seeds

Cutting will give you a plant faster than from seed. True

Can a cutting be grown in a window during the off-season and then be planted after the temps cool off (for me heat is not cold that is the problem in FL). How long of an off-season are you talking about? One can surely be rooted and planted in a pot but how well it will grow depends on available light (IME supplemental light is almost always needed).

Will cuttings age with the 'mother plant'? Ex. if I could keep taking cuttings for 4 years would I notice a change in the plant? You'd be taking a fresh cutting from a new plant each year. Never tried it and don't know of anyone who has but my best guess would be that no, you shouldn't see any changes assuming the parent plant has no disease problems.

Seeds can be stored for a long time. But is it likely when you take seeds that you can get cross pollination from other varieties and get a plant different than when you started? True seed can be stored for along time. However, the odds of cross pollination are minimal (normally less than 5%) and many of us have saved seeds from the same variety for years with few problems. This, assuming you are talking about an OP variety and not some hybrid variety. If you are talking about a hybrid variety then whether or not it will breed true depends on how stabilized the hybrid was.

The reason I ask is I think my season is coming to an end soon and want to be ready for the fall. Then like most of us, grow new ones from seed for fall - that is the safest route. Or, try it both ways - a cutting and some from seed - and see which works best for you. ;)

Good luck.

Dave

Question..... When you say Cuttings do you mean like replanting a Sucker that was pruned? That would be Cool!

Sumilea

Any growing tip would work for a cutting.

And the advantage to the cutting is that you get a clone
of the mother plant. So if you've got a killer plant,
you'll basically keep it going.

I did that this year with a Kellogg's Breakfast. Rooted
it in a window and then planted it in the garden over
the winter (I'm in CA). It never set fruit, but grew
very well.

Cutting is identical to mother plant.
It may also have a memory of the mother plant
etc nodal that would make it think its older than its rooted age.

I kept a Nevas Azores Red that I grew from seed for 3 seasons by taking cuttings. Trouble is the plant never produced fruit.

the first year it was a late seedling so I figured that was the reason
2nd & 3rd years
I got only 1 small dense fruit w almost no seeds.

So whatever happened either I had a bad seed
or the plant just thought it was too old.

It did have flowers
but no fruit.

I finally through out the plant
it was not in good shape & I could get no more good cuttings from it.

I would think a cutting should fruit like the parent
but in this case something wasn't right.

Chris,
I have been taking cuttings of my plants for years and have never noticed them to age prematurely, nor do I have any problems with them bearing fruit.

The 10 years I was in FL, I typically only took them in Dec-Jan as backup in case of frost. It was just easier for me to let my plants burn out in May/June and start anew from seed in August since temps are so warm germination is not an issue.

Here in TN, I start my seeds now and plant out April 15, then sometime in June I take cuttings and plant them out in July. This year with a new greenhouse, I took cuttings of Cherokee purple and Brandywine Oct. 1. The CP is 5' tall with a fist sized mater and the BW is 8' with 2 fist sized
fruit. They have flowered like crazy and have several dozen
golf ball sized fruit, but I am positive that they would have set more over the winter with higher night temps. I only kept the night temps at 40-45, sacrificing fruit production for lower heating bills.

Both plants are very healthy and if this continues I will try cuttings in March and see just how long I can keep the
generations going.