Why Do Volunteer Tomato Plants Make Cherry Tomatoes?

Cherry Tomato Seeds

• One reason that volunteer tomatoes may produce cherry tomatoes is that they may have sprung from open-pollination cherry tomato seeds. Many varieties of cherry tomato are heirlooms that will produce offspring that are true-to-type. Additionally, cherry tomato plants frequently produce such an abundance of small fruit that it is easy to overlook a few fallen tomatoes. Given the large number of seeds and thin walls of a cherry tomato, it is highly likely that at least some cherry tomatoes left on the ground will sprout into plants the following year.

Hybrid Variations

• Volunteer tomato plants that grow from the seed of hybrid tomato varieties will not necessarily produce tomatoes with the same characteristics as the parent plant, according to the National Gardening Association. Offspring of hybrid cherry tomatoes or full-sized tomatoes may well produce cherry tomato plant volunteers. Since cherry tomatoes are usually incredibly vigorous and hardy, those seeds that survive a harsh winter to sprout as volunteers may well be those exhibiting cherry tomato characteristics. If you want a particular variety of cherry tomato, however, don't count on your volunteers to produce it, the National Gardening Association advises. Buy specific varieties and named cultivars at your local garden center.

Volunteer Vigor

• Volunteer tomato plants, including cherry tomato types, are often more vigorous and produce tastier fruit than intentionally planted varieties, according to Mother Earth News. Volunteers sprout from seeds that survived a winter outdoors, and that found the soil conditions in which to grow ideal, indicating a natural hardiness. Some of the largest, strongest cherry tomato plants originated from volunteers. For example, the giant Selke Biodynamic Cherry Tomato strain, which can grow to 17 feet long and produce hundreds of tomatoes, was developed from a compost pile volunteer found by a gardener in 1988, according to Patricia Smith writing at McKean County Biodynamics.

Tomato Blight

• Although volunteer cherry tomato plants give gardeners free plant stock of naturally vigorous, if somewhat unpredictable, varieties, they may also harbor disease and may not have carried over any particular disease resistance inherent in the parent plants. Volunteers don't have to be removed immediately upon emergence, according to the University of Maryland extension, but monitor your volunteers carefully for signs of disease such as late blight, and remove the promptly if symptoms appear. Don't dispose of tomato vines in the compost pile, as some diseases and fungus like late blight may not be killed off in the composting process.