Selecting Tomato Cultivars
- Growth Habit. A tomato plant can either be determinate or indeterminate.
- Days to Maturity. The time from planting outdoors until your first ripe tomato is another consideration.
- Disease Resistance.
- Hybrid or Heirloom.
- Use.
- Available Space.
- Flavor.
How do I identify a tomato variety?
Determinate tomatoes commonly have leaves that are closer together on the stem, making them look bushier. Indeterminate varieties have leaves that are spaced out more and look more like vines. Check the flowers and fruit production.
How do I pick a good tomato plant?
Look for healthy, green plants with four to six leaves and sturdy, straight stems. Check leaves for signs of insects or disease, such as brown spots, holes or curling. Avoid plants that appear wilted, yellow or have spindly, thin stems.
Which variety of tomato is best?
The Best Tomato Varieties
- Azoychka. via Urban Farmer.
- Amana Orange. via Rare Seeds.
- Delicious. via Burpee.
- Dixie Golden Giant. via Totally Tomatoes.
- Cherokee Purple. via Bonnie Plants.
- Better Boy. via Bonnie Plants.
- Green Zebra. via Rare Seeds.
- Early Girl. via Tomato Growers Supply Company.
What are 3 different varieties of tomatoes?
This article reviews 7 popular types of tomatoes, their nutritional contents, and how to use them.
- Cherry tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes are round, bite-sized, and so juicy that they may pop when you bite into them.
- Grape tomatoes.
- Roma tomatoes.
- Beefsteak tomatoes.
- Heirloom tomatoes.
- Tomatoes on the vine.
- Green tomatoes.
Which is better determinate or indeterminate tomatoes?
If you typically eat your tomatoes fresh and want a season-long supply, go for an indeterminate variety. Moreover, if you live where the growing season is only a couple of months long, determinate tomatoes might be the better growing choice for you.
How do you tell if you have determinate or indeterminate tomatoes?
How to Distinguish a Determinate from an Indeterminate Tomato
- The determinate forms stop their shoot production once flowers form on the ends.
- Indeterminate tomato varieties will form flowers along the sides of the shoots but they continue to grow until weather conditions are no longer favorable.
What is the easiest tomato to grow?
Cherry Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes are the easiest tomatoes for beginners to grow. They produce crop after crop and have very few problems!
How many tomatoes do you get per plant?
On average, a tomato plant can yield 10 to 30 pounds of tomatoes. Depending on the size of the tomatoes, this can be roughly 20 to 90 tomatoes from a single plant. When grown in a square foot garden, each tomato plant can typically yield up to 20 pounds, depending on environmental factors.
Can you plant two different types of tomatoes together?
Different varieties of tomatoes can be planted together and won’t affect each other’s growth, health, or yield. If you don’t intend to save the seeds, there is nothing else you need to do. However, if you want to save the seeds of a specific variety you will need to isolate the flowers to prevent cross pollination.
What is the most popular tomato?
Globe. Globe tomatoes are large, round, and red – sometimes yellow – and they’re the most common tomatoes. They are the medium-sized tomatoes that you find in any store. Also called slicing tomatoes, these are the best option for sandwiches and salads.
Which tomato plants produce the most tomatoes?
1. Stupice. This classic heirloom tomato is a heavy producer. The vigorous plant provides abundant fruit.
What is the best tomato fertilizer?
Check out some of the top contenders.
- BEST OVERALL: Dr. Earth Home Grown Fertilizer.
- BEST VALUE: Jobe’s Tomato Fertilizer Spikes.
- GRANULAR PICK: Burpee Organic Tomato and Vegetable Plant Food.
- WATER SOLUBLE PICK: Greenway Biotech Tomato Fertilizer 4-18-38.
What are the best tomatoes to eat raw?
Purple and Black Tomatoes
Cherokee Purple is one of the more popular strains and produces large, dark fruit, though you can also find cherry-sized purple tomatoes like Black Cherry and Black Pearl. These tomatoes are best eaten raw, so slice a few up for BLTs or try them in salads.
What tomatoes produce all summer?
Indeterminate tomatoes grow and produce tomatoes all summer long. The plants are extra-large; some varieties reach up to eight feet tall. The fruits appear throughout the entire growing season, so you’ll have fresh tomatoes all summer once the plants reach full maturity.
What is the best tomato for a salad?
Cherry tomatoes are small, round tomatoes that are perfect for snacking and salads. As their namesake suggests, they are about the same size and shape as a cherry. Most cherry tomatoes are red, but they do come in other colors like yellow and orange.
Should tomato plants be pruned?
Pruning tomato plants helps them produce earlier in the season. Tomatoes can be stronger, bigger, and healthier. When tomato plants are both pruned and staked, their chances of contracting diseases are reduced because leaves and stems stay drier and allow for more circulation.
Is a beefsteak tomato determinate or indeterminate?
Pruning: Prune your beefsteak tomato plants to ensure proper growth. While grape tomatoes are determinate, meaning they are bushy and produce fruit in a short period of time, beefsteak tomatoes are indeterminate, meaning they have sparser foliage and produce fruit over the course of a growing season.
Should you prune determinate tomatoes?
Determinate tomato plants have a pre-determined size (just like we do), according to their genetic make-up. They grow like bushes and need no pruning other than removing the leaves below the first flower cluster so that none touch the ground. They tend to ripen their fruit earliest, often all at once.
Should you remove the bottom leaves from tomato plants?
If your plants are grown with adequate space between them, light will reach the lower leaves and they don’t have to be removed. When lower leaves start getting yellow it is a sign that they are shutting down and they should be removed before they become a sugar drain on the rest of the plant.
Which leaves do I cut off tomato plants?
The plant will focus more energy on growing the tomatoes if you remove some of the leaves too. I remove all of the leaves up to the first tomato bunch on the main stem. When the plant grows, I cut even more leaves. I make sure to keep a nice plume of leaves in the top though so that the plant can keep growing.
Elvira Bowen is a food expert who has dedicated her life to understanding the science of cooking. She has worked in some of the world’s most prestigious kitchens, and has published several cookbooks that have become bestsellers. Elvira is known for her creative approach to cuisine, and her passion for teaching others about the culinary arts.