Volunteer Tomatoes Going Above and Beyond Expectations!

[virginiadear]

Last summer, I planted a type of cherry tomato---I don't recall its name.  I also planted "Sweet Olive" grape tomatoes, another type of cherry tomato.  Several of each got knocked or wind-blown to the ground; by the end of the season; they were bruised and cracked, and so I left them there, thinking they'd contribute something organic to the

Comments

[primsong]

What a nice serendipity - and that they came in so big too! Tasty.

[virginiadear]

It is! And they are! :^) Thanks.

[singeaddams]

Hmmm, maybe your cherries bred and the kids have hybrid vigor. Or your soil is radioactive, I dunno.

[virginiadear]

H'mmm.....!
Maybe! :^D

[virginiadear]

Thanks! :-)

[david_anderson]

They were hybrids, and their offspring don't breed true.

[liminalia]

This. I work for a place that breeds tomatoes, and open-pollinated tomatoes are highly variable unless you plant all the same kind and it's an heirloom.

[virginiadear]

Eh; new term, "open pollinated." Doubtless one that would be a beneficial addition to my vocabulary. More details, please?

[liminalia]

Pollinated in nature, by insects or wind, etc.; not hand-pollinated in a controlled setting and manner so one can know who the parents are with certainty. Bees may have carried pollen from a neighbor's large tomatoes as well as the possibility of your maters having large ancestors.

[bailey36]

great, large red cherries, I'm so happy for you. I had a few productive volunteers, a black cherry and a few yellow pear cherries. I can't believe I'm getting tomatoes from volunteers from the compost I added to my plants.

[virginiadear]

I was just very pleased and very grateful they evidently didn't suffer for having planted themselves in the same location their parents were planted last year. It's my understanding they're more susceptible to diseases when they're "repeats" in the same bed.

[bailey36]

really? why do you suppose that would be? Seed from heirlooms should be just like the parents, at least mine were heirlooms. If yours are 'Large red cherries' they are heirlooms. I know we're supposed to move them each year.

[liminalia]

See my note above about open pollination.

Soil can harbor viruses, fungal spores and insect pests from year to year, so it's wise to rotate all your crops now and then.