9 Indeterminate Tomato Varieties We Love
Indeterminate tomatoes are favorites for a continual summer-through-frost yield of tender, juicy fruits. Join gardening expert Katherine Rowe in top-performing indeterminate vines for a season filled with fresh picks.
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Indeterminate tomatoes let us harvest juicy tomatoes all season as their long vines continually grow, flower, and produce. Depending on the variety, vines grow long and sprawl up to ten feet or more. They do best with sturdy supports and trellising, as standard tomato cages are usually too small to do the job.
It helps to know if your tomatoes are determinate or indeterminate when planning for spacing, staking, and harvesting. While determinate types grow to a set length and ripen all at once, indeterminate types yield all summer. They make for good fresh eating without the need to preserve the excess from a simultaneous harvest.
Both indeterminate tomato varieties and determinate ones produce different types of tomatoes, from beefsteak to roma to cherry. Plan for plenty of space and upright trellising to support indeterminate vines, perform basic pruning, and enjoy the ongoing harvest of peak sun-ripened flavor.
‘Cherokee Purple’
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botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Cherokee Purple’ |
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sun requirements Full sun |
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height 9’ |
‘Cherokee Purple’ is a prized heirloom-like hybrid developed by Craig LeHoullier in 1990. Though not technically linked to the Cherokee tribe, these tomatoes are still considered one of the best among beefsteaks, and purple beefsteaks, in particular.
‘Cherokee Purple’ has shiny skin in dusky rose and purple with pinkish-red flesh. Large and juicy, it has a sweet flavor with smoky notes. The fruit ripens mid-season (about 80 days from transplanting) and goes through frost.
While many big, beefy heirloom types are susceptible to defects and splitting due to their size, ‘Cherokee Purple’ resists cracking. Vines reliably produce plenty of the 10 to 12-ounce rounds.
‘Pineapple’
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botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Pineapple’ |
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sun requirements Full sun |
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height 6’ |
‘Pineapple’ pole is an indeterminate tomato variety that delights in form and flavor. One of the prettiest tomatoes, the golden orange fruits show red marbling inside and out. A grower favorite with award-winning taste, the flavor is low acid, sweet, and tangy with a fruity hint.
‘Pineapple’ has meaty flesh, few seeds, and a solid interior. The high-yielding vines need support to hold the hefty fruits that weigh one to two pounds each.
‘San Marzano’
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botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘San Marzano’ |
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sun requirements Full sun |
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height 6’ |
‘San Marzano’ tomatoes are a world-renowned paste tomato. Originally from southern Italy and prized for sauces, ‘San Marzano’ has heirloom qualities of vigorous growth and superior flavor. The complex, rich taste is sweet with low acidity, and ideal for preserving, canning, and fresh eating.
True ‘San Marzanos’ are a prized Italian export and protected under an official governmental convention, the Denominazione d’Origine Protetta, or Protected Designation of Origin. This designation certifies significant foods and foodways of Italian origin. You’ll recognize them from the bright yellow cans as whole peeled tomatoes on grocery shelves.
We can capture ‘San Marzano’ at home as slender, pointed plums that grow in clusters of six to eight. They’re large for paste tomatoes, each growing three to four inches long and weighing about five to six ounces. They have less water and seeds than other plums, making them meaty, thick, and ideal for pasting.
In addition to their delicious flavor, the vines are vigorous and resist fusarium and verticillium wilts. As productive fruiters, ‘San Marzano’ needs a large tomato cage or staking/trellising for best growth and support.
‘Sun Gold’
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botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Sun Gold’ |
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sun requirements Full sun |
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height 6’ |
‘Sun Gold’ is one of the sweetest, juiciest cherry tomatoes. A favorite indeterminate tomato variety for their abundant, firm fruits and deliciously sweet flavor, the thin-skinned rounds are perfectly poppable right from the vine.
‘Sun Gold’ has a Brix rating that regularly hits 12 (Brix is a measurement for dissolved sugars), while store-bought varieties are usually around 5 or 6. The little rounds are irresistible at peak ripeness. The Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit recipients also resist splitting and the diseases Fusarium wilt and tobacco mosaic virus.
‘Sun Gold’ is early to mature, ready to harvest about 57 days after transplanting. Each plant yields about 120 cherries. Clusters ripen first at the stem and progress to the lower fruits. The progressive ripening spans a few days for continual picking. Once the clusters get going, the harvests continue weekly into fall.
‘Brandywine’
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botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Brandywine’ |
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sun requirements Full sun |
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height 4-6’ |
‘Brandywine’ is one of the most well-known heirlooms and a classic summer slicer. The beefsteaks are big, juicy, Amish heirlooms revered for their flavor and size. The original ‘Brandywine’ is pink, while other strains are deep red, yellow, and orange.
It has a superior flavor that’s rich, sweet, and slightly spicy. They’re a gold standard for other tomatoes and suit fresh eating, canning, roasting, and saucing.
‘Brandywine’ ripens late in the season, taking up to 100 days to develop its weighty fruits. The fruits weigh up to a pound, and the vines benefit from sturdy supports.
‘Chocolate Cherry’
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botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Chocolate Cherry’ |
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sun requirements Full sun |
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height 5-6’ |
Thin-skinned and juicy, ‘Chocolate Cherry’ is among the most flavorful and sweetest of the cherries. With unique coloration and a sugary, bite-sized package, the one-inch cherry tomatoes ripen to purplish-red. Prolific clusters hold six to eight globes on tall vines.
‘Chocolate Cherry’ resists cracking, but the thin-skinned fruits are just as tasty picked early and allowed to ripen indoors. Picking early saves them from predators like birds and from filling with excess moisture to dilute the sweetness or burst.
‘Green Zebra’
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botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Green Zebra’ |
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sun requirements Full sun |
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height 5-6’ |
‘Green Zebra’ is bold and showy as a green-striped variety that stays green even when ripe. The golden green skins have darker striping for their zebra appeal. In addition to their ornament, they have good crack and disease resistance. They also withstand high heat and drought better than other selections.
Bred for their flavor, ‘Green Zebra’ balances acidity and sweetness. The two to three-inch rounds weigh three to five ounces and make ideal small slicers.
‘Black Krim’
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botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Black Krim’ |
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sun requirements Full sun |
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height 4-6’ |
‘Black Krim’ is an heirloom notable for its dark color, sizable fruits, and sweet, slightly salty taste. It was the first commercially available “black” variety and is a strong, early performer. The slicing types are dusky rose to deep purple, depending on the climate. In cool climates, they ripen to mahogany with green shoulders. They’ll turn deep purple-black in more heat and sun. The sweet and salty flavor remains stable across varying coloration at peak ripeness.
The eye-catching beefsteaks have dark, juicy interiors and a balanced flavor. ‘Black Krim’ is a selection from Krymsk, Russia, on the Black Sea across from the Crimean Peninsula. It fruits reliably, with meaty rounds that weigh 10 to 12 ounces.
‘Black Krim’ is late to mature, 70 to 90 days from transplanting, but before giants like ‘Brandywine’ and ‘Pineapple’.
‘Yellow Pear’
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botanical name Solanum lycopersicum ‘Yellow Pear’ |
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sun requirements Full sun |
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height 6-8’ |
We can’t get enough heirlooms on our list of favorite indeterminate tomato varieties. ‘Yellow Pear’ dates to 1700s Europe (and maybe even earlier). American colonists used them for pickling, canning, and flavoring soups, but they’re equally delicious right off the vine.
‘Yellow Pear’ brings masses of one-to-two-inch golden pears throughout the summer. Many strains of yellow pear are sold commercially with ease of growth, vigorous vines, and heavy production.
