In the Garden with Pat Rubin

Bee garden writer Pat Rubin writes about everything that grows, from flowers and trees to vegetables and lawns. Pat volunteered for several years as a Placer County Master Gardener and has written about gardening for many national and regional publications. In addition to gardening, she spends time raising and showing miniature horses and miniature donkeys.

In the Garden will include news, events, advice and other gardening tidbits. Pat will also answer reader questions.

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April 25, 2007

Determinate vs. indeterminate tomatoes

Another thing about tomato tags: You’ll likely see the word “determinate” or “indeterminate” on the tomato tag. This refers to the way the plant grows.

Determinate tomatoes, also called bush tomatoes, grow to a predetermined size, produce flowers and tomatoes, and then die. It's part of their genetic make-up. Once fruits form, the tomato doesn’t keep growing and flowering and producing more fruit. You don’t need to prune determinate tomato varieties. Most are early producers. Paste tomatoes, like Roma, are determinate.

Indeterminate tomatoes, also called vine tomatoes, continue to grow throughout the season. They keep producing leaves, flowers, fruit, more stems, more leaves, flowers until the weather forces them to stop. Indeterminate tomatoes can produce several stems, and some growers prune some of them away. General consensus is that fewer stems produce fewer, but larger fruits. If not caged or staked, they sprawl. Most cherry tomatoes and heirloom tomatoes are indeterminate, as well as varieties like Big Boy, Beefsteak, Beef Master and Brandywine. For tomatoes all season, choose indeterminate varieties.

There are also semi-determinate tomato varieties. They are somewhere between determinate and indeterminate. The variety Celebrity is sometimes classified as semi-determinate.

It’s all on the tag.

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