Has anyone grown Micro-Tom tomato?

[PunkRotten]

Hi,


I have a few of these seeds about 10 of them. I already planted 3 seeds about 5 days ago and still no sprout. Supposedly it is the world's smallest tomato. I planted the seeds in a 6 inch pot and plan to grow mainly indoors at a window sill.

I am growing it for the novelty and also curious how it tastes. Plus would like to offer up some seeds to others if I can collect some from a plant.

[DeborahL]

I was curious about those too. I'd be interested to know if you get something.
They sure are cute in the catalog.

[PunkRotten]

I put it outside right now. I was thinking the temp might not be right for germination. I hope to see something in the next few days.

[soil]

we grow them, they are cool, vigorous and delicious. BUT!!!

they are a pain in the butt to pick. youll spend an hour picking them, and only have like a cup or two to show for it.

i find they are the best use to get kids who don't like tomatoes, to get to like tomatoes. they are real sweet and kids love them.

they make pretty good sun dried tomatoes too, no need to slice or anything just toss them into your dehydrator. they go real good in salads and sprinkled onto pizzas and pasta dishes.

they also go semi wild. and you only need to plant them once, youll have them for good which is fine with me.

[PunkRotten]

Is it hard to collect seeds? Are there little seeds or a lot of seeds?

[soil]

the seeds are slightly smaller than regular tomato seeds, not hard to collect seeds as each micro tomato has at least 10.

and by micro tomato i mean tiny, like the size of a small pea or smaller.

[Garf]

These seeds take 3 times as long to sprout as common tomatoes. At lease mine did.

[soil]

mine sprout in 3-4 days.

and the volunteers sprout a week or two before the other tomato volunteers here.

[PunkRotten]

It has been about 6 days and still no sprout.

[DeborahL]

Soil, being difficult to pick is why I passed on a teeny tomato I saw in one catalog. It was either Reisentraube, Mexico Midget or a currant tomato.
The pictures were dazzling-loaded with tiny fruits, and tempting, but I wondered how long it'd take to get enough for a handful !

[soil]

i think its worth it, they are real good for what they are. you cant compare them to any other tomato.

[PunkRotten]

Yep. I am growing them just for fun mostly. And I want to collect more seeds to trade or give away.

[soil]

yea i can say that if you bring a bowl of micro tomatoes to a party, everyone will love them, and ask many many questions about them.

[PunkRotten]

I still don't have a sprout. Yesterday I carefully dug around a little where I planted the seeds. I must have planted them too deep like 1/2 inch. I found only one seed that had roots with it. So I moved it up a little closer to the top and left the soil around it very loose. Still today it has not stuck its head out. I hope tomorrow I see it.

[garudamon11]

I've noticed that letting the soil dry up and then watering it makes seeds sprout

[soil]

i only plant my micro tomatoes that i actually plant just barely covered with soil. the ones i grow in the forest garden for myself i just toss out micro toms and where they land i get tomatoes next year. you must be trying too hard, it happens to me all the time then i realize and im just like DUH!

[PunkRotten]

I think I will see it tomorrow. I cleared away some more soil carefully and can see the sprout about to pop up out of the soil. I left it slightly exposed to the air. And I left it in a sunny spot too.

[mcubb]

hey can you guys recommend somewhere I can buy a packet of micro-tom and a packet of red robin online? i really want to grow both of these varieties as soon as possible.

[PunkRotten]

I got mine at tradewindsfruitstore.com

[mcubb]

very cool site. i'll probably grab some from there. any help with the red robbin tomatoes? unfortunately that site doesnt sell them

[gixxerific]

I normally start seeds on a heat mat and it takes 3-4 day's normally.

I was just test sprouting some saved seeds outside and it took a few weeks. It was hot during the day but cooler at night. I thought they were bunk than right before I was going to compost the soil they sprouted. So give them time.

[Hammer_Ga]

I like to start my seed in damp coffee filters, in a baggie on top of the fridge. then I know I have good seed when I see the root forming then I plant it.

[carolyn137]

hey can you guys recommend somewhere I can buy a packet of micro-tom and a packet of red robin online? i really want to grow both of these varieties as soon as possible.

