Your imported Tomatoes Should Fruit the same time your wild ones do

I noticed local wild nightshades like american nighshade is flowering and fruiting in my yard now.  Seems like it might be a good idea to schedule my bought tomatoes, which are nightshades, to fruit the same time wild "tomatoes" in my area fruit.

Benton Lewis wrote:I noticed local wild nightshades like american nighshade is flowering and fruiting in my yard now.  Seems like it might be a good idea to schedule my bought tomatoes, which are nightshades, to fruit the same time wild "tomatoes" in my area fruit.

What makes you think this? Tomatoes are not adapted to the same environment as the native nightshade.

Peter Ellis wrote:

Benton Lewis wrote:I noticed local wild nightshades like american nighshade is flowering and fruiting in my yard now.  Seems like it might be a good idea to schedule my bought tomatoes, which are nightshades, to fruit the same time wild "tomatoes" in my area fruit.

What makes you think this? Tomatoes are not adapted to the same environment as the native nightshade.

Just speculating since: my tomatoes got ravished by the bugs and they fruited over a month ago; while the wild nightshades fruiting now don't seem to have problems with bugs.

But as I like joseph lofthouse's posts, its probably because the local nightshades have adapted to my environment over many years while those tomatoes are first generation.  I bet if I keep saving seed, I might can develop marketable strands of tomatoes for local people in my area.  

Anyway, I think if you had an optimized tomato, maybe it would be best planted when the local wild nightshades plant themselves; but that is mere speculation!

hau Benton,  I think you are on the right track by seed saving, building your own land race tomatoes gives you the opportunity to select for the plant behaviors and tastes you find most appealing.

Who knows, you might end up with a tomato that could become an heirloom in the future.

One of our current favorites is Cherokee Purple, but it has issues for us.
I started to cross it with our other favorite (early girl) this year. The first years seeds will show if I want to continue crossing these two next spring.

Redhawk