There's a very good FAQ, link at the top of this page that discusses how to prevent cross pollination of OP varieties..

Carolyn

If it was crossed with the variety Beefsteak, you'd get a red beefsteak, probably slightly larger than PW. It would be indeterminate. The locules might be smaller than PW. The flavor might be better than PW. I don't remember enough about PW (didn't think much of it the one time I grew it) and I don't know enough about genetics to say more.

If PW was crossed with a different beefsteak type, what you'd get would depend on the traits of the other beefsteak type.

As soon as the cloned OP'sor F1's get too big they have to be recloned and then done possibly a third time in order to have plants ready for transplanitng outside.And that takes up more room than many wish to allocate.

As to the cost of seeds for either F1 hybrids or OP's I think there's a big range depending on what the specific sources are and which specific hybridsor OP's are under consideration and that relates to specific seed vendors..

And then look atallof us here with our computers, our software we add, and total up the cost of all that and it does seem to me to be quite a bit of money depending on individual sets ups, and thinking of that it also seems to me that the cost of seeds is not something to worryabout.

In addition, usually the packs have 25 to 30 seeds and for home gardeners that should be enough for several seasons if they regrow the same varieties.

Most don't, I also know that. LOL

As to cloning, the only thing I'd like to add is that it's best to trim back the sucker, as you said, but then put it into artificial mix, not water as so many do. The reason for that is that cuttings rooted in water have to then adapt to a solid matrix, so why not do it from the beginning,

Carolyn, who cloned plants only when there had been critter damage in her tomato field or the man who worked for the man who used to use the land at our farm would cultivate and hook out some plants. And if I arrived there when the hooked out plants were still alive, you know, hearts beating, LOL, and they were hard to get varieties, then I'd clone them, stick the suckers right next to the damaged plants, build a wee moat around the cutting and keep it full of water until I saw new growth.

And as Carolyn said, water rooting gains you nothing.

Parks Whopper - ASFAIK Parks has never revealed the multiple parentage of Whopper so saved seed from it will revert back to one of its parent stock. To this day they continue to "improve" it with additional disease resistance so the current version could have several different contributing varieties.

If you want to grow Park's Whopper then you have to buy Park's Whopper seeds or root cuttings from the plants.

Dave

As far as plant height, I have an indoor container indeterminate (Juliet) that I am getting ready to prune the top off of. I have read that you can halt the growth.

Again, almost all of my methods have been obtained here at Gardenweb.

Please let us know how that works. Normally an indeterminate will just sprout 2 new secondary branches from the node below your cut and keep right on growing.

But it is a frequent question here so it would be helpful to know if topping your plant has other than the normal response.

Dave

One person I know of did a growout of about 30 plants from one hybrid, grew them in 1 gallon pots, one per pot, and by the time they produced, he knew which ones were worth saving. You can take one that you like, save seeds, do another growout next season, etc. until you've stabilized one that you like, then you'll have your own OP variety. It will take about 4 generations to stabilize a new variety.

Hybrid tomatoes are very complex hybrids, so there's no telling what you'll get if you plant saved seeds. I think it's interesting to do.

And to tell the truth, some of the plants that are labeled "F1" aren't hybrids, they just don't want the public to know that, so they won't save seeds. I have no idea which ones, though, I'm sure it's different ones from about 20 years ago when I learned this.

To me it doesn't matter. I am going to clone whatever I can.

I also grew a Campari which had supposedly been grown out and considered an OP version. I got a hard little cherry with pointed ends that was not good at all.

A fellow has grown out Husky Cherry Red seeds and produced a tomato that grows 14 feet tall which he considers the best cherry tomato he's ever tasted and saves the seed and grows it every year.

It's interesting to see what you get when you grow a hybrid. But the results are usually not worth the effort unless you are doing it as a science experiment. You could start the beginnings of your own OP version though.