Choosing the Best Tomato Plants


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 susceptible to numerous diseases. Some of which are: botytis, rot, bacterial spot, wilt, canker, mosaic, fusarium wilt, tobacco mosaic , septoria leaf spot, curly top, and blight. Selection of resistant plants is important due to the fact that many of these diseases are unable to be treated. Where humidity and excessively warm temperatures exist, this is especially true. These conditions are ideal for the majority of tomato plant disease.

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

Here are some of your tomato plant choices and their 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- (VFF2AsLNT) outstanding disease resistance; red beef-steak with flavorful 10 ounce fruit; All America Selections Winner.

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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- (F); red hybrid with enormous yield of 9 ounce mildly flavored fruit.

Connor Schnitzinflurbin has almost nearly nearly forty years of gardening experience, and has written a very informative guide to growing tomatoes. For a limited time you can obtain a free copy by visiting Your Tomato Garden. Visit the Uber Article Directory to get a totally unique version of this article for reprint.