- Choose early maturing varieties for highest yields—70 days or less (see chart)
- Sow seed indoors 6 to 8 weeks before last frost or buy started plants
- Make sure the plants you buy have strong, thick stems and are not leggy
- Harden off before planting
- Plant in a new spot every 3 years to escape soil-borne diseases.
- Warm ground before planting with black plastic
- Pinch off lower leaves and plant a few inches deeper than in pot
- Use wall-o- water for the greenhouse effect and frost protection
- Use red mulch film to reflect light upward, improving yield and flavor
- Support plants for air circulation and sun exposure, increase early higher yields, facilitate harvesting
- Fertilize with a high-phosphorus fertilizer
- Prune indeterminate plants for earlier, larger, more high-quality fruit
- Keep soil evenly moist & don’t let the ground get too dry to prevent blossom end rot
- Use Pyrethrin or row covers to discourage flea beetles
- Clean up and destroy old vines at the end of the season to prevent disease
Name | Size | Days to Maturity | Determinate or Indeterminate | Color | Other Info |
Sunsugar | Cherry | 65 | Ind | Orange | Sweet, wins taste tests |
Juliet | Grape | 60 | Ind | Red | Reliable, prolific fruit set |
Polar Baby | Small 2” | 60 | Det | Red | Cold weather tomato from Alaska |
Stupice | Small 2” | 60-65 | Ind | Red | Czechoslovakian |
Glacier | Small 2” | 55 | Det | Red | Very Early |
Beli Naliv | 6-8 oz | 60 | Det | Red | Cluster-type, Russian |
Celebrity | 8 oz | 70 | Det | Red | Disease resistant |
Parks Whopper | 4” | 65 | Ind | Red | Disease resistant |