The long, hot, sunny days of Minnesota summers are great for growing tomatoes and Minnesotans love to grow their own fresh tomatoes. But choosing a tomato plant can be confusing and involve time consuming searches through hundreds of varieties looking for the right one for you. For example, here are just some of the options you have to pick from:

• Determinate or indeterminate?

• Heirloom or hybrid?

• Disease resistant or disease tolerant?

• Big, with little tomatoes already growing, or small, not even flowers?

We will wade through all these questions and help you decide the best tomato plant for YOU.

First, how are you going to use your tomatoes?

Salads, sandwiches, cooking, preserving and easy fresh eating all have preferred varieties.

• For salads and sandwiches choose large, juicy varieties like Beefsteak, Brandywine, Better Boy or Cherokee Purple.

• For cooking and preserving choose meaty, low-water-content varieties that ripen all at once, such as Roma, San Marzano, or Amish Paste.

• For easy, fresh eating choose sweet, bite-sized cherry or grape tomatoes like Sun Gold or Super Sweet 100. 

Second, how much space do you have?

Tomato plants have two main growth habits: Determinate or bush growth and indeterminate or vining growth.

Bush tomatoes grow to a predetermined, compact height - around 3-4 feet, produce most of their fruit within a short period of time - 4-6 weeks, then stop producing.  They are best for small spaces, containers and/or gardeners who want a large harvest all at once, for example, for canning.  Bush tomatoes also include cherry tomato plants, such as the varieties Toy Boy and Small Fry.

Vining tomatoes grow and produce fruit continuously until frost.  They are best for large gardens and gardeners who want a steady stream of fresh tomatoes.  These tomatoes all require support, like tall stakes or cages.  Popular varieties include Big Beef, Beefsteak and Sweet 100s.

Third:  Heirloom or hybrid?

Heirloom tomatoes are historical tomatoes (that is, “open pollinated” tomatoes meaning they can reproduce true to type).  These are tomatoes that have been grown since before 1940 and their seeds saved and passed down through the years.  Some heirlooms date back to the Aztecs, such as the Zapotec tomato.  

Heirlooms tend to have thinner skins, more colors and flavor than hybrid varieties.  Irregular shapes, sizes, and multi-colored or marbled skins characterize heirloom tomatoes. 

Brandywine and Mortgage Lifter are two highly recommended heirloom varieties.  They are especially recommended for people who have not grown heirlooms before.

Hybrid tomatoes are cross-bred and bred for specific traits. They tend to be uniform in size, disease resistant and with thicker skins - which means they can be transported long distances safely to parts of the country without access to fresh tomatoes.  Popular hybrid varieties include Better Boy, Better Bush and Early Girl.

Master Gardeners have been busy conducting seed trials and evaluating tomatoes since 1982.  They have their own list of recommended varieties.  Their criteria: flavor, disease and insect resistance, productivity and germination rate.  Their list of best tomatoes:

• Brandymaster Red: one parent a hybrid and the other parent an heirloom

• Brandymaster Pink: one parent a hybrid and the other parent an heirloom)      

• Brandy Boy: hybrid combining Brandywine with another, unnamed variety - developed by Burpee) (2nd place tie)                  

• Genuwine and Big Brandy: heirloom marriage tomatoes, tomatoes with two       heirloom parents (4th place tie)  

• Brandywine: heirloom tomato                              

• Early Spring: heirloom tomato  

For a list of places to buy heirloom tomatoes and/or seedlings go to: Seed Savers Exchange or https://www.google.com/Heirloom+tomatoes+Where+to+buy 

Fourth:  Do you want disease resistant tomatoes?

Consider how important disease resistant varieties are to you.  If this is very important you probably want to consider hybrid tomatoes.  A resistant variety will not become diseased.  On the other hand, a tolerant variety may become diseased, but the spread of the disease will be slower and the disease will be less serious.

Hybrid varieties with disease resistance are indicated by letters on the label: 

V = Verticillium wilt;  F = Fusarium wilt;  N = nematodes;  T = Tobacco Mosaic Virus.

Some disease resistant and tolerant varieties recommended by Cornell University’s breeding program are:  Iron Lady, Stellar, Brandywine, Summer Sweetheart and Plum Perfect.

And Last:  What to look for when choosing the actual seedling or plant. 

Choose sturdy, stocky plants up to 1 foot tall with thick stems (pencil thickness) and bright green evenly spaced leaves.  Avoid plants that are tall and lanky, have spots, or already have flowers or fruit.  They may be stressed or root bound.

Hopefully you will find this information helpful in choosing a tomato plant that suits YOUR needs.  Enjoy!

REFERENCES

https://ucanr.edu/blog/over-fence-alameda-county/article/choosing-tomato-varieties-best-your-garden

Beginners Guide to Choosing the Best Tomato Varieties for your Garden, Feb 24, 2004; 

www.themakermakes.com

Choosing Tomato Varieties Best for Your Garden | Over the Fence, Mar 9, 2024, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources

https://extension.umn.edu/planting-and-growing-guides/master-gardener-seed-trials 

McKusick, Tom, Northern Gardner, https://northerngardener.org/day-27-favorite-heirloom-tomatoes/

https://www.burpee.com/heirloom/heirloom-tomatoes/?bp_mode=Plant

https://www.vegetables.cornell.edu/pest-management/disease-factsheets/disease-resistant-vegetable-varieties/new-york-adapted-tomatoes-with-resistance-to-multiple-fungal-and-bacterial-diseases-created-at-cornell/

https://vegvariety.cce.cornell.edu/main/login.php

Photo Credits: www.davenportgarden.com (1), www.3porchfarm.com (2), farmhandseeds.com (3)