Tomatoes: Indeterminate and Determinate

It’s often asked what the difference is between indeterminate and determinate tomato plants. I know I was confused for a while myself. Because I garden in a small space, I felt I needed to find a bush type tomato which led to a search to find the difference between the classification of indeterminate and determinate. 

One way to tell the difference is by how they fruit. The determinate tomato plant will produce all their fruit at one time, whereas the indeterminate plant will produce fruit until it dies back at the first frost. 

Another way you can tell the difference between the two varieties is in the way they grow. 

Indeterminate varieties grow longer sprawling vines and will require more support over the course of the season. This variety can become a large (6’-10') heavy plant and be left to sprawl all over the ground. However, this method of growing takes up a large amount of space. If staked, they will need strong stakes to help hold the weight of the plant as it grows. It can be helpful to keep them at a certain height by snipping the top, leaving any number of trusses with four being optimal. In this method, the side shoots should be picked out to help control the size of the plant. 

Determinate varieties are generally more compact and are a more manageable size. To harvest a heavy crop of tomatoes at certain intervals in the season, a gardener could grow both early and main season varieties of the determinate type. The early season tomato generally matures within 45 to 60 days. The main season plants mature in the mid to late season, requiring 70 to 80 days to maturity. 

In the end, I chose to use an open pollinated determinate variety because of limited space. Next time I will use the indeterminate variety. The main reason for choosing the indeterminate variety is that most indeterminate types are heirloom. The second reason is because the size of the plant can be controlled by staking and keeping the plant to four trusses. And lastly, one plant will produce all season.

  Mid-season, Rutgers determinate tomato about 10 weeks old.
A sample of the tomato size is in the top right corner.
They get to 8 ounces, are globular, smooth, bright red fruits
with thick walls, small seed cells, and are free from cracks
Bountiful Gardens

Linda Foley

About the Guest Author:

Linda Foley lives with her husband in Northern California. She blogs about gardening, small livestock, homesteading, and life. You can contact her via her blog @ LinderCroft