sallyg said:
Do determinates tend to stay smaller? Celebrity may be the only one I've grown, I think it's called determinate, or maybe semi determinate, and it isn't the rampant grower that others are.
As a general rule determinates are hybrids that have been bred for commercial purposes and that is to be smaller with fruit all the same size ripening at the same rate. Commercial tomato farms like to be able to run mechanical pickers through the fields gathering the harvest all at the same time with no changes made to the equipment. These commercial hybrids also have been bred for thicker skin so dump truck loads will not have squashed tomatoes. The tomato crop is picked while in fairly green form to facilitate picking and shipping with less damage.
Home gardeners growing hybrids get these benefits? but lose out on both length of harvest time and most importantly flavor. Yes, I know there has been an effort to breed flavor back into some hybrids, but the older hybrids are still in the old commercial vein. Me, with around 500 indeterminate open pollinated varieties grown and 10,000 more to go, there is no spot for a commercial, store bought hybrid in my garden.
