What is the best yielding tomato with short stature

[CtGrower]

We are expanding our garden at the food pantry and we would like to grow tomatoes in raised beds in the front of the building. Shorter plants are preferable to look best in the front of the building. I'm thinking either dwarf's or determinates that can be trellised with florida weave. Our goal is grow as many medium sized familiar color (red/yellow/purple) tomatos as possible to be able to share with the most people. Currently considering Rosella Purple, Dwarf Wild Spud, Tasmanian Chocolate, Dwarf Gloria's treat, Early Wonder, Defiant PhR (F1) , Celebrity+ (F1). We have not grown any of these varieties before. What tomato's would you recommend?

[Whwoz]

What's the use planned for these tomatoes @CtGrower , do you want paste, slicers/beefsteak types or cherry tomatoes.
Shere Khan would be a good one for paste/sauce as are USDA 97L97 for an orange and Japanese Onion for one that is a bit more yellow. Both tend to be dry and cook down quickly, especially if milled before hand. Elbonian Hip Deep is a very tasty brown if you want something a bit different.

[CtGrower]

We are looking mostly for slicers < 10oz. Cherries would be good as well. Ive never heard of the varieties that you suggest. Do they have high yields?

[karstopography]

“Roadster” high yielding, compact determinate, 8-12 ounces, red.

[MissS]

@CtGrower I moved this topic to Tomato Talk where more people will see it and hopefully have more responses.

It would help to answer your question better if we knew what part of the country that you are growing in. It is easy to add a general location under your avatar. viewtopic.php?t=1223

What height are you looking for? It makes a big difference in what I would suggest for you.

[Whwoz]

We are looking mostly for slicers < 10oz. Cherries would be good as well. Ive never heard of the varieties that you suggest. Do they have high yields?

Good yields on them under my Australian conditions although the only one that is a slicer is Elbonian Hip Deep, which would be available through the MMMM run by @Tormato. May well be worth you checking out the MMMM master list tomatoes and cross referencing some of the varieties with the likes of Tatiana's Tomatobase for those that sound interesting.

[Homegrwoninillinois]

A tomato with good flavor, is beautiful and gave me a lot of fruit this past year was the Dwarf Metallica, it’s a good sized slicer.

Rebel starfighter Dipper’s delight was also productive.

Flavor wasn’t as great but I don’t favor orange and yellows was Dwarf Blazing Beauty.

All three above have good production, nice size for use, and count be contained easily.

For an even smaller option but for a cherry I would recommend Karen Olivier’s Ruby Slippers. Plants were only about 18 inches in the ground for me but created a large amount of fruits all year long.

If you are in Australia maybe Patrina’s Gondwana dwarf series would be more available to you?

~Sam

[bower]

There is quite a lot of variation in height of determinate plants, but that also varies with conditions. At least we can say, they don't require pruning (much or at all) and can be supported with Florida weave to make a productive hedge.
Other food pantry growers have mentioned that red tomatoes are in highest demand, so I would recommend EM Champion as a very productive determinate with red, heart shaped fruit of varying sizes. It produced a lot for me even growing in a 5 gallon pot, and the fruit are nice and sweet. Also quite early.

[karstopography]

https://txmg.org/hendersonmg/plant-libr ... s%20superb!

More on Roadster. 65 dtm is an attractive number. Celebrity + is going to end up to be a bigger plant and more days to maturity. Celebrity plus is sort of in that large determinant, semi-determinate class. . Roadster checks the OP’s < 10 ounce slicer.

Black Sea Man is a dark 75 dtm 8 ounce determinate.

Bobcat is even more of a small bush type that makes 10 ounce fruit and is 68 dtm. https://tomatogrowers.com/products/bobcat-hybrid-tomato

[Paulf]

Having taken part in the development of a number of dwarfs now on the market, most were now especially productive and many were not especially short in stature. True, a lot of my efforts were early in the process so that the dwarfism had not yet manifested itself. Of all the tomato varieties I have grown there is one that does stick in my mind as shorter in stature than most. For me Cherokee Purple has been about the same height as most dwarfs and bush style plants. With CP you get a smaller plant with a fair amount of production and a seriously excellent flavor. Ninety-nine percent of my plants are in the tall to very tall category and that is on purpose.

[habitat-gardener]

Bush Early Girl F1 outproduced 5-6 other red determinate hybrids a couple years ago.

[CtGrower]

@CtGrower I moved this topic to Tomato Talk where more people will see it and hopefully have more responses.

It would help to answer your question better if we knew what part of the country that you are growing in. It is easy to add a general location under your avatar. viewtopic.php?t=1223

What height are you looking for? It makes a big difference in what I would suggest for you.

Thanks for moving the topic! I thought I was starting this in Tomato Talk. Hmm.. will look into this before posting again.
I added my location to my profile. I'm in Eastern Ct, Zone 6B. Brand new here, so thanks for the help and patience

As far as tomato height, I would say between 2-4ft which could be trellised with Florida weave. Super small, like micro dwarfs would be easiest, but would not have as much yield.

