Choose Your Tomato - Secret Tips for Selecting a Variety

Today, many different tomato varieties are available to grow as the result of selection and hybridization. Differences between varieties include growing habits, types of fruit, and whether they are heirlooms or modern day.

Basic Plant Growing Habits

The four main growing habits of tomatoes are determinate, indeterminate, semi-determinate, and dwarf-indeterminate.

Determinate tomato plants are bushy and up to 3 feet tall, needing little or no support. The majority of their harvest ripens early and quickly, as little as two weeks. After harvest, determinate begin to yellow and produce less fruit. The small size of this type makes them convenient indoors, their sudden short harvest makes them good for canning and similar purposes.

Indeterminate tomato plants are the most common tomatoes grown. Their tall and branch growth can be caged, staked, and pruned. These plants are branch, forming suckers in between stems. Fruit is produced regularly and in fair climates life cycle is unlimited. Indeterminate tomatoes are desirable indoors for their constant supply of fresh fruit.

Semi-determinate plants have growth habits in between determinate and indeterminate types. At three to five feet tall, they are shorter than indeterminate. They also have fewer suckers, and need less pruning. Fruit is produced much longer than determinate, but not constantly like indeterminates. Smaller plant size and longer harvest make these a more practical choice than determinates indoors for most people.

Currently the newest type is the dwarf indeterminate, also known as an indeterminate short internode (ISI). As the name implies, these plants are like indeterminates in most ways, except smaller. Distance between leaf nodes is shorter, so this plant stays a compact four feet tall. Like indeterminates, fruit is produced continuously. Short, easy to maintain vines and a continuous harvest make this perhaps the most exciting choice for indoor tomato gardeners.

Different Types of Fruit

Wild tomatoes once produced marble sized fruit, with few colors. Cultivated tomatoes produce fruit with many different sizes, shapes, colors, and tastes.

Fruit size ranges from an eighth ounce up to several pounds. Shape can vary from smooth and round to oblong and to heart shaped. The largest tomato currently on record was a beefstake type grown in Oklahoma, weighing an incredible seven pounds! Tomatoes types are often grouped by both size and shape. These include currant, grape, cherry, plum, roma, pear, pepper, globe, beefsteak, and others. Small fruits like cherry are popular indoors for easy care and being ready to eat in one bite.

Tomatoes have many unique, delicious tastes. You can find sweet, sour, simple, acidic, fruity, tangy, crunchy, soft, and many more variations. Tomato taste is mainly determined by sugar and acid levels inside the fruit. Thickness of the fruit and the amount of pulp inside also affect taste and texture. While individual fruit can vary significantly in taste, so can taste buds among different people. Enough different tomato tastes exist to satisfy most preferences. Low acid, sweet, tart, balanced and juicy, imitations of other foods, and everything in between can be found simply by experimenting with what you like.

Heirlooms and Modern Tomatoes

All current Tomato varieties can either be classified as heirloom or modern. Both types offer unique advantages for different purposes. Their main differences are due to age and breeding methods.

Tomatoes created commercially before 1940 or otherwise passed through friends and family for several generations are considered heirloom tomatoes. These plants have been created by open pollination and selected either naturally or by humans. When selected, a few plants are chosen from a larger group for having the strongest of a certain desired trait. Because many of these were bred for taste and variety rather than mass production and disease or climate tolerance, heirlooms are an increasingly popular choice for home gardeners.

Many modern tomatoes are the result of newer breeding technologies. Hybridization and genetic manipulation have allowed tomato growers to create plants with disease resistance, climate tolerance, high production, round blemish free fruits, and other traits. Because many modern varieties have been bred for commercial interests, they are not very well known for taste. However, modern breeding methods are at least as effective as open pollination for emphasizing desired traits, including taste. It is therefore possible to find modern tomato varieties which will have great taste and other traits like disease resistance or climate tolerance. These plants present an option when environmental conditions make growing traditional tomatoes difficult.

Discover Top Growing Secrets to Enjoy Fat Juicy Tomatoes.