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Seven year old tomato plant

izzyl75izzyl75 Posts: 4
in Problem solving

I have a tumbler tomato plant who sits quite happily in our kitchen window and has been for nearly seven years, and still produces tomatoes. I was wondering if anyone knows how old they can get?  I have taken cuttings from him (his name is George!) before and they have lasted a couple of years but George keeps going. 

I know that he can't keep going forever but I haven't been able to find out from anywhere how old they can get?  I would be grateful if anyone could shed some light on this for me.

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Posts

  • figratfigrat Posts: 1,619

    If anyone knows it'll be Italophile!

  • sotongeoffsotongeoff Posts: 9,802

    Providing they are kept frost free, fed and watered I would say indefinitely-commercial growers keep plants going all year round and grow them many feet high.

    I have never heard of anyone doing this for 7 years, which proves the point there is always something new in gardening

    Like most people I discard after one season-it is not worth the hassle keeping them-perhaps you could post a photo of George in his dotage?

  • izzyl75izzyl75 Posts: 4

    george has dwindled a bit over the past few years but produces tomatoes at various times in the year, even in the winter, so I would feel bad at getting rid of him.

    I tried to upload a photo but unfortunately computer not playing nice today image.  sorry

     

     

  • ItalophileItalophile Posts: 1,731

    Good grief. Seven years. I've heard of three years. Toms are perennials usually grown as annuals mainly because weather or disease kill them off during or at the end of their first season. Given ideal conditions - as George obviously has - they could go on as long as any perennial plant, though cropping will dwindle as the plant exhausts itself.

  • shaun_lincolnshaun_lincoln Posts: 10

    wow you learn something new every day.Gunna give one of mine ago this year got a big bay window in spare bedroom gunna stick one on there see what happens.Never new they could last longer then a season.

    I would like to see a picture as well like.

  • izzyl75izzyl75 Posts: 4

    i'll keep trying with the photo.  we keep george in a west/south-west facing window and it's great to see when a new tomato is produced. i'm sure they taste better every year although this year not so many produced. 

  • shaun_lincolnshaun_lincoln Posts: 10

    has it always been in the house or did it have a season outside.im not an expert or anything but it might be good for george if he never produced any fruit for a year pincing the flowers of or something.Give the little fella a break.

    That might sound silly like but it works with other plants

  • izzyl75izzyl75 Posts: 4

    i bought him from our local garden centre when he was just a seedling and has since stayed in the same window. we live in a flat so i thought we would have lost him after the first season but then he started producing at all times of the year. 

    thanks for the advice..i noticed he is growing another one at the moment so i'll maybe pince the other flowers and let this be his last for a while

  • jqp73jqp73 Posts: 1
    I have a tomato plant in my kitchen window that is 8 years old... it’s in a large basket pot on the floor with a big plastic lid from a storage bin underneath it for water overflow...I drop it’s own clippings onto the soil for food and give it water like once a week... it keeps producing yearround and I’ll trim it back so it doesn’t get too long...after I trim it back it starts to grow more comes from the main stalk...it takes up my entire two windows in my kitchen...I have chicken wire holding it up and my blinds keep it up in the window... it’s crazy... friends tell me it must be some kind of record have a tomato plant for that long...it’s a vine fruit  
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,739
    they're a tender perennial, so long as they're frost free , there's not reason why they should just carry on.
    Devon.
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