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Discover The Different Tomato Types To Grow

By Kaye Dennan

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 26Jul2010 Word count: 534 Viewed: 194 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

Once a person has made the decision to grow some tomato plants the next decision is to decide what tomato type should be grown. It is not surprising that there are various tomato types because by looking at tomato pictures that is obvious, but did you realize that there are over 9,000 varieties of tomatoes!

But don't be concerned because there are some basic types that will help the home gardener make early decisions. Then it is a matter of deciding on the varieties to suit each grower. The reason why a grower should decide on the tomato type they want to grow before they start preparing any gardens or pots is because depending on what they want to grow it will depend on where and how they grow them.

The two predominant descriptions of tomato types are the 'determinate' and the 'indeterminate' types.

Determinate tomatoes.

The determinate type of tomato plant is one that is more of a bushy type and the tomatoes grow at the end of the branch. Because the fruit does grow in a cluster at the end of the branch the plant does not grow taller, but does tend to spread out sideways as new branches are formed. This is why determinate tomatoes are not pruned. There used to be a problem with determinate plants not growing enough foliage to protect the tomatoes but in later years this problem has been overcome in most cases. In fact these plants even grow a bit taller now than they used to in the early days of development.

Another feature of the determinate tomato plant is that the fruit ripens quicker than does the indeterminate varieties.

Determinate tomato types are ideal for container grown tomatoes and many of them are of the smaller varieties like cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes.

Here is a list of some of the popular determinate plants:

- Better Boy

- Bush Beefsteak

- Manitoba

- Super Bush

- Northern Delight

Indeterminate plants.

It is often argued that the indeterminate varieties provide the most flavorful fruit. It is on these vines that the larger varieties of tomatoes grow, varieties like Beefsteak.

Here is a list of some of the most popular indeterminate tomatoes:

- Black Krim

- Brandywine (there is also Yellow Brandywine and Red Brandywine)

- Cherokee Chocolate

- Beefsteak

- Italian Roma

- Amish Gold

- Amish Red

- Black Zebra

Two other methods of determining tomato types is to categorize them as 'hybrid' and 'open-pollinated'. All heirlooms are considered open-pollinated which means that they do have the ability to cross-pollinate amongst themselves naturally. Hybrids were developed to produce plants that were more disease resistant and more uniform in shape. Many of the commercially grown tomatoes are hybrid.

As you can see, once the type of tomato has been established, then the next decision to make is what variety you would like to plant. This can become quite difficult if you look around and are growing by seed, but if you are buying from a garden shop then the selection will be much more limiting. But the benefit of buying seedlings is that you know they have been grown in your area and will suit your climate.

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