[rowlandwells]

so tomatoes without appearing  to be ignorant can anyone tell me the difference between indeterminate and  determinate varieties

and what's different in growing both indeterminate and determinate varieties ?

[Kleftiwallah]

Good afternoon rowlandwells,
 the easiest way to remember which is which is Intermediate'  the word starts with the letter 'I' which is how an Intermediate tomato plant should look.  The Determinate starts with a 'D'  turn it on its side and it looks like a determinate tomato plant (more shrubby).

Hope this helps?   Cheers,  Tony.  but don't mention semi determinate!

[mumofstig]

Indeterminate/cordon tomatoes are pruned so that you have 1 stem that is pruned so I can be trained up a string/cane, because the stem carries on growing upwards and producing more tomato trusses as it does - they can give a huge yield for the space they are growing in.
Bear in mind if you don't prune the side shoots off you will have an uncontrollable/unsupportable mass of stems  Once you know what you are doing, it is possible with good feeding and watering to have 2 main stems per plant (a double cordon)- but that's for another post   

Determinate tomatoes grow a few stems from low down (like a bush) and produce a flowers/fruit at the top of each stem, and then the stem stops growing. They are like the average small, basket varieties - just a good bit sturdier. These need more canes around them for support to stop them falling over with the weight of tomatoes..
Most determinate varieties produce all their fruit at around the same time, so a much shorter period of harvest compared with the cordons.  This is good if you want to make a big batch of pasta sauce, but not so good if you want to eat salads all summer 

To add to the confusion there are some tomatoes that can't make up their mind called 'semi determinate' and they do their own thing and need an awful lot of support and tying in IMO   

[hasbeans]

In my experience determinates are a higher risk crop, especially if you grow outside.  As they crop all at once and often late in the season you can lose the lot to blight, as happened with my roma toms for 2 out of the last 4 seasons.

[jezza]

Hello indeterminate  tomatoes are vine type  that need side shooting and tying in, i leave it to my mother (seen  to many  tomato plants)  determinate types are Bush type they may need support  jezza

[rowlandwells]

thanks all for those replies now I'm a bit wiser on growing tomatoes  I think

[Christine]

Aw come on Rowland, this is a gardening forum. More than one gardener replying guarantees more than fourteen answers. 

[Subversive_plot]

My determinate Roma tomatoes produced all summer and into fall. They had an initial flush of peak production, but also produced second, third etc. smaller crops later on.

I also treated my indeterminate cherry tomatoes differently. I don't prune, just let th m grow up a tall stake to about 2 meters high, let them flop over after that, they produced just fine.  Different methods for different folks.

[mumofstig]

  Different methods for different folks.

and, of course, a different climate makes a lot of difference   

[Longshanks]

Oh dear, live and learn. I've been growing tomatoes since I was a kid and I've never heard of these terms. Blimey.

[jezza]

Hello I think what's meant by pruning is  side shooting and deleafing and then tying in,  if I'm wrong then all the tomato plants I've worked on  have been done incorrectly   jezza