When growing tomatoes and reading about them—on our website, store signs, and plant tags—you eventually encounter a lot of tomato growing terms. Determinate and indeterminate. Hybrid and heirloom. VFNT and SWV. What does all this mean? Learn tomato growing terms right here.
Determinate and Indeterminate
When selecting tomato varieties, you must choose between plants with different types of growth habits called determinate or indeterminate. All tomatoes are either one or the other.
Determinate varieties (including bush varieties) reach a certain plant height and then stop growing. The majority of their fruit matures within a month or two and appears at the ends of the branches. These are popular with gardeners who like to can, make sauce, or have another reason for wanting most of their tomatoes at once. It might even be that you'd prefer to harvest early and leave late summer for a long vacation.
Most determinate varieties need a cage, but there are some very stocky varieties, such as Better Bush, that have a very sturdy main stems; they don't need much support, just a stake to keep them from toppling in wind and rain. Varieties especially suited to growing in pots, such as Patio and Better Bush, are determinate. Little or no pruning is needed.
Indeterminate varieties continue to grow and produce tomatoes all along the stems throughout the growing season. Indeterminate plants need extra-tall supports of at least 5 feet. Because indeterminate varieties throw out so many shoots, gardeners often prune them for optimum-sized fruit or train them on a very tall trellis. However, if you don't prune, no harm done! You may have seen photos of 10- or 15-foot tomato vines. These are definitely indeterminate types.
Most gardeners grow both types, determinate for large harvests for canning and freezing and indeterminate to get fruit for salads and sandwiches throughout the growing season.
A few varieties are called semi-determinate or compact indeterminate because they are somewhere in between. For best results, give them support.
Symbols for Disease Resistance
Tomato names are often followed by capital letters that stand for resistance to certain diseases. This is very important because these diseases can wipe out a tomato crop. Bonnie Plant Farm offers varieties that have proven to be most productive with disease resistance a major consideration in our selection. Resistance to disease is indicated by these letters:
V – Verticillium Wilt
F – Fusarium Wilt ( two F's indicate resistance to both races 1 and 2 )
N – Nematodes
ASC – Alternaria Stem Canker
TMV – Tobacco Mosaic Virus
St – Stemphylium ( gray leaf spot )
SWV – Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus
LB – Late Blight
Other Tomato Terms
Heirloom tomato – Any tomato that is at least fifty years old and is not a hybrid.
Hybrid tomato – A tomato bred by crossing varieties. Hybrids offer better disease resistance, higher yield, and other improved traits. Our hybrids are not genetically engineered.
Early variety – A tomato that matures in 50 to 60 days; these are prized for early harvests and late summer planting for a fall crop. Sometimes we refer to tomatoes that mature in more than 60 days as "early," but only in comparison to their peers. For example, the earliest beefsteak type is only early compared to other beefsteaks. Beefsteaks are typically longer maturing than other tomato types because they are so big!
Indeterminate tomato varieties are vining plants that continue to grow longer and set fruit throughout the growing season. Determinate tomatoes reach their mature height, set all their fruit at once, and stop growing.
Secondly, both determinate and indeterminate tomatoes have amazing flavors and can be enjoyed fresh, canned, preserved, and dried. Lastly, they can be grown together, and both are relatively easy to grow. What does matter is WHERE you want to grow them and WHEN you want to enjoy the harvest.
If you like to can, freeze, or dehydrate your produce, determinate tomatoes will yield a large quantity of fruit in a shorter time, which can be convenient. Examples of determinate tomatoes: Rutgers, Roma, and Celebrity.Examples of indeterminate tomatoes: Beefsteak, Goldie, most Cherry-types, and heirloom tomatoes.
Indeterminate tomatoes can be an heirloom or hybrid type and will produce fruit for an entire growing season or until killed by frost. They are generally grown by home gardeners for use on salads, burgers, and other dishes that require a delicious raw homegrown tomato.
A determinate tomato (sometimes called a dwarf) is a bush variety that grows to a certain height, produces a certain amount of flowers and therefore a certain amount of fruit and then it is done. It will not produce anymore.
Close interplanting of two tomato varieties may typically produce 2-5% NCP; however, factors such as long style length, frequent visitation of tomato flowers by bees and suitable environmental conditions may produce much higher NCP values.
Called "topping," this type of pruning causes the plant to stop flowering and setting new fruit, and instead directs all sugars to the remaining fruit. This way, the fruit will ripen faster, plus it becomes more likely that the green tomatoes you pick before frost will actually ripen when you bring them indoors.
Determinate tomatoes ripen at the same time and the plant dies after harvest. These tomatoes grow to about 4 feet tall so they take up less garden space and make great container plants. Most sauce tomato varieties are determinate. The entire crop ripens at once so you can make sauce, can, and jar in large batches.
Beefsteak tomatoes tend to be indeterminate varieties, though some are semi-determinate, and need a sturdy support put in place in order to support their tall growth and heavy fruits. It is best to plant beefsteak tomatoes deep and to pinch out any side shoots from the main stem regularly.
Most cherry tomatoes are indeterminate and have a large, sprawling growth habit that requires pruning and support. When space is limited, many gardeners choose determinate varieties as they grow in a more compact, bush-like shape.
The Better Boy tomato is a hybrid indeterminate variety. This is a fancy name that means it is a cross between two other tomato plants, and that it will produce tomatoes all season long. Hybrids are bred for qualities in the parent plants that are desirable.
These are great options if you want to do any preserving or large batch recipes. Indeterminate tomatoes will produce fruit all season long. These are perfect if you're looking for a plant that will supply your dinner table throughout the summer. Typically, one or two plants will be more than enough for a household.
What is the best producing determinate tomato? Grape and cherry determinate varieties always produce an abundance of fruit. Multi-use tomatoes for fresh eating or canning include Roma, Rutgers, Marglobe, and Oregon Spring. All are easy to grow with disease resistance and dependable yields.
Determinate tomatoes: Their growth is "determined" by the plant, so they'll grow to a certain size, ripen the fruit, and then the plant is done producing. They also tend to have 1 central leader. Indeterminate tomatoes: They just grow, grow, and grow! They also tend to have multiple leaders.
As a general rule, I don't prune determinate tomato plants much at all. As they have a limited height, I find that too much pruning stunts their growth. With determinate-type tomatoes, I have found that reducing the amount of leaders (side branches) significantly reduces the amount of fruit.
The harvest period for determinate tomatoes is generally short, making them good choices for canning. Determinate tomatoes can be planted 2 to 2½ feet apart. Rows should be spaced about 4 feet apart.
Indeterminate tomatoes: These plants give you a slow and steady supply of tomatoes throughout the season. Cherry tomatoes are indeterminate. Determinate tomatoes: These tomatoes quickly mature and then produce a single harvest.
If tomatoes are planted so closely together that sunlight and air can't dry out the leaves, the plants will be more likely to develop harmful diseases. Stunted Growth – Plants in your garden compete for resources like water, nutrients in the soil and sunlight.
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