There are more than 10,000 Tomato varieties worldwide!

Tomato World Records

There are a number of word records broken with Tomatoes.

1. Tallest Tomato Plant – according to the Guinness World of Records, a UK company in October 1999 reached a height of 19.8 meters (65 ft).

2. Most Cherry Tomatoes grown on a single stem – Douglas Smith from the UK, broke the world record by growing 1269 cherry tomatoes on one plant stem in Sept 2021.

3. Heaviest Tomato – grown by Del & Julie Faust from USA in October 2022. The Tomato weighed 11.65 pounds. (Approx 5 kg).

4. Most Tomatoes on a single tomato plant – Douglas Smith from the UK, broke this record in August 2022 by harvesting 5891 tomatoes off a single tomato plant.

How to Choose a Tomato Variety

It’s difficult to know where to begin on choosing a Tomato variety. I find it’s easier when the tomatoes are broken down into Types of Tomato and then there’s not so many to choose from.

1. Choose your Tomato Type

A Tomato Type is a description of the shape or size of a tomato.

Here are your choices:

1. Small and Round – Cherry Tomatoes (small, round, they are quick to grow and you get lots of them.)

2. Small and Long – Plum Tomatoes (like cherry tomatoes but longer).

3. Medium – Salad Tomatoes.

4. Large – Beef Tomatoes (big, steak tomatoes have a meaty texture)

5. Extra Large – Giant Tomatoes (very large & the size of your hand).

2. Choose your Tomato Colour

• Red
• Orange
• Yellow
• Green
• Brown
• White
• Purple
• Black

3. Choose your Final Planting Location

• In the Greenhouse – Any tomato can be grown in a greenhouse but there are specific varieties that need a greenhouse and don’t like being grown outdoors.

Greenhouse Only Tomato Varieties: Any Beefsteak varieties. They need light & heat to grow to their large size.

• Outdoors in Raised Beds – these are varieties that like the outdoors temperatures.

Outdoor varieties like: Outdoor Girl, Gardeners Delight. Most Tomatoes can be grown outdoors.

• Outdoors in Pots – these are more compact, bushy plants that are not too tall.

Pot Tomato Varieties: Lizzano, Tiny Tim, Micro Tom, Losetto, Orangeto, Baby Boomer.

• Outdoors in Hanging Baskets – these are trailing varieties with small cherry or currant size tomatoes.

Hanging Baskets Tomato Varieties: Tumbling Tom, gartenperle, Tumber F1 & Hundreds & Thousands.

4. Choose your Tomato by Feature

There are some features that you may use to choose your tomato variety.

• Blight Resistant – these are varieties that are able to survive through the tomato disease Blight.
• Examples of Blight Resistant Tomatoes are: Crimson Cherry F1, Crimson Crush, Crimson Plum, Losetto, Lizzano, Romello F1 & Mountain Magic F1.

Other Reading on Tomatoes:

Part 1 📕 Tomatoes – Origin, Nutrition and Reasons to Grow.

Part 2 📗 Tomatoes – How to Sow Tomato Seeds with Short Sowing Video

Part 3 📘 Tomatoes – How to Choose a Tomato Variety to Grow

Part 4 📙 How to Pot On your Tomato Seedlings

💦 My Tomato Greenhouse setup with Growbag watering system– l’ll be using this again this year as it was so successful.

Top 3 Tips on Getting your Tomatoes to turn Red

🍅 And Finally… The Italian Job – Tomato Harvest – last year’s Italian tomato harvest.