Volunteers

[333.okh]

Do I let them grow or pull them?

I had 7 types last year and must have missed fruit or the seeds were not killed off in compost.

[dustdevil]

Since it would be hard to pin down the lineage, I would pull them.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by 333.okh

Do I let them grow or pull them?

I had 7 types last year and must have missed fruit or the seeds were not killed off in compost.

If you have the room go for it. Every year i'd walk around my large tomato field and randomly dig up 10 volunteers and plant them elsewhere, just to see if I could ID what they were as to variety. Sometimes I could, sometimes not, but it was just a fun game for me and I had the room to grow those volunteers.

Of couse I never saved seeds from them, even when I thought I knew what they were b'c there was always a chance I was wrong. I only save seeds from fruits of labelled plants that conform to the traits that those varieties should have.

[OneoftheEarls]

why not give them away to another gardener...that's what I do, they don't always care what variety, they just want eating tomatoes

[camochef]

I used to allow them to grow, if not in direct competition with a nearby plant, figuring they had to be fairly strong to make it through our cold winters.
Now I look at differently. If I didn't plant it, it's just another weed. Most don't produce all that well anyway, probably because they don't get cages and are left to sprawl.
With attempts to cut back on the amount of plants this year, I can assure you, they won't be surviving. Happy Gardening!
Camo

[b54red]

I have always let a few grow and until last year most were a disappointment. Most of the time they turned out to be cherries or small poor tasting tomatoes that get pulled up immediately. This year I have let about a half dozen keep growing because of their plant vigor, while pulling the weaker looking ones or ones in inconvenient locations.
After 30 + years of doing this I finally got one that was what I was hoping for. Last year I had one that produced a medium to large red beefsteak that was the most disease tolerant tomato in the garden and that included a lot of highly touted hybrids. It was also a very good tasting tomato so I saved the seed from it and it is now in the garden with good fruit set on it. So far it seems to be growing true and if it is I will save the seed again.
If you have the room you might as well try a few; you never know when you will have a good surprise from one.

[stormymater]

Isn't this how new varieties spring up? I potted up a bunch of Cerise Orange volunteers that I donated along with known varieties to folks who want tomatoes for eating. I just discovered some lunker big volunteers coming out from under the "big silver hog" (our propane tank). Suspect they'll not be so tasty as they are most likely Sungold volunteers but we'll taste before yanking. If good will be retained & draped up an old ladder. If not, well, yanking can occur at any old time.

[333.okh]

I know this...I only put Siberian and Brandywine into the compost...and mostly Brandywine.

[barkeater]

If you had problems with tomato diseases wheren the volunteers sprout, I say NO.

[jhp]

I pull most volunteers. In years past, I have left them and they just never catch up to the ones started early indoors and consequently, don't produce much, if any, fruit. So my intention is to pull volunteer tomatoes as a general rule. I agree they are but a weed. However, just for fun, last year I saved a couple of sprite volunteers. I knew what they were because of where they came up. I knew I would get some harvest out of them as it's not a late maturing variety. With that said, did it produce as much as the sprite plant I started early indoors? No, not even close. So for me, there's no point allocating what precious little space I have to something that A) I might not know what it is and B) probably won't produce much before frost. With years of growing ahead of me, I reserve the right to change my mind back and forth again as it suits me!

My $0.02. What do you feel like doing? Feeling adventurous? If so, keep them.

Jen

[rxkeith]

i had a brandywine volunteer come up at the end of a row of potatoes when i was living in calumet when we had a warm month of may one year. it did very well. most volunteer plants don't do too well up there, there just isn't enough season. this plant was the exception. if they are healthy, and you have the room, allowing some to grow would be ok, assuming they will mature for you.


keith

[b54red]

These are photo's of a tomato plant grown from seed saved from a volunteer that did really good last year in my garden and so far it seems to be doing great.

[danwigz]

I had 8 grape cherry tomato plants last year (this is before the tomato bug hit), and had tons of fruit drop to the ground. This year I have... well a lot of volunteers. Because they were all the same, and rather prolific producers, I've dug up 16 and put into small pots to make room for other plants as well as to do a few tests.

Most are in rather small containers, so I don't expect them to do much, but it will be interesting to see what happens.

Dan

[piegirl]

This is how I came up with my Compost Baby - found her growing in the c bin, saved seed from the fruits, next year red, apricot and pink. The apricot/gold is the one I want. Outstanding. So I was lucky. I also had what was probably a volunteer jet star - so bad even the squirrels wouldn't take it! If I had the space, I would set aside an area and go for it. Piegirl