You can buy both at Tomato Growers Supply.

Carolyn

[PunkRotten]

My micro tom is at 2 inches and already producing a few flowers! Amazing!

[gixxerific]

Please post the taste of these. I have heard from several people in the tomato world that simply detest them.

Hopefully this is not the case for you.

[PunkRotten]

I have heard both. Some people say it is horrible, and some say it is good. The thing is though, some of the people who thought it was horrible were thinking these were like cherry tomatoes and comparing it to them.

[carolyn137]

I have heard both. Some people say it is horrible, and some say it is good. The thing is though, some of the people who thought it was horrible were thinking these were like cherry tomatoes and comparing it to them.

Well, they are cherry tomatoes , not currant tomatoes which are another species of tomato, and there's a huge range of tastes amongst the many hundreds of cherry tomatoes that are available.

I haven't grown Micro-Tom, but I have grown Red Robin b/c a friend, Chuck Wyatt, now deceased, used to send me several plants for Xmas each year and I'd grow them on top of a radiator that was in front of a window and they tasted pretty darn good for plants just grown in the winter from natural light here in the tundra.

Carolyn

[soil]

Please post the taste of these. I have heard from several people in the tomato world that simply detest them.

Hopefully this is not the case for you.

i can vouch for the ones i have, they are delicious. real sweet.

[PunkRotten]

Well it appears my plant is about to put out its first tomato. I've been taking pics of the plant periodically. I will take another pic once it has some tomatoes on it. The disappointing thing is I don't think it is going to get any bigger. It is about at 2 inches and has 1 flower cluster with about 5-6 flowers and then another with about 3-4 smaller flowers. And it does not look like it is going to be growing any more stems. I know it is a determinate variety but I was expecting maybe a few more inches.


Anyway I will probably start another plant right after this one, I may even do 2 of them.

[carolyn137]

Well it appears my plant is about to put out its first tomato. I've been taking pics of the plant periodically. I will take another pic once it has some tomatoes on it. The disappointing thing is I don't think it is going to get any bigger. It is about at 2 inches and has 1 flower cluster with about 5-6 flowers and then another with about 3-4 smaller flowers. And it does not look like it is going to be growing any more stems. I know it is a determinate variety but I was expecting maybe a few more inches.


Anyway I will probably start another plant right after this one, I may even do 2 of them.

The Micro part of the name refers to the height of the plant, not the fruits as I said in a post above and the final height should be about 5-9 inches tall. Yes, quite micro.

So you should get a few more inches out of it. It was bred by Dr. Scott at the U of FL who has bred many tomato varieties and a couple of them almost that micro as I recall.

Carolyn

[soil]

well it seems i have been confused. the tomatoes i grow are called "spoon" tomatoes. not micro and are not determinate. they are indeterminate and grow very small tomatoes, and TONS of them. the plants get up to 8 ft tall ( possibly more)

[carolyn137]

well it seems i have been confused. the tomatoes i grow are called "spoon" tomatoes. not micro and are not determinate. they are indeterminate and grow very small tomatoes, and TONS of them. the plants get up to 8 ft tall ( possibly more)

Spoon is a generic name that was given to the red currant tomatoes that were offered by Park Seed many years ago.

They were so named b'c the picture showed them resting in a SPOON. LOL

Not that much different than any of the other red currant varieties, some named, some not. And yes, all the various currant ones are rangy and indeterminate with somewhat lighter foliage than most other varieties and also having very hairy stems.

My favorite of the red currants is one named Sara's Galapagos which is a stable interspecies cross between a currant and something else found on a specific island in the Galapagos, so not a true currant but fruit size and all else are the same as other currants and I find Sara's to be better than other currant varieties I've grown, especially the taste.

When you save seeds just pop them open with your hands and throw them into your fermentation container and add water to cover. the seeds will leach out, as it were, and just let the fermentation proceed normally.

This past Satruday I just finished processing some supposed PINK currants someone sent me from FL and I was interested b'c the only other PINK currant I know of was offered long ago by Tim Peters of Peters Seed and Research, and now he's gone, out of business and the pink currant with him.

