Tell me about Determinates

[shelleybean]

I should mention, however, that I no longer grow determinates now that my garden is smaller. If I have to choose between determinate or indeterminate, I prefer indeterminate because most of the tomatoes I grow are for fresh eating. I like my harvest all spread out over the season and there's a lot more variety from which to choose with indeterminates, and I think overall the flavor of indeterminates is better, though I'm not sure why.

[montanamato]

Sand Hill offers many semi determinates with very good flavor...Early Rouge is a little sweet and a really great tomato...I would dare say it would knock the socks off of Celebrity in most peoples garden...It was a very healthy plant in my insect troubled garden last year...Others which are good are Hanky Red, Cabot, Redskin, Olomovic and Russian Red...Break O' Day is a good bet as is Red Beauty.

Jeanne

[Bryan24]

I never really realized that Bryan was shooting his own foot.... Everything we grow is indeterminate, and he thinks I should have been able to can, make sauce, etc. And all I seem to be able to do is slice and eat. And all this time I thought it was just my incredible appetite for tomatoes!!

So then, with that in mind, any ideas for OP determinates?

laurel-tx-who's only had half a cup of coffee and had to edit to spell her own name correctly*sigh*

[shelleybean]

If I were going to do a big sauce or canning project and I wanted a true determinate variety, I think I'd start with Martino's Roma, which is OP. I think everything I've heard or read about this variety has been good. It's pictured in Carolyn's book and you can read more about it at www.mariseeds.com if you're interested.

[Ruby]

Originally Posted by montanamato

Sand Hill offers many semi determinates with very good flavor...Early Rouge is a little sweet and a really great tomato...I would dare say it would knock the socks off of Celebrity in most peoples garden...It was a very healthy plant in my insect troubled garden last year...Others which are good are Hanky Red, Cabot, Redskin, Olomovic and Russian Red...Break O' Day is a good bet as is Red Beauty.

How big do the semi-determinates get? Isn't Break O' Day indeterminate?

I was sort of "whatever" about determinates, but now I'm thinking this might be a good idea for canning/freezing. Thank you!

[montanamato]

I have seen Break O' Day listed as both semi and ind...It never has done well for me...Of the others, they stay around 3 or 3 1/2 ft in my garden....My garden gets a lot of wind from 3 directions, and most everything I grow is smaller than others report...

Jeanne

[dice]

Ruby:

If you scroll down to "Tomato Talk" in the document
at the URL below, it has a good description of
"semi-determinate":

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniont...hs11tomat.html

There is some major difference with regard to
terminal clusters of flowers at the ends of
branches between determinates and indeterminates,
which have a growing tip there instead. I'll be
interested myself to see whether cultivars listed
as semi-determinate have this characteristic.

[tomatoguy]

There is a determinate which I grow every year. It is called Clear Pink Early. It generally produces a first fruit set of 30-40 fruit slightly larger than a ping pong ball. They are thinskinned and very tasty. The Days to Maturity figure assigned to them is 58 days. My results have varied between 40 and 80 days. I don't put much stock in DTM figures. I can think of two years when Brandywine Sudduth's produced my first ripe one and they aren't supposed to be early at all.

Although some sources will tell you otherwise, you can have more than one fruit set from a determinate plant, depending on your growing season and weather in a particular year. CPE usually produces three diminishing fruit sets here.

mater