Charlotte West
With Spring fever setting in you may have tomatoes on your mind. Let’s cover a few basics that can help you choose the right tomato plants for you. There are two types of tomato varieties: indeterminate and determinate.
Indeterminate tomatoes are actually “vining” tomatoes. They continue growing throughout the season. They often continue to set and ripen fruit consistently throughout the season until killed off by the first frost. Most gardeners don’t have room to allow them to vine to their fullest potential. Therefor indeterminate tomatoes will require substantial staking or caging. Or try this fun idea; grow your vining tomatoes as a hanging vine. This will eliminate the need for support and keep the fruit off the ground. Furthermore, it allows more sunlight to reach throughout the plant resulting in a higher yield.
Determinate tomatoes are varieties that grow to a fixed mature size and all their fruit ripens in a short period of time. Often called “bush” tomatoes. Once the fruit have ripened the plant diminishes in vigor and will set little to no more fruit again. Staking is still a good idea because the concentrated fruit can add considerable weight to the plant’s branches.
Here are a few varieties of both indeterminate and determinate plants that generally do well here in Southern Utah:
Early Girl, Indeterminate: With a great rich flavor Early Girl gets its name because it produces early in the season.
Sun Sugar Cherry, Indeterminate: Being one of the sweetest of the cherry tomatoes with the added bonus of being somewhat crack resistant.
Juliet Red Grape, Indeterminate: These elongated tomatoes resist cracking and are sweet as well.
Big Beef, Indeterminate: This is an old fashioned tomato is productive in different environments and
this “Big” Beef can easily weigh in at as much as a pound.
Better Boy, Indeterminate: This variety has proved to be dependable in our area making it a “Dixie” favorite. With its large meaty fruit you are sure to enjoy this easy growing tomato.
Big Boy, Indeterminate: Being a very heavy producer and crack resistant, this is a flavorful tomato with a meaty flesh.
Oregon Spring, Determinate: This fun variety is highly adaptable being known to set fruit in full summer heat or in early cooler weather. It is more compact in size thus requiring little staking and often producing seedless fruits.
Celebrity, Determinate: This is another widely adaptable tomato throughout the U.S. This determinate proves to be not only flavorful but also very productive.
Row Pac, Determinate: This tomato usually proves resistant to curly top with high yields under hot temperatures.
Of course we all have our favorites. In our household I favor Brandywines. John favors large cherry heirlooms. And Mychal loves “Red.” But try adding a few of the Southern Utah dependables listed above and may you yield great results.
