Volunteer Tomatoes

[tlcmd]

What is the general feeling about volunteer tomato plants?
This year I've at least half a dozen appear. I hate to destroy a healthy looking plant. I've usually planted hybrids for their multiple resistance status to TMV, TSWV, F1, F2, N , so I'm very curious to see what I get. Since plant my tomatoes and train them in cages about 3 ft apart, could I inadvertantly end up with TSVW and TMV resistant volunteer plants?

[Hilde]

My feeling about volunteers is the same as yours: I hate to destroy a healthy plant and I am curious to see what comes up where I grew small fruited hybrids last year. That's why there are four small tomato plants growing among my pepper plants this year. All I want to see is what kind of fruit comes up and how it tastes like. If it is any good, then I might have a future project. :-)

As for the genetics, I don't know, but if the F1 was disease resistant, then I can't see why some of the F2's wouldn't be disease resistant also.

Hilde

[piegirl]

Two different volunteers are growing this year - seeds from last year's - a fab tomato, quite tough growing in the compost w/ only rainfall, two different hits of herbicide - so I saved seed and am growing out several and farmed out several to friends. Another vol came up in the compost this year - I am sure it is the same from last year - really healthy - always fun to see what happens. Several years ago I had one that was SOOOO BAD even the squirrels spit it out - that's bad! I never compost any tomatoes, seeds, skins, etc so I am not where these (the compost baby I call it) came from - she is a red orange w/ neon yellow interior - at least that was last year. I was waiting for it to turn red when I realized - duh, it is ready! Piegirl

[DavidinCT]

Here's a volunteer who decided to share a 15 gallon grow bag with an eggplant:

[Mojo]

Once you plant Matt's Wild Cherry, 95% of all future volunteers in that bed will be ...Matt's Wild Cherry. They keep coming and coming and coming and coming and coming....