Choosing the Best Tomato Plants
Tomato Selection Tomato varieties are as vast and many as there are stars in the sky. Your nursery should sell those plants which perform best in your area. Be sure to select the dark green plants which are shorter with the thickest stems, with no holes in the leaves. Stay away from plants that are tall and thin. Tomato plants come in a vast array of sizes, shapes and colors. Selecting the best plants to grow is vital to a healthy tomato garden.
Indeterminate vs. Determinate Indeterminate plants require support, usually in the form of a cage or stake. They produce earlier and larger yields than determinates. Many say they have a better flavor as well. Indeterminates will grow until they are killed by frost. As long as conditions stay favorable these plants will continue to produce. Determinates are typically short and stocky. They are bred for this and ripen the bulk of their fruit in five weeks or less. They normally do not need to be supported. However, some vigorous determinates may need to be aided to keep from lying on the ground. Dwarfs do not need support and do well in containers. Miniatures are very small plants with penny-sized fruits which are grown more for decoration rather than consumption.
Resistance Tomatoes are susceptible to quite an assortment of diseases. Included are: bacterial spot, botrytis fruit rot, bacterial canker, bacterial wilt, fusarium wilt, mosaic, septoria leaf spot, curly top, tobacco mosaic, and early and late blights. Choosing disease-resistant plants is vital since many of these diseases cannot be treated. This is especially true in hot regions where humidity is high, which provides the perfect environment for many of these infections.
Disease resistance is noted by the following abbreviations: As, alternaria stem canker; A, alternaria (early) blight; L, gray leaf spot; T, tobacco mosaic virus; V, verticillium wilt; N, nematodes; F, fusarium wilt, race 1; F2, fusarium wilt race 2.
Listed below are some of the best tomatoes and their resistance:
Beefsteak- Indeterminate; open-pollinated red beefsteak with meaty, faintly ribbed 1-pound fruits.
Better Boy- Indeterminate; high yield of twelve ounce fruits (VFNAs).
Big Beef- Indeterminate; hybrid red beef-steak with good-flavored, meaty 10-ounce fruits; exceptional disease resistance; All-America Selections Winner; (VFF2AsLNT)
Brandywine- Widely perceived as the best tasting tomato available; no resistance; pink heirloom with 10 ounce fruit.
Caro Rich- Low acid, does well in cool temperature, orange five ounce fruit, high in Vit A.
Celebrity- Red hybrid with large production of seven ounce fruit, AAS winner, exceptional disease resistance; (VFF2AsNLT).
Early Girl- Indeterminate; red hybrid with high yields of rich-flavored 4-ounce fruits; early fruit production; garden favorite; (V).
Jetstar- Must be staked or pruned, yields large production of red eight ounce fruit; lower in acid.
Marglobe- (F); cracks easily, produces sweet 7 ounce red fruit.
Rutgers- (F); red hybrid with enormous yield of 9 ounce mildly flavored fruit.
Michael McAfee has almost nearly forty years of gardening experience, and has composed a very practicle guide to growing tomatoes. For a limited time you can get a free copy by visiting Your Tomato Garden. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service
