how can one visually tell a deter vs indeter plant?

zeroma · June 14, 2016

A few years ago maybe there was a discussion or at least a few posts about what to look for to tell the differences between the two types of growth habit.

I know one is a vining plant and continues to grow blah blah blah, but what happens when the labels have been removed and the plants were mixed up?

As I recall it has to do with the arrangement of the stems/branches and where or how the flowers grow.

Can some one who really knows how to explain it to me so I can look at the plants, now a good 18inches tall can be identified as to growth habit.

We don't want to prune the determinates but don't know which ones they are.

a photo showing the differences would be great.

zeroma

joseph · June 14, 2016

The stem on a determinate plant ends with a flower... (It's typical for a stem to have two clusters of fruit on it separated by one leaf.)

The stem on an indeterminate plant sends out leaves at the end of the stem... (Stems keep adding clusters of fruit alternating with leaves for the duration of flowering.)

nicollas · June 14, 2016

Any chance to spot a difference at seedling stage ?

zipcode · June 14, 2016

Determinates have two leaves between flower clusters (sometimes 1), indet have 3 (sometimes 5, depends on how well it's doing I guess).
So if you see at least 2 consecutive flower buds you can probably determine. Before that, I really don't know if you can.

zeroma · June 14, 2016

Thanks joseph and zipcode. will copy and send to our community group so we know what we have!!!

zeroma

June 14, 2016	#1
zeroma Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: SW Ohio Posts: 637	how can one visually tell a deter vs indeter plant? A few years ago maybe there was a discussion or at least a few posts about what to look for to tell the differences between the two types of growth habit. I know one is a vining plant and continues to grow blah blah blah, but what happens when the labels have been removed and the plants were mixed up? As I recall it has to do with the arrangement of the stems/branches and where or how the flowers grow. Can some one who really knows how to explain it to me so I can look at the plants, now a good 18inches tall can be identified as to growth habit. We don't want to prune the determinates but don't know which ones they are. a photo showing the differences would be great. zeroma

June 14, 2016	#2
joseph Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: Cache Valley, N/E of The Great Salt Lake Posts: 1,244	The stem on a determinate plant ends with a flower... (It's typical for a stem to have two clusters of fruit on it separated by one leaf.) The stem on an indeterminate plant sends out leaves at the end of the stem... (Stems keep adding clusters of fruit alternating with leaves for the duration of flowering.) Last edited by joseph; June 14, 2016 at 01:18 AM.

June 14, 2016	#3
nicollas Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: France Posts: 142	Any chance to spot a difference at seedling stage ?

June 14, 2016	#4
zipcode Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Romania/Germany , z 4-6 Posts: 1,582	Determinates have two leaves between flower clusters (sometimes 1), indet have 3 (sometimes 5, depends on how well it's doing I guess). So if you see at least 2 consecutive flower buds you can probably determine. Before that, I really don't know if you can.