The pink ones could just be an epidermis mutation from the red since a yellow epidermis makes a fruit look red while a mutation to a clear epidermis changes the exterior color to pink. But still, I don't know of any pink currants out there right now.

Carolyn, who has those seeds drying now.

I told me FL contact to jsut smush up a few and put put them in a strong zip-lok container and they arrived suitably Smushed.

Carolyn

[soil]

i don't even plant them anymore, they are like a weed lol. i find the flavor to be excellent. i usually make mini sundried tomatoes with them, perfect for pizza, salad, pasta, snacking, anything. no need to slice them just dry whole.

ill have to look into the Galapagos ones.

[carolyn137]

https://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Sara%27s_Galapagos

When looking up almost any tomato variety it's best to go to Tania's site before ever thinking of Googling them.

Tania gives lots of pictures of this one and if you scroll down you'll find the seed sites that list it.

Jeff Casey has it listed now, Tania is out for 2011, it is quite popular, and TGS,( Tomato Growers Supply) has it, and Sandhill Preservation doesn't take orders until after the first of the year. THe last two sites, except for maybe TGS and Jeff's site, list way over 400 tomato varieties and when you have time it might be a good idea to take a look and see what they offer.

Adding to what Tania said at her website, I had asked Amy to bring me back some seeds of S. cheesmanii, the salt tolernt one, and when she got back she sent me whole fruits of what she'd already named Sara's Galapagos and I knew SP it wasn'tcheesmanni, whichis orange. I took the seeds out of those fresh fruits, sowed them with no processing and got wonderful plants. And then contacted Dr. Chatelet at the Rick Center and knowing the island she got them from he was able to tell me that it was a stable interspecies cross.

And when you're finished at the page I linked to above, go to the upper left and click on HOME and when you[re there you can see all the different ways that you can search for varieties, by fruit color, plant habit, fruit shape, country of origin, etc., and you also click on the link to currant tomatoes as well.

When I know the name of a variety I use the alphabetical way of searching which works out very well. That link is also on the home page/

Carolyn

[soil]

those are pretty big, mine are tiny. like 1/4 inch or smaller. clusters of 20-50 tomatoes. dozens and dozens of clusters.

[OROZCONLECHE]

Amazing Just Googled it and they are too cool, I might want to find some at the store and plant them my self

[carolyn137]

Amazing Just Googled it and they are too cool, I might want to find some at the store and plant them my self

I don't think I've ever seen currant tomatoes in a store nor at a Farmer's Market, but being in S Cal, who can tell for sure.

THey aren't called currant tomatoes for nothing, b/c they are wee fruits about the size of currants.

I don't remember if I said anything about isolation of currant plants from others, which can be important and If I diDn't and anyone would like me to do so, I will. I'm just too lazy right now to go back up and look.

Carolyn, hoping tomorrow will see the last of the snow go from that nasty storm we had here over the weekend. So many folks still without power and predictions are for some it won't be until this next weekend until they get power back. I was lucky and just the fringes of the storm hit in upstate NY where I am and we only got maybe 5-7 inches.

[soil]

note to everyone on the currant tomatoes, they are very labor intensive to pick.

[OROZCONLECHE]

Well ama have to look for some soon, and put em inside my house with a light bulb.

[carolyn137]

those are pretty big, mine are tiny. like 1/4 inch or smaller. clusters of 20-50 tomatoes. dozens and dozens of clusters.

I just noticed that you posted clusters of 20-50 tomatoes and that doesn't describe a currant tomato variety which have long spindly trusses with maybe 10-15 or so wee fruits.

What is does describe is what's called a multiflora variety where one blossom stalk can have 100's of blossoms but not all of them set fruit and the usual number of fruit that would set would be in the range that you descibe.

Riesentraube is perhaps the best known multiflora, not a currant variety, indet, RL, with small red cherry size fruits that have a nipple at the blossom end.

Ildi is another multiflora variety as well, and there are others, none of them currant varieties, which are Solanum pimpinellifolium while our regular garden tomato is S. lycopersicon ( and some use esculentum for the species name.

Carolyn