[Tormahto]

There is quite a lot of variation in height of determinate plants, but that also varies with conditions. At least we can say, they don't require pruning (much or at all) and can be supported with Florida weave to make a productive hedge.
Other food pantry growers have mentioned that red tomatoes are in highest demand, so I would recommend EM Champion as a very productive determinate with red, heart shaped fruit of varying sizes. It produced a lot for me even growing in a 5 gallon pot, and the fruit are nice and sweet. Also quite early.

In my garden, EM Champion, has very low production, of sometimes huge hearts (up to 24 ounces), with great flavor.

I've never trialed a short stature plant, with high yielding, good tasting, medium to large tomatoes. Siletz has had the best production, of awful tasting bags of gel.

[CtGrower]

“Roadster” high yielding, compact determinate, 8-12 ounces, red.

I have not heard of Roadster. What color is it and how tall does it get? Is it hybrid or OP? Thanks

[CtGrower]

A tomato with good flavor, is beautiful and gave me a lot of fruit this past year was the Dwarf Metallica, it’s a good sized slicer.

Rebel starfighter Dipper’s delight was also productive.

Flavor wasn’t as great but I don’t favor orange and yellows was Dwarf Blazing Beauty.

All three above have good production, nice size for use, and count be contained easily.

For an even smaller option but for a cherry I would recommend Karen Olivier’s Ruby Slippers. Plants were only about 18 inches in the ground for me but created a large amount of fruits all year long.

If you are in Australia maybe Patrina’s Gondwana dwarf series would be more available to you?

~Sam

Thanks, for the suggestions!

[CtGrower]

We are looking mostly for slicers < 10oz. Cherries would be good as well. Ive never heard of the varieties that you suggest. Do they have high yields?

Good yields on them under my Australian conditions although the only one that is a slicer is Elbonian Hip Deep, which would be available through the MMMM run by @Tormato. May well be worth you checking out the MMMM master list tomatoes and cross referencing some of the varieties with the likes of Tatiana's Tomatobase for those that sound interesting.

What is the MMMM?? I have heard of Tatiana's and can cross check there. I bet Australia would have quite a bit different growing conditions than ours in Eastern Ct, but will look into it. Thanks!

[CtGrower]

There is quite a lot of variation in height of determinate plants, but that also varies with conditions. At least we can say, they don't require pruning (much or at all) and can be supported with Florida weave to make a productive hedge.
Other food pantry growers have mentioned that red tomatoes are in highest demand, so I would recommend EM Champion as a very productive determinate with red, heart shaped fruit of varying sizes. It produced a lot for me even growing in a 5 gallon pot, and the fruit are nice and sweet. Also quite early.

Yes, red tomatoes are in the highest demand at the food pantry. Thanks for the recommendation! This looks to be a good possibility.
I have only grown indeterminates, but am expanding to include dwarf and determinates due to the plant size (and less pruning!). About how long did the EM Champion produce fruit? My research indicates about 2-3weeks of fruit production before the determinates are done. Wondering if there might be enough time to plan for a fall crop? We have about 163d growing season.

[karstopography]

“Roadster” high yielding, compact determinate, 8-12 ounces, red.

I have not heard of Roadster. What color is it and how tall does it get? Is it hybrid or OP? Thanks

https://txmg.org/hendersonmg/plant-libr ... -roadster/#

Roadster is a popular red hybrid here, Roadster plants end up smaller than Celebrity.

https://www.totallytomato.com/product/T00636/127

Adapted for container growing.

The tomatoes will look very much like what most of the general population thinks a tomato should look like. I volunteered at a pantry in Massachusetts once upon a time and heirloom tomatoes, with their maybe larger blossom scars and other “imperfections” were often rejected in favor of “perfect” red globes. Roadster has a better shot at being “attractive” to many vs. something heirloom that might look “weird” to a good number of the patrons of a food pantry. Just a thought and not throwing shade at anyone, just an experience I had with this type of stuff. My son worked at another food pantry and would reinforce this view.

[MissS]

I grew Hanky Red this past season. It was a production machine of 6-8 oz red fruits. The yields were off the chart and the plant grew to 3.5 ft tall. Another shorter productive one was McClintlock's Big Pink. Neither the plants or the fruits are big. The plants were about 4 ft tall and the fruit about 8 oz. The seeds for these are hard to come by. If you would like some for a SASE then PM me and they are yours. For everyone else they will be in the MMMM this year.

@CtGrower The MMMM is the Mostly Mystery Mater Mailing which is a huge swap sponsored by Tormato. It's well under way for this year. Save up seed and jump right in next year.
viewforum.php?f=117

[ddsack]

Medvezhiya Lapa, it's been a while since I grew this one, maybe I will dig up the seeds for this season. I recall it as a short, bushy, very prolific red, kept going over a long season. As I read descriptions from various sellers, there seems to be a taller one with larger tomatoes. Originating in Siberia, the Russian name translates as Bear Paw, but it's not to be confused with the larger variety Bear Claw, which has a West Virginia origin.

The one I grew was like Tania's description in her Tomatobase - "indet., regular leaf compact plant with high yield of bright red beefsteak fruits, mostly in 5-12 oz range, most fruits are blemish-free, juicy, non-sweet, very good flavor. "