Determinate vs. Indeterminate Tomatoes

Indeterminate tomato varieties are vining plants that continue to grow longer and set fruit throughout the growing season. Determinate tomatoes reach their mature height, set all their fruit at once, and stop growing. The terms refer to the growth habit of tomato varieties, which can be bush (determinate) or vining (indeterminate). 

All tomato plants are vines but indeterminate tomatoes grow much longer than determinate varieties. If left to their natural tendencies, tomato vines can become a damp, tangled mess on the soil, where they attract diseases and pests. For this reason, most gardeners grow tomatoes using stakes, cages, or trellises.

Indeterminate Tomatoes

Indeterminate tomatoes grow, flower, and produce fruit throughout the growing season until the first fall frost kills the plant. These plants can reach heights of up to 12 feet, although 6 feet is typical.

Providing Support

Indeterminate tomato varieties need large, sturdy stakes or caging for support because of how long they grow. The growth pattern on some indeterminate varieties is so robust that ordinary tomato cages are often inadequate.

You can buy various kinds of staking structures for tomatoes, or make your own. If using metal tomato cages, be aware that the smaller ones won't be sufficient to support these large plants. Get the largest ones you can find (at least 4 feet tall) and reinforce them with wood or bamboo stakes.

Wooden or metal rebar stakes can provide good support for tomato plants, but you may want to add some additional support with twine, or twist ties.

Pruning

Pinch back suckers on indeterminate tomatoes to prevent unmanageable growth. Never pinch out a sucker directly below a blossom, as this causes uneven growth in the plant and reduces your harvest.

Your tomato plants may get a lot of leaves and this will sometimes prevent the fruit from getting ample sunlight. To get them to ripen faster and more evenly, trim sun-blocking leaves. This also directs more of the plant's energy toward the ripening fruit.

How to Harvest Indeterminate Tomatoes

Indeterminate tomatoes give you a slow and steady supply of tomatoes, rather than one large harvest. However, they tend to start ripening a little later in the season than determinate varieties because they first spend a good amount of time growing tall.

Your plants may keep producing fruit late into the season, so be sure to keep an eye on the nightly temperatures. If there's any danger of frost, pick your tomatoes, even the green ones, You can always set them on a sunny windowsill or place them inside brown paper bags to ripen off the vine.

​The Spruce / K. Dave 

Determinate Tomatoes

Determinate tomatoes grow to a predetermined height (approximately 4 feet tall). The plant stops growing when fruit sets on the top bud, and all of the fruit ripens at or near the same time (usually over two weeks). The plant then stops producing fruit and dies. Most sauce tomato varieties are determinate so that the entire crop ripens at once for making sauce, canning, and jarring in large batches. The restricted growth habit takes less garden space and makes indeterminate tomatoes more suitable for growing in containers than indeterminate tomatoes.

Providing Support

Staking is required but not nearly as much as that required by indeterminate tomato varieties. The plants have a heavy load once all of the fruits set and begin to plump up and ripen so staking will help support the plant and prevent the branches from splitting.

Pruning

Pruning and sucker removal are generally not needed because determinate tomatoes stop growing on their own.

How to Harvest Determinate Tomatoes

Determinate tomato plants ripen all their fruit in a short period (usually about two weeks). Once the fruit has ripened, the plant will begin to diminish in vigor and will set little to no new fruit.

​The Spruce / K. Dave

Which Tomato Type Should I Plant?

Both determinate and indeterminate tomato varieties have pluses and minuses. Selection depends on how you plan to use the tomatoes and the length of your growing season. If you want a tomato for making sauces, you are better off with a paste tomato, which tends to be determinate with fewer seeds and more meat. If you typically eat your tomatoes fresh and want a season-long supply, go for an indeterminate variety.

If you live where the growing season is only a couple of months long, determinate tomatoes might be a better choice. However, there are short-season indeterminate varieties. Contact your local Extension Service office for recommendations and experiment with varieties that grow best in your area and those you enjoy eating and preserving.

Recommended Determinate and Indeterminate Tomato Varieties

Most tomato varieties available in the garden trade are indeterminate, including heirloom, cherry, and dwarf tomato varieties. Some of the most popular indeterminate tomatoes, include 'Beefsteak', 'Big Boy', 'Brandywine', 'Sungold', and 'Sweet Million'.

Early producing varieties, such as 'Early Girl', are also indeterminate. However, because they tend to mature earlier and die back before the end of the growing season, they are sometimes labeled semi-determinate.

Here are some suggestions for recent tomato varieties with good reviews from horticulturalists and garden authorities:

• Celebrity: Semi-determinate hybrid globe tomato that grows to 3-4 feet tall. Produces fruit about 8 to 10 ounces in size about 70 days from planting and continues to produce until frost.
• San Marzano Nano: Unlike other San Marzano tomatoes, this one is determinate and the plant stays at a manageable size. This Roma-style heirloom plum tomato is juicy, flavorful, and a highly-desirable cooking tomato.
• Amish Paste: This medium-sized pear tomato is a sweet-tasting heirloom that grows to between 8-12 ounces. It's excellent for cooking and canning, and also good for slicing into salads. As with other heirloom tomatoes, the seeds may be gathered after harvest for replanting the following season.
• Marglobe: Determinate heirloom with a somewhat spreading growth habit. Ripens at 75 days, disease resistant with very firm flesh that resists bruising and cracking.
• Rutgers: Determinate variety that produces a large early crop of fruit followed by several more during the season. A strong, disease-resistant plant with flavorful fruits that stand up to handling.

Indeterminate Varieties

• Better Boy: Indeterminate hybrid beefsteak tomato. Produces fruit 10 to 16 ounces in size about 75 days from planting.
• Big Beef: Indeterminate hybrid beefsteak tomato. Produces fruit 10 to 12 ounces in size about 73 days from planting.
• Big Boy: Indeterminate hybrid tomato. Produces fruit 10 to 16 ounces in size about 78 days after planting.
• Early Girl: Indeterminate hybrid globe tomato. Produces fruit about 8 ounces in size about 50 to 52 days after planting.
• Juliet: Indeterminate hybrid elongated cherry tomato. Produces 1-ounce fruit about 60 days after planting.
• Sun Sugar: Indeterminate hybrid cherry tomato with orange fruit. Produces 1-ounce fruit about 62 days after planting.
  

​The Spruce / K. Dave 

FAQ

• Which is better, a determinate or indeterminate tomato plant?

  Both determinate and indeterminate tomato varieties have their pluses and minuses. The choice depends on how you plan to use the tomatoes and the length of your growing season. If you want a thick tomato for making sauces, you are better off with a paste tomato, which tends to be determinate with fewer seeds and more meat. If you typically eat your tomatoes fresh and want a season-long supply, go for an indeterminate variety.

• What are the best-tasting indeterminate tomatoes?

  Some of the most popular indeterminate tomatoes to grow include the varieties 'Beefsteak', 'Big Boy', 'Brandywine', 'Sungold', and 'Sweet Million'.

• Do you need to prune indeterminate tomatoes?

  Yes, you need to prune indeterminate tomato plants. These tomato plants grow over a long season and produce a lot of leaves. Pruning allows more energy to be directed to fruit production instead of leaves and allows more sunlight to ripen the fruits on the vine.

• How tall should I allow my indeterminate tomatoes to grow?

  Some indeterminate tomatoes can grow as high as 10 feet or even taller. If they're hard to reach or manage, use your support structures to let them spread out a bit instead of growing upwards, You can also trim them at the top, but you will sacrifice some fruit.