Types of tomatoes can be literally overwhelming to the average home gardener who would just like to plant a few tomato plants. There are thousands of different varieties, each with their own special identity and purpose. But how does one know which type of tomatoes to plant? If your plan is to plant a few tomato plants on your balcony than your choice of tomatoes would be totally different from someone wanting to fill their greenhouse with tomato plants who's tomato fruit will ripen continuously throughout the whole season until frost. On the other hand, for the person who is more concerned about growing a bountiful harvest so that they can preserve their crop would prefer that their tomatoes ripen in a short two to three week- period for convenience. In this article, I will give you a simple guide to understanding many types of tomatoes and how they are classified.

There are many different types of tomatoes to choose from, juicy salad tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, marble sized grape tomatoes, meaty paste tomatoes, and huge sweet beefsteak tomatoes. There are different colors of tomatoes deep red to orange, yellow, green and purple. Tomatoes come in all shapes from globe tomatoes, to heart shaped, marble sized and huge beefsteak. So there is no limit to what is available for your tomato growing needs.

Determinate Tomatoes and Indeterminate Tomatoes

The first tomato classification that is most convenient is whether it is Determinate or Indeterminate. Determinate tomatoes are bush type tomatoes. Determinate Tomatoes grow to a specific height up to 3 feet tall and produce flowers at the growing tip at the ends of all the branches instead of forming leaves when they are ready to bud. They blossom all at once, bear fruit, then die. They grow in a small bush like shape for the most part and require little pruning or support. A Determinate variety of tomatoes is great for the person who has a small area and lacks the time to maintain them. Determinate tomatoes are great for home owners who want to harvest their tomatoes all at one time. Planting determinate tomatoes is one of the perks for home gardeners who want to use their ripe tomatoes for preserving and canning.

Indeterminate Varieties by contrast produce blossom clusters all along their stems and grow longer vines, which require more support, such as staking or caging and must be pruned. They continue to flower and bear fruit for the entire season and are important for people who want a consistent supply of tomatoes throughout the season. For the better part, the belief is that they have a superior taste compared to the determinate varieties. For the home gardener, combining different varieties of tomatoes spreads the fresh tomato production over the longest possible season.

Heirloom Tomatoes or Hybrid Tomatoes

The second tomato classification centers on the tomatoes genetic line. An heirloom tomato is a variety of tomatoes that are open pollinated. Open pollination is when you save the seeds from a previous year tomato and replant those seeds the next year. The tomato plants that grow from those tomato seeds will be true to the original tomato plant. The heirloom tomato retains the same color, shape, taste and flavor of the original tomato plant that the seed was saved from.

Hybrid tomato varieties are the product of two or more parents that have been crossed to produce new tomato plants. Tomatoes that are grown in this manner do not stay true to the parent plant that the seed was saved from. You will not have the duplicate plant as the seeds came from. Hybrid tomatoes are bred for commercial growers, who favor disease resistance and uniformity in size and shape and color. Hybrid tomatoes do not have the same flavor as heirloom tomatoes.

When you are, choosing the tomato variety that best suits your needs you should take into consideration all the above points.

To sum up the above information, the different types of tomatoes can be classified in two groups determinate or indeterminate and heirloom or hybrid. This information should help you when it comes to choosing the exact types of tomatoes for your particular growing environment.