alston everlasting a little longer

rxkeith · December 3, 2014

my tomato season this year was a bust.
the last tomato standing was alston everlasting, a red cherry tomato i obtained in trade from a texas grower. seeds for this one are gone, so i babied this plant in a 5 gallon bucket as long as i could. during frosts i would put the plant in our old sauna building.
a couple days before a frost turned everything to mush, the green tomatoes on the plant disappeared. i suspect mice. i took a couple cuttings, rooted them and planted them in 1 gallon buckets. they are on a window sill, putting on new growth. one has a marble sized tomato on it thats slowly growing. yaaaah.
now, i have 6 months of winter weather to try to keep these plants alive. i expect to be doing a lot of pinching back new growth to keep the plants manageable. at some point they will get pot bound, and i'll have to either repot or take new cuttings. or i can just quit after getting a ripe tomato. i am not considering using grow lights for this project.
any helpful tips will be appreciated. i have a lot of tomato growing experience, just not this kind.

keith

KarenO · December 3, 2014

if it is open pollinated and all you want is seed, all you need is one fruit. It can be done, I grew out two full size beefsteak F1 tomatoes in my kitchen last winter in hopes of saving some F2 seed and it worked. cherries should be easier although they can get pretty rangy, they generally ripen faster than beefsteaks once fruit is set.
Good luck, I doubt you can keep them alive and unbuggy til spring but I think you should be able to get seed from that fruit already set.
KarenO

Cole_Robbie · December 3, 2014

Do you mean no expensive grow lights? A spiral fluorescent screwed into a desk lamp would be a lot better than nothing. Or make your own fixture from a cheap porcelain socket wired to an extension cord.

trainwreckz5 · December 22, 2014

I have been starting a few plants in the winter just in a window and they seem to do alright. The window I am using faces southeast. Last year I started an Early Girl from seed in February and potted up to a 5 gallon bucket and started moving it outside during the day in early May. I transplanted it into the garden the first week of June because I was leaving on a trip and had no one to water it. I picked the first ripe tomato on June 17th. It put out tomatoes till the rest of the plants came on line. You might get some early tomatoes out of the deal. Good luck with your project!

rxkeith · December 22, 2014

the little tomato that was growing, ripened prematurely. it was only marble sized, and had no seeds. i put a small fluorescent light tube about 30 inches long in the window standing up on one end. it seems to help some. the plants are over a foot tall. i pinched back growing tips once some flower buds formed. we'll see what happens.

keith

**mdvpc** · December 22, 2014

rx

I don't know if I have any seed for Altsons-I like it. If I do, I will pm you and send you some. I don't know how old it will be.

PhilaGardener · December 23, 2014

Good luck - watch for stray insect pests, they can get quickly out of control!

rxkeith · May 7, 2015

alston everlasting has made it through the winter.

my two original cuttings are still alive, and throwing off new shoots. they are looking rather skeletal. what i have been doing is taking cuttings from them, rooting them, and potting them up. i have several plants of various sizes. two second generation cuttings now have small tomatoes on them. so, my earliest tomato for 2015 may be coming off a 2014 plant.
i may have to do this again.

keith

barefootgardener · May 7, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by rxkeith

alston everlasting has made it through the winter.

my two original cuttings are still alive, and throwing off new shoots. they are looking rather skeletal. what i have been doing is taking cuttings from them, rooting them, and potting them up. i have several plants of various sizes. two second generation cuttings now have small tomatoes on them. so, my earliest tomato for 2015 may be coming off a 2014 plant.
i may have to do this again.

keith

Hooray! Great news Keith! I hope you have a much better growing season this year compared to last. Keep us posted..

Ginny

December 3, 2014	#1
rxkeith Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Back in da U.P. Posts: 1,848	alston everlasting a little longer my tomato season this year was a bust. the last tomato standing was alston everlasting, a red cherry tomato i obtained in trade from a texas grower. seeds for this one are gone, so i babied this plant in a 5 gallon bucket as long as i could. during frosts i would put the plant in our old sauna building. a couple days before a frost turned everything to mush, the green tomatoes on the plant disappeared. i suspect mice. i took a couple cuttings, rooted them and planted them in 1 gallon buckets. they are on a window sill, putting on new growth. one has a marble sized tomato on it thats slowly growing. yaaaah. now, i have 6 months of winter weather to try to keep these plants alive. i expect to be doing a lot of pinching back new growth to keep the plants manageable. at some point they will get pot bound, and i'll have to either repot or take new cuttings. or i can just quit after getting a ripe tomato. i am not considering using grow lights for this project. any helpful tips will be appreciated. i have a lot of tomato growing experience, just not this kind. keith

December 22, 2014	#6
mdvpc Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: San Antonio, Texas Posts: 4,386	rx I don't know if I have any seed for Altsons-I like it. If I do, I will pm you and send you some. I don't know how old it will be. __________________ Michael

May 7, 2015	#8
rxkeith Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Back in da U.P. Posts: 1,848	alston everlasting has made it through the winter. my two original cuttings are still alive, and throwing off new shoots. they are looking rather skeletal. what i have been doing is taking cuttings from them, rooting them, and potting them up. i have several plants of various sizes. two second generation cuttings now have small tomatoes on them. so, my earliest tomato for 2015 may be coming off a 2014 plant. i may have to do this again. keith Last edited by rxkeith; May 7, 2015 at 11:09 PM.

December 3, 2014	#2
KarenO Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Vancouver Island Posts: 5,931	if it is open pollinated and all you want is seed, all you need is one fruit. It can be done, I grew out two full size beefsteak F1 tomatoes in my kitchen last winter in hopes of saving some F2 seed and it worked. cherries should be easier although they can get pretty rangy, they generally ripen faster than beefsteaks once fruit is set. Good luck, I doubt you can keep them alive and unbuggy til spring but I think you should be able to get seed from that fruit already set. KarenO

December 3, 2014	#3
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Do you mean no expensive grow lights? A spiral fluorescent screwed into a desk lamp would be a lot better than nothing. Or make your own fixture from a cheap porcelain socket wired to an extension cord.

December 22, 2014	#4
trainwreckz5 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: UP Michigan Posts: 17	I have been starting a few plants in the winter just in a window and they seem to do alright. The window I am using faces southeast. Last year I started an Early Girl from seed in February and potted up to a 5 gallon bucket and started moving it outside during the day in early May. I transplanted it into the garden the first week of June because I was leaving on a trip and had no one to water it. I picked the first ripe tomato on June 17th. It put out tomatoes till the rest of the plants came on line. You might get some early tomatoes out of the deal. Good luck with your project!

December 23, 2014	#7
PhilaGardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Near Philadelphia, PA Posts: 1,940	Good luck - watch for stray insect pests, they can get quickly out of control!