ooh, I didn't even think about plants with different DTM. Good idea. Quite a few of the OP cherry tomatoes are determinate and very small plants, which is one reason I was thinking of putting a couple in a container--"Take two, they're small." But, I do sometimes double-plant tomatoes in the ground, so I wouldn't mind cramming 2 good-sized plants into 4 gallons if it resulted in good regular tomato harvest. I'm exploring ways to start seeds the one time, and plant containers the one time, since I'd be doing it for someone and then not be there to do follow-up. Otherwise, the suggestion of succession planting different containers would work, too. Thanks for the info on the determinate flowering situation. It's kind of surprising that if all the flowers are removed, it doesn't respond by immediately making more. It's good to know that!

This year i have two each of 8 varieties. I picked the flowers off half of them. so far there is no noticeable difference in plant growth (both are thriving) and a few of those original flowers set fruit and are sizing up nicely. Others seem to have aborted. Since it doesn't seem to have affected their initial growth I will probably leave the flowers on in coming years, but I may do the same thing next year as a second test. The varieties I planted are below. All had flowers or buds when I transplanted them on May 3rd. Cherry Roma (seemed to abort many of the early flowers, but there are a few tiny fruit). Park's Whopper (seemed to get fruit from all (most?) early flowers and is sizing up nicely), Black Krim (some fruit) German Pink (No fruit yet) Marianna's Peace (no fruit yet) Kosovo (some fruit and sizing up very nicely. this one might be my surprise winner for early toms) Opalka (no fruit yet) Italian Heirloom (most flowers seem to have aborted but I have one tomato) Those that I pinched the flowers off have no fruit but have lots of new flower/bud trusses (trusses?) so, even though the growth seems to be similar, perhaps they will set more fruit later in the season. But, I really haven't paid close attention to which ones have the most flowers. I suppose time will tell. -jon ps. i really appreciate all of the regular responders on this forum. I have learned so much. thanks.

The I think there should be a category for semi-determimate tomatoes too. I've been using Designing Woman's method of lopping off a sucker of my bushy san marzano's to create a few more daughter plants. I've noticed that as long as the parent's main growing tip has not given the signal for the plant to stop growing, the suckers are still viable after rooting. The individual suckers, now without the main growing tip, each become the secondary apical tip for the daughter plant, and grows its own suckers which terminate in blossoms. I tried on one of the daughter plants, once the main growing tip terminates off, trimming the suckers at that point will root and grow vegetatively for a bit then stop and produce its own suckers but all the terminal tips never produce any flowers. I'm happy to report that usually grandma San Marzano has been alive long enough to see her grand daughters have kids of their own. Had to stop it once I ran out of space (I live in the city) and my small full sun balcony had no more balcony left.

Regular tomatoes won't pollinate when temperatures reach 85 and over. We grow cherry tomatoes in the summer, because they are more heat tolerant. You can clone your tomato for fall. Find a couple of suckers (side shoot) that is 6-8 inches long that are healthy. Pop them or cut them off and put them into a glass of water indoors in a sunny window. Change the water every other day. They will put out roots, and you can put those plants into small pots to grow out and replant in the fall. I had one tomato plant once that I cloned like that for 5 years, because it was sentimental to me too.