At a glance
- Hundreds of tomato varieties feel like a jungle. Two axes bring order to it: the growth habit and the use in the kitchen.
- For the growth habit there are only two camps: cordon tomatoes grow endlessly tall and are pinched out, bush tomatoes stay compact and may grow freely.
- For the use, you choose between cocktail, salad, beefsteak, paste and wild tomato. Each type has its own strength.
- Open-pollinated varieties you can propagate yourself, F1 hybrids you cannot. Wild tomatoes are the most robust and shrug off late blight the longest.
Whoever leafs through the seed catalogue soon loses the overview: there are thousands of tomatoes in all colours, shapes and sizes. The good news is that you only need to follow two simple questions to find the right variety for you.
First: how should the plant grow, tall and slim or small and bushy? Second: what do you want to harvest, snacking tomatoes, salad tomatoes or fat beefsteaks for the burger? With these two axes you sort the variety jungle in a few minutes.
Axis one: the growth habit
The first and most important decision concerns not the fruit but the plant. All the care follows from it.
The cordon tomato grows endlessly tall, needs a support and is trained to a single main stem. It must be pinched out regularly, as described in Pinching out tomatoes. Most classic varieties belong here. The bush tomato, by contrast, stays low and compact, stops growing by itself and is not pinched out. It is the first choice for balcony and container, more on it in Tomatoes in pots.
Axis two: the fruit types
The second axis is the use. Here what ends up on the plate decides.
Which type for what?
- Cocktail and cherry tomato
Small, sweet and robust, ideal for snacking and the salad. They crop early, heavily and over a long time. Perfect for the balcony and beginners.
- Salad tomato
The medium, round all-rounder for bread, salad and the pan. A good standard when you cannot decide.
- Beefsteak tomato
Large, heavy and meaty with few seeds, for slicing for burgers and caprese. It ripens later and is a little more prone to blossom end rot.
- Paste and wild tomato
Elongated paste tomatoes like San Marzano are firm and low in seeds, ideal for sauce and drying. Tiny wild tomatoes are the most robust of all and shrug off late blight the longest.
Open-pollinated or F1 hybrid?
The seed packet often says F1 or open-pollinated. From an open-pollinated variety you can save your own seed that gives the same tomato again, so old heirloom varieties are preserved. An F1 hybrid is especially vigorous and uniform but splits in the next generation, so it is no good for your own propagation. For a start both are fine; open-pollinated pays off if you want to carry varieties on yourself.
First choose the growth habit to suit your space, then the fruit type to suit your kitchen. That way you find the right one out of a thousand varieties.
The core rule for choosing varieties
Frequently asked questions
Which tomato is best for the balcony?
A compact bush tomato or a trailing cocktail tomato. It stays small, needs no pinching out and crops reliably in a pot. Large beefsteak tomatoes, by contrast, need lots of space, warmth and a deep container.
What is the difference between a cordon and a bush tomato?
The cordon tomato grows endlessly tall, needs a stake and is pinched out. The bush tomato stays low, stops growing by itself and is not pinched out. The growth habit is on the seed packet.
Which tomato variety is right for tomato sauce?
A paste tomato like San Marzano or Roma. It has firm flesh, few seeds and little juice and cooks down nicely thick. Watery salad tomatoes are less suitable for that.
Are old tomato varieties really more robust?
Not across the board, but many wild tomatoes and some old varieties shrug off diseases like late blight better. Whoever grows outdoors without a roof is safest with a robust wild tomato or a variety labelled as tolerant.
Can I save my own seed from my tomatoes?
Yes, but only from open-pollinated varieties. Their seeds give the same tomato again. F1 hybrids split in the next generation and bring unpredictable results. So when buying, look for the note open-pollinated.
Sources
- Julius Kühn Institute: tomatoes, variety types and growing in the home garden
- Bavarian State Institute for Viticulture and Horticulture (LWG): tomato varieties for the garden
- Related in the magazine: Pinching out tomatoes and Tomatoes in pots and on the balcony
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