Volunteer tomatoes

Last year, my chickens assisted me by poking holes in nearly-ready-to-pick tomatoes and leaving them to fall victim to bugs, or be lost in pieces in the mat of tomato plants (I tried growing them without staking them, which is a whole other thing.)

It turns out that, contrary to what the interwebs and every seed growing company will tell you, tomato seeds CAN over-winter, CAN be dug up and tilled around a hundred times, CAN be stomped on and so on. I found my 4th volunteer tomato seedling this morning at a quick glance in my garden, reaching to the sky along with my peas.

I will not be moving it or removing it, I'll let it grow and see if it makes it to bear fruit. If it does, I will save seed from it and start work on breeding an over-wintering variety and see how that goes. Wouldn't that be awesome, for our cold winter climates out here in the prairies? Preplant your kale, spinach, onions and so on along with your tomatoes.

Regardless this year, I am trying to get my hands on those 'frosted' 3 gallon pails. They are somewhat translucent but not clear (I have never found a clear bucket, I don't think anyway). I will plant a whole tomato in the ground and 'cap it' with one of those pails and let it overwinter. I'm curious to see what happens and if I can grow tomatoes that way without having to fuss with starts I never get right or that the cats destroy.

Is this the kind of pail your after?

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No, more like these. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Ahhh, I see. Sorry can't help you out then.

Does the one you show have a bottom?

We have a few square transparent buckets that cat litter came in.

Good luck with those little volunteers. Tomatoes are tough. In a wind storm a barnboard came off the roof and squished one of mine. I thought it was dead, but a little branch has taken over and is making flowers now.

Sweetened wrote:Does the one you show have a bottom?

Nope. Open top and bottom.

Awh

Sorry Sweet.  I'm not sure what there use even IS be perfectly honest... they were here when we moved in and have been living in the wood shack ever since. lol

I think they're feed funnles that go on the end of like... a feed bag filler?

I have relatives that live near Ottawa. They haven't planted their plum tomatoes for years. There are always some that get overripe and fall and then a new crop comes up next year.

Lee Valley has a set of 10 for like 20 bucks. They ship pretty quickly.

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There are always a million volunteer tomatoes in the compost pile and the greenhouse beds. Tomato seeds winter just fine. Our season is just a little too short for the plant to grow from seed and produce ripe fruit before frost.

Flicker Chick wrote:Sorry Sweet.  I'm not sure what there use even IS be perfectly honest... they were here when we moved in and have been living in the wood shack ever since. lol

I know, I know!

They attach to the end of your grain auger to direct the flow of grain into your bin or building or truck or whatever. There's usually a bunch of them attached together. It's called a Flex Spout.

Like so:
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I tossed some old tomatoes to the chickens to eat and the next year tomato plants sprouted in the chicken pen. They didn't last long.

Our local ice cream shop sells a load of those translucent buckets for 50 cents or $1 a piece. They don't have handles.

I used some to make duck waterers. I cut head holes in the sides using a utility knife. So it is possible to cut the bottoms out. It's just slow and you have to be careful.

If you want, Sweetened, I will see if the ice cream shop has any and I will bundle them up and put them on the Greyhound to you. But no handles and you'd have to cut the bottom out yourself. If you have an ice cream parlour near you, ask about their empty ice cream buckets.

By the by...if anyone wants to volunteer any tomatoes to me, I will accept them!

Most  veggies that you grow in the garden will over winter the seed if the mice etc don't eat them .It's a natural dormancy for them and the plant will be stronger due to becomeing climatized to what ever enviroment you have there .Leave a cuke that has ripened a bit under the ground and it will sprout in the spring , just like tomatoes , melons etc , They decide when the ground is warm enough and most likly you'll have veggies a bit sooner the next year ? I normally leave the smaller veggies in the garden in the fall and just till them in and ever year ...............plants all over the place !

Schipperkesue wrote:By the by...if anyone wants to volunteer any tomatoes to me, I will accept them!

I don't know where you are, Sue, but I picked up some free ones from a lady nearby and they are all flowering. I'd give you some.

SucellusFarms wrote:

Schipperkesue wrote:By the by...if anyone wants to volunteer any tomatoes to me, I will accept them!

I don't know where you are, Sue, but I picked up some free ones from a lady nearby and they are all flowering. I'd give you some.

  Alberta. Our tomatoes are little green things yet. Thanks for thinking of me. I am a sad displaced west coaster in the growing season.

Oh boy, hope I am not going to burst your bubble, if I have understood your bubble correctly. You want to grow a tomato plant (or several) in the ground outside and cover it with an apparatus. This will not work. Unless someone else knows something that I do not. Tomato plants will freeze solid and die. Period. They will not live after they have died.

What you are seeing is the tomato seeds that have fallen to the ground, been moved all over blazes half acre, trompled on, moved, everything, seedlings too that have been moved and trompled, etc. 100% true about the SEED overwintering. And many, many plants do even better when the seed is allowed to overwinter outside. This is a natural occurrence for seeds, freezing and then growing. Many plant actually do better when they are frozen for example, 48 hours, to break seed dormancy, snapdragons come to mind, along with many others.

The plants will not overwinter, unless you can prevent the plant from having cold temperatures on it. It is a waste of your time to think that you could. And, don't you get like lots of snow? Yes, snow will buffer, it will keep things more warm than out in open frozen air, but it won't work Sweetened. I really hope I am not coming across as negative, but it just won't.

I have volunteers coming up everywhere too. I take them out. They are in places in my garden that they cannot be. I have a massive tomato patch and tomatoes planted in other places too. I just don't need anymore. I need the veggies that the volunteer tomatoes are trying to grow in to grow, these plants would inhibit that. Last year I let some of the volunteers grow up. They produced fruit for surely. But I like to know what tomatoes I am growing, and the volunteers could be anything. Boy, this sure did sound like a negative post, didn't mean for it to come across this way, but I just don't want you to waste your time. Have a wonderful and great day, CynthiaM.

authenticfarm wrote:

Flicker Chick wrote:Sorry Sweet.  I'm not sure what there use even IS be perfectly honest... they were here when we moved in and have been living in the wood shack ever since. lol

I know, I know!

They attach to the end of your grain auger to direct the flow of grain into your bin or building or truck or whatever. There's usually a bunch of them attached together. It's called a Flex Spout.

Like so:
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AHA! Thank you authentic. I feel like a dunce for not realizing what they were sooner...I only grew up on a grain farm, heh.  

I'll quit derailing your thread now Sweetened....