By gisette
The Compact Indeterminate Tomato
Submitted on Mon, 2009/07/27 - 10:44pm
Last updated on Sun, 2009/12/06 - 7:03pm
I've decided on a new experiment for my Deluxe. I don't care (much) about the one carmen pepper still in there - if it goes into production, I'll have five fruiting pepper plants, three of them carmens. I would rather have a tomato supply in fall. And the latest Aerogarden catalog mentioned yet again, the possibility of bringing clones of your favorite tomato plants indoors. They suggested such a clone might bear fruit in 10 weeks. Which is better than the usual 16+ weeks.
None of my tomato plants are suitable.
But the ones I gave my parents for Mother's Day and Father's Day, as it happens, are compact indeterminate tomatoes: Husky Cherry Red, and Jet Star mid-size low acid. These plants are doing remarkably well. The cherry is around 20 inches tall and loaded with 1" cherries. Mom is happy and I'm happy for her. I still don't like cherry tomatoes.
Dad's Jet Star, on the other hand, looks pitiful. The poor thing will not get up off the ground. I was over there to investigate "tomatoes have holes in them" - slugs. The plant was about 1' diameter and maybe 8" tall when I bought it, and when I visited today, it looked even smaller. I traded a few Early Girls for a couple slug-drilled Jet Stars - my stepmother felt she got the better end of this deal. The low acid fruits were delicious, deep red, mid size, meaty. This sad little ball of tomato plant is loaded with them!
I wanted to take a cutting, but almost walked away without, because it seemed cruel to take the one growth tip I could unravel out of the vineball. But Dad insisted I take the whole branch.
So I've got three hopeful clones set in a Park Starts block.
Wish me luck. 
Oh, and if this works, I'll offer to clone Mom's Husky Red Cherry to grow in her AG Classic for the fall. With a baggie of FloraMato to feed it. (Part of my interest in the FloraMato - much easier to supply to Mom than 3-part liquid nutes.)
I rummaged around the net last night to see what other 'compact indeterminate tomato' plants there might be. Some other interesting possibilities I found were Stupice, Heartland, and Husky Red. But - better if I can clone the astonishing dwarf individual at hand.
2009-09-16: Planted jet star tomato seeds - one pod, using pro100 for incubator. One of the clones is growing, but not very fast, suspect it has fungal disease.
2009-10-07: Pruned off 5th branch, aged 3 weeks.
2009-10-11: Moved to Deluxe, aged 3.5 weeks.
2009-10-25: Developing buds, aged 5.5 weeks.
Last-ditch final week efforts to salvage this plant (get tomatoes):
11-28: replaced tank with fresh 3-part Flora series in rainwater.
12-02: Hacked plant way back - not the growing tips, but extraneous leaves and going-nowhere branches, so I could push the growing tips down out of the lights, and there was more light getting through.
12-05: Replaced the original year-old Deluxe bulbs. Removed the bottom light. Sprayed tomato blossom set hormone all over.
Tue, 2009/07/28 - 12:34pm
#2
You shouldn't have any problem. Many times I've just snipped off a piece of a good plant, stuck it in water, and just waited for the roots to form. Always worked, and never takes very long at all. (including toms)
Enjoy!
Sat, 2009/08/01 - 10:13pm
#3
One of the cuttings already failed - that's OK, I didn't expect that one to work. A couple of my pineapple sage cuttings have also failed. Once one/both of these root, may plug it in that spot in my herb garden to grow for a few weeks.
Sun, 2009/08/02 - 10:29am
#4
I strongly suggest that you put your cuttings directly in water only. Most cuttings will work that way. OR --- if you want to use perlite, vermeculite, or whatever, then you should use a rooting hormone too. http://www.homeharvest.com/cutstrtrootagents.htm
I've never had a problem in just water tho.
Sun, 2009/08/02 - 10:47am
#5
Huh, interesting, Judith. I've had fairly good luck with the Park Starts blocks, and did use rooting hormone, too. That one little cutting was dubious, anyway. The idea is that the sponges will go into an AG basket once they take...
Hm. May change my mind. 
For one of them, anyway.
Sun, 2009/08/02 - 11:13am
#6
Eh, you've convinced me, I'll try the tomato cuttings in just-water.
The pineapple sage cuttings didn't do too well in just-water. The stems curled up out of the water over and over again, til I gave up. But that doesn't imply anything at all about tomatoes...
Sat, 2009/08/08 - 1:57pm
#7
Hm. Even if starting in just-water may have been a better idea in general, switching to just-water probably wasn't. To root these in just-water, I would have used a much bigger cutting. Lost one more sprig, and not looking good for the remaining one, either.
Sat, 2009/08/15 - 1:13pm
#8
The tomato cutting is rooted and installed in my pro100 with an herb garden. Not sure this plantlet has a growth tip, but, we'll see.
Sat, 2009/08/15 - 3:15pm
#9
That tomato is doing well. Just give it time.
Sorry you lost one. Changing things in mid-stream doesn't seem to be a good thing.
Enjoy!
Sat, 2009/08/15 - 6:58pm
#10
I hope so! I have high hopes this will prove a good Deluxe-growing midsize tomato.
Judith - there is an "Add new comment" link at the bottom (Add child page Printer-friendly version Add new comment). But this comment will have an easier button to find...