Here's the Difference Between Determinate and Indeterminate Tomatoes (2024)

FAQs

Here's the Difference Between Determinate and Indeterminate Tomatoes? ›

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.

The determinate tomato plant is often grown in a cage or even without support, as it has a more compact shape. The determinate tomato varieties also produce most of their fruit on the terminal end. The indeterminate tomato varieties have much longer stem growth, which continues to grow until cold weather arrives.

It is called indeterminate because the amount it will grow and produce is undetermined or unknown. Most tomato varieties are indeterminate. Some examples of heirloom indeterminate tomatoes are Kellogg's Breakfast, Paul Robeson, Napa Chardonnay Blush Cherry, and the Pink Oxheart.

Better Boy tomatoes are indeterminate, which means they should be grown in cages or staked tepee-style. Because of their large size, 5-8 feet (1.5-2.5 m.) in height, Better Boy tomatoes are not suited to containers.

Determinate tomatoes have a concentrated harvest, which is ideal for preserving. The different growth habits also create differences in how these plants produce flowers and fruit. Indeterminate tomatoes produce new flowers and fruit as they grow, leading to a longer harvest window.

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.

As an indeterminate variety, the Sweet 100 plant will produce fruits continuously up until the first frost, so check plants daily or every other day until cold weather sets in to make sure you don't miss any ripe tomatoes.

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.

While grape tomatoes are determinate, meaning they are bushy and produce fruit in a short period of time, beefsteak tomatoes are indeterminate, meaning they have sparser foliage and produce fruit over the course of a growing season.

Cherry tomatoes and beefsteak tomato varieties are usually indeterminate, which are excellent for summer snacking and slicing. Because of the growth patterns and size of indeterminate tomatoes, they are better suited to medium to large-sized garden beds (in-ground or raised).

Why would you want determinate tomatoes? ›

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.

Most heirloom varieties are indeterminate, which grow long vines that produce fruit throughout the season until killed by frost. The best-tasting varieties tend to be indeterminate. A few heirloom plants do not sprawl all over the place.

Determinate tomatoes need no pruning other than removing all suckers below the first flower cluster because pruning won't affect their fruit size or plant vigor. If you do any pruning at all above the first flower cluster on determinate tomatoes, you'll only be throwing away potential fruit.

'Moneymaker' Pole Tomato

The heavy yields of medium-sized fruits appear 75-80 days after planting and continue to yield all summer. This indeterminate pole tomato is one of the easiest to grow from seed and enjoys a supportive trellis and light pruning to encourage lots of energy toward the globe-shaped fruits.

'Roma' is a semi-determinate or bushy type of tomato which doesn't need 'pruning' as such. Train or tie growth regularly to its support to avoid the plant becoming a tangled mass of stems.

'San Marzano' tomato plants are indeterminate, meaning that, unlike determinate varieties, once it begins producing fruit it will continue doing so throughout the growing season. 'San Marzano' tomatoes are also an heirloom variety, meaning that once the season's harvest is over, seeds can be used to grow new plants.

Determinate tomatoes need no pruning other than removing all suckers below the first flower cluster because pruning won't affect their fruit size or plant vigor. If you do any pruning at all above the first flower cluster on determinate tomatoes, you'll only be throwing away potential fruit.

Early Girl is a cultivar of tomato with indeterminate growth, which means it produces flowers and fruit until it is killed by frost or another external factor (contrast with a determinate cultivar, which would grow to a limited, predefined shape and be most productive for one large harvest before dying or tapering off ...

The caveat is: Only indeterminate tomato plants benefit from pinching suckers. Determinate tomato plants are naturally more compact even without pinching; fruit sets after branches are fully grown, and no new fruit develops after pruning. Therefore, nothing is gained by losing the tomato suckers on determinate plants.

There are many ways to trellis your determinate tomatoes, and we're here to share some of our favorite methods. Determinate (bush) will go to a determinate size and produce a few large flushes of fruit before being done for the season. To contain these bushy plants I recommend the following methods.