Tomato Terminology

Here’s a glossary of terms for those of you that have ever found yourselves wondering what certain words that are used to describe tomatoes and tomato plants mean. 

Growth habit types

Indeterminate: sometimes called vining tomatoes. Indeterminate varieties continue growing and setting fruit throughout the growing season, until killed by frost or disease. They can easily reach six feet tall and need support, like a large cage or if growing several in a row, something like the Florida Weave method. Often they need some pruning (removal of suckers) to improve airflow and help manage the growth. You’ll get a continuous harvest rather than one large harvest. Most tomatoes are indeterminate. A few examples are Brandywine, most cherry types, early girl, Cherokee purple. 

Determinate: also called bush tomatoes. Determinate tomatoes grow to a fixed size, usually 2-3 feet, and the fruit ripens in a short window of time, usually within two weeks.  This makes them good options for canning or making sauce and growing in smaller spaces, including containers. Staking or caging may still be useful, but isn’t necessary. They do not need to be pruned. A popular example is Roma. 

Semi-determinate: as the name suggests, they have some characteristics of indeterminate and determinate. There isn’t consensus on whether semi-determinate is even its own category, and so it’s a bit of a subjective category. For the purposes of talking about growth habit though, they are tomato plants that don’t get as large as indeterminates and produce fruit throughout the season. They get 3-4’ tall and make a good choice for containers. They will still need support. A couple that I have grown are maglia rosa and a hybrid called Garden Gem. 

Dwarf: Short, stocky varieties that get 1-2’ tall. Most are indeterminate, but have a very compact, tree-like growth habit. They have a sturdy central stem and don’t need support, and they shouldn’t be pruned either. There is a breeding project called the Dwarf Tomato Project, which has introduced many new varieties in a wide range of colors and flavors. Seeds can be harder to find, but are fun to experiment with if you can get your hands on them.

Open-pollinated, heirloom, and hybrid

Open-pollinated (OP): this refers to the flowers being pollinated by mechanisms such as wind and insects. Tomatoes are self-pollinating, meaning that the flower is pollinated by its own pollen. Seeds from the fruit breed “true to type”, as long as no pollen from other varieties is introduced. Seeds saved will be the same as the parent. There is a slight possibility of cross-pollinating, especially in some of the potato-leaf varieties. All heirlooms are open-pollinated, but not all open-pollinated ones are heirlooms (by most people’s definitions). 

Heirloom: Heirloom doesn’t have an exact agreed upon definition. Some consider it to be a variety that has been around for more than 50 years. Many consider heirloom varieties as those that are old and have been passed down through generations. They are open-pollinated. Some even refer to any open-pollinated tomatoes (non-hybrids) as heirloom (like recently developed cultivars). Heirlooms come in every combination of size and color that you could imagine. Many heirloom varieties have been cultivated in specific geographic areas, and are therefore suited to that climate. You may be interested in trying a variety that originated in a similar climate to yours. An example would be growing a Siberian variety bred for a short growing season at higher altitude in Colorado. Most though are versatile and grow well in many locations. Examples would include Cherokee Purple, Mortgage Lifter, and Brandywine.

Hybrid (F1): plants grown from seed that have been produced by pollinating two different tomato varieties together, or crossbred. This is done to select for specific beneficial traits of the different plants. This could be things like vigor, yield, disease resistance, and flavor. The seed from these fruit (referred to as F2 generation) would not necessarily produce a plant similar to the parent, and some may not even grow. A hybrid should not be confused with GMO. A hybrid just involves physical cross-pollination of two plants. Examples include sungold, celebrity, and early girl. You might choose a hybrid variety for things like yield, vigor, drought tolerance, and disease resistance. You must purchase new seed or plants every year. 

Fruit types - shapes and use

Cherry: small fruit that can be slightly flattened to oval. Great for fresh eating, or can be cut in half and thrown into a pasta.

Cocktail: size is between a cherry and a medium sized tomato. Good for fresh eating.

Pear: the shape of the tomato. They can be small and cherry sized, or larger medium sized. Examples would be a yellow pear or a japanese black trifele. 

Globe: round shaped tomato. 

Slicing: term for how you may use the tomato - these tomatoes are good for fresh eating, like in sandwiches, or even salads. Typically juicy with a good texture. 

Beefsteak:  a type of tomato, large and irregular shaped. Examples would be a brandywine, pruden’s purple, cherokee purple, or mortgage lifter.

Oxheart: uncommon. Heart-shaped fruit that range in size from small to medium.

Paste: tomatoes are meaty and have a drier, denser flesh. This makes them suited for making sauce and canning. Examples are san marzano, opalka, amish paste, and polish linguisa. 

Plum: oval fruit. They can range from the size of cherry tomatoes to mid-sized. This term can be used interchangeably with paste. They are good for processing, making sauce, salsa, and canning. Examples are san marzano and roma. 

Saladette: good for salsas and sauces. Meatier and less juicy than others. Used like paste tomatoes, and term is sometimes used interchangeably.

Foliage types

Regular- leaf: foliage has deep, irregular serrations around the edge. Most tomato plants have this type of foliage.

Potato-leaf: foliage does not have indentations around the margin of the leaf. They usually have a smooth leaf-edge. Examples are brandywine and pruden’s purple. 

Wispy: a variation of regular-leaf, uncommon. Wispy, droopy, narrow foliage type. I have seen it with some paste tomatoes, and it’s common with heart varieties. At first glance, they may look like there is something wrong with it, but it is just a variation. 

Angora: fuzzy, hairy leaves. Uncommon. An example is the roughwood orange tiger I am growing this year. 

Rugose: dark green, rough and grooved leaf surface. Dwarf varieties have this type of foliage, and can exhibit regular- or potato-leaf. 

Variegated: very rare, but as the name suggests, the foliage has areas of dark and pale splotches.

Other terms

Cultivar: the variety of a plant. It refers to the result of intentional breeding.

Cotyledons: the first leaves of a plant, sometimes called seed leaves. The first set of true leaves follows these ones. 

Crack-resistant: some tomatoes with inconsistent moisture crack around the shoulders. It can happen with 

Days to maturity: Days from transplanting the seedlings to the first fruit ripening. It’s important to note it doesn’t have to do with when you start them from seed, but when you plant in the garden. Tomatoes will range from 50 days to more than 90 days to maturity. The varieties at the beginning of this range are referred to as early season, followed by mid-season, and late-season varieties. 

Are there any terms you have come across that I didn’t cover? Let me know!