Determine vs. Indeterminate Tomatoes
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Why does it matter?
Determinate and Indeterminate tomatoes have different growing habits and maturity timeframes, so it is important to identify which of your varieties are which, while you are planning your garden.
Determinate
Determinate tomato plants grow to a “determined” size. They usually grow to about four feet. We like determinate tomatoes because all the fruits on the plant will ripen mostly around the same time. This makes them great for preserving, because you need a lot of tomatoes at once in order to make a batch of sauce or salsa.
Here’s our Must Grow list:
Roadster (our #1 must grow)
Better Boy
Early Girl Bush
We grow determinate tomatoes in a 12’ deep barrel, with a 54” tomato cage. We line up the barrels next to a fence, and tie the cages to the fence, because once the plants are loaded with fruit, the cage could topple over due to the weight. This setup is super easy to maintain. In fact, we’re adding more barrels this year.
Indeterminate
Indeterminate tomatoes will grow until the frost kills them, and do not ripen all at once. We have grown indeterminate plants that were 15 feet long, so be prepared to support these plants (we have a series on Instagram of 7 Ways to Support Tomatoes, check it out!).
Here’s our Must Grow list:
Amish Paste (our #1 paste tomato)
Sungold (our #1 must grow cherry)
Super Sweet 100
Black Cherry
Paul Robeson (our #1 must grow slicer)
Pink Brandywine
Pork Chop
We grow indeterminate tomatoes in raised beds, and up a tomato trellis that we designed and built ourselves. Check it out here.