours, 22 minutes from you to my house!
I will share.

Awww, Dyson. Soil, sun, fertilizer and water....it's not hard, but sometimes it can be a challenge to get them in just the right quantities, working together in concert.

I grow some determinates for canning (HealthKick for a nice red color, and Jet Star, a "semi-determinate" that makes great, consistent round, crack-free 'maters that are very easy to blanch, squeeze, slice/dice and can.)

The rest are mainly indeterminates...some black, some orange, some lumpy..all yummy ;o)

i know you can break off shoots (suckers) of indeterminants and stick them in the soil to take over when the main plant runs out. Or, you can just lay down a branch and let it root. In Alabama tomatoes keep going to October.

Dont know if determinants yield suckers that will root.

I did not know the answer to this! No idea; so I learned something. I have 3 tomato plants in pots, giving me dirty looks. We have a short season, these were given to me late and now we are having cloudy, humid weather. They are making fruit but in a sulky, petulant sort of way!

LOL, roybird! Dyson, surely there is a farmer's market not terribly far from you?

I like Country Gardens approach up there in Minnesota!

After a round of salmonella, I wish I had planted more tomatoes. I bet in Alabama I could make them go into December under cover!

I heard that they decided this last round of salmonella wasn't tomatoes after all--but they don't have any idea where it came from. I'm with you, it's homegrown for me from now on...not that it's a guarantee, but at least you know where they came from!

Well I learned something today. Never new what determinate and indeterminate was.

Yes. Now Ive heard the Salmonella is in California Almonds also. I ate a lot of store tomatoes and almonds as well.

Hemlady: If you buy a tomato plant, there is usually a designation on the label that it is determinate or indeterminant. Doesn't say what that means, though.

I start mine from seed Gloria and the catalog did mention which were determinate and indeterminate but I didn't know what that meant. I figured it was something to do with pollination. Now I know thanks to Dave's.

To answer a previous a questions Big Boys are indeterminate. also i am very intrugued on how you made the homemade earth box Sandra. are there any guides or diy instructions that you can point me to ?

Andrew

Finally a question I definitely knew the answer to! Too bad I have no idea which kind I have planted. Just planted some of each out of all the seed packets I had on hand and now all the labels have faded anyway. Heh, heh I should at least be able to figure out which ones are the cherry tomatoes. :-)

Thanks, now I know why my plants produced 36 fruit at one time and reached the top of the gutter on the house; however, I do not know why the fruit split from top to bottom. Can someone help me with that? Marilyn

Too much water.

WOW! What a question, well I meant the answers that were presented. My husband grew one Patio tomato (determinate), and I am growing Brandywine, Black Russian, Golden Jubilee, Mr. Stripey and Yellow Pear. I think that they are all indeterminate, even the Yellow Pear produces for a long time, as I was considering that for a pot, but then I remembered how much it grew last year.

So Steve is Determinate, and I am Indeterminate!

Evelyn

Well, there are definitions and there are tomatoes.
I've grown Alpha, Latah, Polar Baby, Silvery Fir Tree and Lime Green Salad tomatoes for years.
All are deterninate (meaning they grow to a certain size and then pretty much stop); all produce side suckers that will also grow out to a certain size, but not a single one of them ripens all their fruit in one go! Latah and Alpha are finished for me this year after producing since February. Polar Baby started flowering in March and it still has fruit coming on new flower stalks. Silvery Fir Tree has just begun to flower and I expect fruit until frost. Lime Green Salad come late. It's also blooming now, and, again, I expect fruit still being picked in October/November.
A plant that produces 36 fruit at one time (that's all?) AND climbs to the top of the house rather defies all definitions!
Just grow what you like!
Potagere

CountryGardens - you are a true friend, which I have not met, but hope too! 22hrs? gotta sit on the house but I will take a "rain check".
I will get back through MN again, someday.

Celebrity is listed as a determinate. But I've grown it, and it performs like an indeterminate. Any thoughts?
Shine

Dyson, you going to Kentucky Round Up. I am going to do my best to get there. It looks like a banner year for it!

Do not know if I am going anywhere any time soon, got laid off from work.