My Food and Drink Blog

Tomato Selection Tomato varieties are as vast and many as there are stars in the sky. Your nursery should sell those plants which perform best in your area. Be sure to select the dark green plants which are shorter with the thickest stems, with no holes in the leaves. Stay away from plants that are tall and thin. Tomato plants come in a vast array of sizes, shapes and colors. Selecting the best plants to grow is vital to a healthy tomato garden.

Determinate (bush) vs. Indeterminate (vine) Determinate tomato plants are compressed and short. They are bred for this diminutive size and to ripen their fruits in a set amount of time, usually six weeks or less. Most determinates do not require support, but some plants called vigorous determinates, may need assistance keeping themselves from lying on the garden soil. Dwarfs, however, need no support and are perfect for growing in containers. Miniatures are tiny plants with short stems and dime-size fruits that are usually grown for decoration rather than consumption. In contrast, indeterminate tomatoes continue to grow until they are halted by frost. They do require support, and will produce earlier and greater fruit yields than determinates. Some say better flavor as well. As long as the conditions are favorable, indeterminate plants will remain productive.

Resistance Tomatoes are vulnerable to a wide array of disease. They are : bacterial spot, rot, canker, fusarium wilt, botrytis, mosaic, curly top, tobacco mosaic, septoria leaf spot, and blight. Selecting resistant plants is essential since the majority of these diseases are not treatable. In areas with high temperatures and humidity disease resistance in even more important since these conditions are perfect for many of the above listed diseases.

Disease resistance is noted by the following abbreviations: As, alternaria stem canker; A, alternaria (early) blight; L, gray leaf spot; T, tobacco mosaic virus; V, verticillium wilt; N, nematodes; F, fusarium wilt, race 1; F2, fusarium wilt race 2.

Below are some of the tomato options and their respective resistance:

Beefsteak- Indeterminate; open-pollinated red beefsteak with meaty, faintly ribbed 1-pound fruits.

Better Boy- Indeterminate; red hybrid bearing large crops of 12-ounce fruits with fine flavor; good leaf cover; (VFNAs).

Big Beef- Indeterminate; hybrid red beef-steak with good-flavored, meaty 10-ounce fruits; exceptional disease resistance; All-America Selections Winner; (VFF2AsLNT)

Brandywine- Widely perceived as the best tasting tomato available; no resistance; pink heirloom with 10 ounce fruit.

Caro Rich- Determinate; orange 5 ounce fruit, lower acid content, cool temps. not a problem.

Celebrity- Vigorous determinate; red hybrid with heavy yields of 7-ounce fruits, outstanding disease resistance; All-America Selections Winner; (VFF2AsNLT).

Early Girl- Indeterminate; early production, large yield of red 5 ounce fruit; home gardener favorite; (V).

Jetstar- Indeterminate; red hybrid with high yields of firm, meaty, low-acid 8 ounce fruits; does best when staked and pruned.

Marglobe- Vigorous determinate; red with sweet 6-ounce fruits; susceptible to cracking; (F).

Rutgers- Determinate; red bearing high yields of 8-ounce fruits with mild flavor; widely adapted favorite; (F).

Connor Schnitzinflurbin has almost forty years of gardening experience, and has composed a very practicle guide to growing tomatoes. For a short time you can obtain a free copy by visiting Your Tomato Garden.

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