http://www.gardenweb.com/gardenweb/query/overwinter-plants/topic=tomatoHere is a link to several of the previous discussions of this question and the pros and cons of trying to do it.

Dave

Hummm... I read most of those links you gave me and still did not find an solid answer to my question. I guess what I am looking for is first hand experience and not theory or opinion. It seems that few people have tried to get fruit from the same tomato plant year after year. I guess I will just have to find out for myself.

I'm sorry but included in some of those links was the point made several times that the fruit produced by the over-wintered plant cannot match either the production levels or the flavor and overall quality of a fresh plant. While it may be earlier than production from a new plant it isn't necessarily of the same quality. Of course there are many other variables including the type of plant and the variety that can affect the results so of course feel free to experiment if you wish to see what happens with yours.

Can you do it? Of course. Should you spend the time doing it? The consensus is only if fresh plants are not available for some reason. Is there a correlation between root mass and fruit production? Not directly. The stronger correlation is between the quality of new growth on the plant and fruit production and since the new growth on an over-wintered plant usually has only a secondary circulatory system and tends to be wispier then the fruit is the same, smaller and often less flavorful.

Dave

Okay. Thanks Dave. I did not see that info in the thread I read. I appreciate you taking the time to write it for me. The plants that I am talking about, were planted in September, and never actually reached maturity before cold weather hit. They did produce a few fruits throughout the winter, but did not grow all that much. we had one hard freeze that burned off the tops and I had to prune them back about 80%. What do you think? Replant?

I'm over wintering a couple of plants but instead of letting them reach maturity, I pinched off the top of the plant and then re-potted the pinched off part as a clone. My experiment is working out pretty well so far since I haven't had either of my two varieties die off but I will have to wait and see if either plant will grow and bare fruit once I plant them in my garden around mid April. I started doing this in November and so have pinched and potted the growing tip many times, probably more then 5 generations. I usually grow all my tomatoes from saved seeds but last year I purchased a hybrid tomato that I really liked. I wanted to grow it again this season but instead of buying seeds or having to depend on finding a plant at the nursery, I decide to see if this would work. I've never overwintered a mature tomato plant but I would try it if I had a green house just as experiment.

That is kind of where I am at. I actually have several varieties, Arkansas Traveler, Great White, Pink Ponderosa, Yellow Pear, Juliet, Sun Gold and San Marzano.

jungleexplorer, I hope you will come back and post your findings if you decide to let them grow. Juliet is one of mine as well.... It is the hybrid I really like...

With all those plants available I'd root cuttings from them and start fresh.

Dave

rhoder551, I see you're in the same zone I am, wondering where you are located? I literally have tomatoes growing (and producing) year-round in my garden without a greenhouse, wondering if you couldn't also?

jungleexplorer, I have no reduction of fruit production on over-wintered tomatoes, until they start getting blasted by the inevitable summer insect pressure I have here. They do seem to get hit harder and faster than the plants I start in the spring. If they go into my planting season healthy and I don't need the spot of soil they're sitting on for something else, I leave them in the ground and get tomatoes the whole time the starts are just putting on their growth and not fruiting. If they continue to be healthy when the younger ones start fruiting, they get to stay. If they start falling prey to mites/early blight, they go.

Survival of the fittest (and tastiest) in my garden. I do agree with Dave that I would root some cuttings to plant along with your overwintered plants, just in case, but I normally don't pull the old ones until it's necessary or they're not doing their job.

I'd take several cuttings off Sungold!!!!

Linda

Humsi Thanks for that info. Makes great sense. I will update this thread with the results, so that others can benefit.

I would advise to have some healthy fresh new plants to replace old ones with. I do not over winter though I plant fresh plants before the end of summer for fall tomatoes. The fresh plants out produce the others by a huge margin here.

Well, I promised an update and here it is. Of the three tomato plants I planted in April of 2015, two are doing great and one is not. The Solar flare is loaded and the Beefsteak has more tomatoes on it then at any point last year. Of the plants that were planted in the fall, all are doing good, the Sun Gold best of all.

Here are some pictures.

First the Sun Gold. This is a dangerously delicious tomato!

A lot more sun golds to come.

My SolarFlare from last spring is loaded!

My Beefsteak has quit a few (maybe 30) fruits on it as well.

So, I think the question of whether you can overwinter tomato plants has been answered. The answer is YES you can.

I'm pretty sure those aren't tomato plants, they look like tomato hedges to me :) Very nice!

I think the question was answered aeons ago if you bothered to look it up. Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are all solonaceae and are perennials. Period. I'm eating Ping Tung eggplant right now from a vigorous left-over from last year. But congratulations on your success. The success was mostly in protecting from frost, but that's correct. This winter in Texas was very mild.

Very nice!! Glad to see you're having some success with your setup. Enjoy your beautiful tomatoes

Well, it would be a lot easier to enjoy them if a bad storm last week that included 125 mph winds and golf ball size hail did not cause significant damage to my GH. It will take a lot of work to repair it before winter.

Ouch, sorry to see/hear that.