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1. 

   The Dude
   

   Master
   Joined: Jul '10
   Posts: 392

   I did not want to taint the ketchup and gardening threads with my usual "What if" contemplation.

   Here it goes. A few years ago, when I still owned a house, I planted 8+ store bought tomatoes from family and friends. They came up beautifully. No problems except that I had 50+ too many tomatoes (probably partially due to "those who have too much don't value it as much" philosophy).

   Using my knowledge from elementary classes and seeding my own lawn I knew that you don't have to bury seeds too deep to get many to sprout. So I put 5-8 of my excess tomatoes half in the ground "to replant" to see if any would sprout as new plants the next year. To my surprise, most of the tomatoes I put in the ground came up as full size tomato plants! However, most had deformities and strange white patches on them?

   I heard it is not good to replant in the same area two years in a row, but does anyone know why I would only get 2-3 good tomatoes out of 5-8 plants? I don't want to go off the deep end blaming genetically modifed seeds, so I would appreciate any feedback to my gardening ignorance. I would also like to know what other people have seen trying this without buying NEW plants.

   Posted 2 years ago #
2. 

   HSpencer
   

   Master
   Joined: Jul '10
   Posts: 770

   We have a cold frame and raise plants from seedlings over the Mar -May time frame. We always have good harvest from year to year.
   This year we had Tomato Bottom Rot. This is from a lack of calcium in the soil. You fix that by adding hydrated lime to the soil. This cures the bottom rot. You can save seeds from year to year, and plant them in good flat pans and raise them in the cold frame, ready to transplant to your garden.
   Freeze excess tomatoes and use them in soups. Also make your own tomato paste, and freeze it for winter time use.

   Posted 2 years ago #
3. 

   Catherine
   

   Novice
   Joined: Jul '10
   Posts: 22

   Not sure what your timeframe exactly was, but wasn't there a pretty widespread occurrence of tomato blight last year? I lost all mine to the local Hungry Rabbit Blight, so I didn't get to see the more prevalent blight first hand.

   In general, it is also a good idea to rotate plants around from year to year. It's particularly recommended for tomatoes, although I suspect that's as much because they're what every new gardener plants (and thus potentially makes mistakes with) as that they are particularly "bad" to have in the same place over and over.

   I have not kept tomato plants going for more than one growing season, but I have routinely had seeds from my compost sprout and some of them I have nurtured into productive plants. The yields seem comparable to plants grown from purchased seeds. It is kind of interesting working with the plants that sprout from the compost because you never know what kind of tomato you are getting. This year I seem to have roma, cherry, and some kind of heirloom.

   Posted 2 years ago #
4. 

   George the original one
   

   Expert
   Joined: Jul '10
   Posts: 1,938

   @Matthew - if the tomatoes were hybrids, then it's likely they didn't breed true.

   If white scaly bumps appeared, that's an insect and you don't want to bring the plants indoors or else you'll spend a long time trying to rid your other plants of the pests.

   I've found Sweet 100 tomatoes will naturalize quite readily in western Oregon.

   Posted 2 years ago #
5. 

   The Dude
   

   Master
   Joined: Jul '10
   Posts: 392

   Sounds like my ignorance is the problem. In general, I don't think planting is supposed to work very well if you don't follow the seasons. I had let the tomatoes sit all year until the next summer!

   Posted 2 years ago #
6. 

   The Dude
   

   Master
   Joined: Jul '10
   Posts: 392

   Now I'm wondering. Why are edible plants so hard to grow when we can guarantee that weeds will come up without any effort?

   Posted 2 years ago #
7. 

   George the original one
   

   Expert
   Joined: Jul '10
   Posts: 1,938

   @The Dude -

   Veggies are harder to grow than weeds because they've had centuries of breeding for productivity rather than hardiness. Also, many of the common vegetables have been removed from their natural climate (e.g. tomatoes, cucumbers, melons grown north of 35 deg latitude in the northern hemisphere). There are a few of our edibles that aren't far removed from weeds and are consequently easier to grow: garlic, potatoes, and arugula come to mind as easy to grow in my climate.

   Posted 2 years ago #
8. 

   bigato
   

   Master
   Joined: Mar '11
   Posts: 915

   Dude Master, as you are wondering that, I think you will like to read the "One Straw Revolution", from Masanobu Fukuoka (if you haven't done it already).

   Posted 2 years ago #
9. 

   Bakari
   

   Apprentice
   Joined: Nov '10
   Posts: 97

   Ah, I misunderstood the question, and got excited that someone else had experienced what I did last season...

   I planted tomatoes for the first time 2 years ago.
   The tomatoes were absolutely amazing, as big as supermarket varieties, but as flavorful as heirlooms, and thicker/denser than any I've ever seen (almost all flesh, no water).

   As winter came, the fruit kept growing (albeit fewer and smaller) and I never got around to pulling up the plants.

   Then, when spring returned, new tomatoes started growing in!

   Everything I was told/read said that tomatoes are annuals, and you have to replant them every year. So I was pretty excited about that.
   My (gardening) girlfriend insisted we should pull them up and re-plant to increase yield, but I thought it was so cool to discover that it was even possible to get 2 yields from one plant that the sacrifice of lower yield was more than worth it.

   I'm planning to see if I can get a 3rd one out of it too.

   Posted 2 years ago #

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