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Tomatology™ - Urban Farmer's Guide
Home > Gardener's Guide > Tomatology
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Indeterminate: Tomato vines that continually grow in length throughout the growing season. Also referred to as "vining" tomatoes, indeterminate tomato varieties will also continue to set and ripen fruit until killed off by frost.
Determinate: Are tomato varieties that grow to a fixed mature size and ripen all their fruit in a short period, usually about 2 weeks. Once this first flush of fruit has ripened, the plant will begin to diminish in vigor and will set little to no new fruit.
Dwarf: These stronger determinate plants tend to reach only a few feet tall, produce all of their fruit at once, and then stop producing for the season. These plants are excellent for patio or container plants, producing cherry tomato-sized fruits.
Dwarf-indeterminate: These plants stay dwarf only reaching a few feet high and produce full sized tomatoes all season long. They grow well in containers.
The following list breaks down tomatoes by color, size, shape, or use:
Red, round tomatoes: Red, round tomatoes are the classic, bright red, juicy, meaty tomatoes that everyone wants to grow. There are hundreds of varieties, but one tasty example is the 'Beefsteak' which is a indeterminate, heirloom variety that produces 14oz. fruits in about 90 days.
Not-red tomatoes: The flavor of many of these varieties is comparable to the red varieties, but the colors look great in many food dishes. One excellent example is 'Yellow Pear' which is a indeterminate variety that produces smaller 1oz. fruits in about 78 days.
Sauce Tomatoes: These tomatoes are grown to make tomato sauce, paste, salsa and juice. Almost any tomato can be processed but these tomatoes are meatier and have thicker skins which combine to make great sauces. One of our favorites is 'Roma' which is a determinate, heirloom that produces smaller 4oz. fruits in about 75 days.
Cherry Tomatoes: Cherry tomatoes can be very productive, so only one or two plants will be plenty for a single family. The dwarf tomatoes do best in containers. One great variety is 'Sweety' which is a indeterminate variety that produces smal .5oz. fruits in about 65 days.
