Tomato Varieties
Learn About the Different Tomato Varieties
Tomatoes are the most popular home gardening plant, and today there are hundreds of tomato varieties available. Some of these tomato varieties are determine and some are indeterminate when it comes to plant growth. Determinate tomato plants grow only to a certain height while indeterminate ones continue to grow new foliage and fruit blossoms until the season is over. All of the older heirloom tomato varieties are indeterminate.
One of the best ways to choose tomato varieties is by the amount of time needed to produce fruit. Early season tomato varieties are great for short growing season like those found in northern and colder locations. Medium and long growing season varieties usually make up the main crop for most gardeners. Disease resistance is another quality to look at when choosing what type of plant to get. Today’s hybrids can be resistant to a number of diseases, including alternaria, fusarium wilt, nematodes, tobacco mosaic virus, and verticillium wilt.
Among the early season tomato varieties are the Sub Arctic Plenty (45 days), Early Cascade (55 days), Early Girl (54 days), and Quick Pick (60 days). Most of these produce small fruit in the three to five ounce range. Quick Pick is the most disease resistance among early producers. Champion (65 days) and Mountain Spring (65 days) are both somewhat disease resistant and have larger tomatoes--usually within the nine to ten ounce range.
The majority of the tomato varieties fall within the 70 to 79 days category are considered to be good choices for the main red tomato crop. They produce well and have medium to large fruit. Most have at least some disease resistance and on average tomatoes range from nine to sixteen ounces. Among the determinate tomato varieties in this group are Celebrity (70 days), Mountain Delight (70 days), Mountain Pride (74 days), and Floramerica (75 days). Indeterminates include Fantastic (70 days), Better Boy (72 days),
Burpee’s Big Girl (78 days), and Supersonic (79 days).
Extra-large tomato varieties are grown mainly for their size. Many can weigh up to two pounds. Among the best of these are Beefmaster (81 days), Supersteak (80 days), and Delicious (77 days). Sometimes these larger tomato varieties do crack or have scarring but given the size of the tomato nothing is really lost.
There are several tomato varieties which are not red, but yellow, gold or pink. The yellow/gold types tend to have more sugar and lower acid content than red tomatoes. Among these are Mountain Gold (70 days), Lemon Boy (72 days), Golden Boy (80 days) and Jubilee (72 days). The pink tomato varieties have gained more disease resistance in recent years and are still quite popular in many areas of the country. The top two pink tomatoes are Brandywine (80 days) and Pink Girl (76 days). Brandywines are great for canning.