What’s the Best Tomato? Cate Farm Newsletter June 3, 2021
Our final Seedling Sale is coming up this Saturday June 5th, 8am-2pm! Come shop in-person and see our wide selection of healthy organic plants and say hi to your neighbors and friends.
Searching for the perfect tomato? We often get asked what is the best tomato? That’s a tough question, with a complex answer.
Flavor is very subjective. Besides the differing sugar and acid contents, there are over 400 volatile compounds that give tomatoes their unique taste. Plus, there is “mouth feel”, aroma, appearance (red/orange/purple green/yellow), and size (cherry to large beefsteaks) . Generally, yellow and orange tomatoes tend to be less acidic and milder tasting than red or pink varieties, and smaller fruited tomatoes more sweeter.
In terms of growth habit, two classifications are used: determinate and indeterminate. Tomatoes can grow as a vine, (think Jack in the Beanstock) and are called indeterminates. These tomatoes could grow 100 feet tall if space allowed! Indeterminates prefer being supported by a cage, stake or trellis, and some say tend to have better flavor. Pruning off “suckers” yield earlier and better quality fruit, and promote better air circulation for disease control.
The other type of tomato growth habit is determinate, or bush type. These varieties grow to a certain height and stop growing upwards. The fruit set/harvest window is more concentrated, and as with indeterminates, some support like a cage is recommended.
To confuse things, there are also semi-determinate varieties. And humans can physically make an indeterminate plant a determinate one by topping off the top most growing tip of the plant. TMI? Feel free to ask about tomatoes if you come to the Seedling Sale this Saturday, and you can see some trellised and pruned indeterminate varieties that are already five feet tall! For even more info, Johnny’s Selected Seeds has a great website: https://www.johnnyseeds.com/growers-library/growing-center.html
Happy Gardening.