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Growing Tomatoes

Mixed up all my determinate and indeterminate tomatoes!

organic_wonderful

13 years ago

Unfortunately I forgot to put labels on all my tomato seedlings and now have mixed up determinate and indeterminate varieties together. Is there anything I can do? Do I have to wait until they're more mature to see which ones are determinate and which ones are indeterminate so that I know which ones to cut off side shoots from?

Should I scrap them and start again?

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Comments (4)

digdirt2
13 years ago
Since you don't have to cut side shoots off ANY tomato plant, since pruning is purely optional and not required in any way, it really doesn't make a difference which type they are.

More importantly it would help to know which is which for planting location. If planted all mixed together the indet. ones would shade out the determinate ones.

Unfortunately there really isn't a way to distinguish them at this stage except by leaf shape. Were any of them potato leaf varieties? Otherwise you'll have to wait until they are fairly well established to see the different growth patterns.

Dave
barrie2m_(6a, central PA)
13 years ago
Some would not think of this type mixup as critical but I dread the thought of this happening. As many of us, you probably have differing support systems and possibly spacing requirements based on the plant growth habit. Unfortunately this will need to be a year that you abandon those ideas and adopt a system that would serve all of your plants, possibly a Florida Weave support.

You didn't mention which determinate varieties you planted. Some are not so vigorous in the bushy growth habit. I've often suckered FLorida 7514 along with Indt. habit plants with good success. Its cousin varieties Fl-47 or Fl-91 are much to agressive to think about training. I think highly of all 3 of these Det. varieties.

If you do set plants relatively close you can attempt to sucker them all- Just stay back from suckering the leading shoot until you are certain that it is a lower branch. Before long you will be overwhelmed with branching development on the vigorous Det. plants that you will just need to give up on suckering and allow the plant to do its thing. You will have done no harm to the plants and most likely you will stimulate earlier flowering and fruit development.
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taz6122
13 years ago
"Suckering" Det. varieties is not recommended because it hurts production. I wouldn't "sucker" any of them unless I was sure they were Ind. if you even believe pruning helps.
barrie2m_(6a, central PA)
13 years ago
Taz, you may find a research study to support that claim but every growing situation is unique and we are working with a plant that is so resilliant that you could almost chop it to the ground and likely still achieve a respectable yield from the regrowth.

As mentioned with FL-7514, I've suckered to a single alternating stem for 5+ years and achieved marketable yields per square foot well above what I could achieve with 99% of the 100+ varieties of indt. heirloom varieties that I grew.

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