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Growing Yellow Tomatoes: A Comprehensive Guide
Choosing the Right Yellow Tomato Variety
With hundreds of tomato varieties available, selecting the perfect yellow tomato for your garden can be overwhelming. Consider these factors:
- Indeterminate vs. Determinate: Indeterminate varieties continue to grow throughout the season, while determinate varieties have a limited growth habit.
- Fruit Size: Yellow tomatoes come in a range of sizes, from bite-sized cherry tomatoes to large beefsteak tomatoes.
- Flavor: Yellow tomatoes generally have a milder, sweeter flavor than red tomatoes, but there are variations among varieties. Some have a tangy or fruity taste.
- Disease Resistance: Some yellow tomato varieties are more resistant to common diseases, such as blight and fusarium wilt.
Planting and Care
Yellow tomatoes require similar growing conditions as red tomatoes:
- Sun: Full sun for at least 6 hours per day.
- Soil: Well-draining, fertile soil with a pH of 6.0 to 6.8.
- Water: Water deeply and regularly, especially during hot, dry periods.
- Fertilizer: Fertilize every few weeks with a balanced fertilizer.
- Mulch: Mulch around plants to retain moisture and suppress weeds.
Recommended Yellow Tomato Varieties
Here are some of the most popular and highly-rated yellow tomato varieties:
- Amish Gold: Indeterminate, 1 1/2 to 2 inch oblong-shaped tomatoes with a sweet/tart flavor.
- Azoychka: Early-maturing, 5 to 8 ounce bright yellow tomatoes with a tart flavor.
- Basinga: Heirloom, large (6 to 8 ounces), pale lemon-colored tomatoes with a mild, sweet flavor.
- Beauty King: Indeterminate, very large one-pound tomatoes with bold red stripes and a meaty, flavorful interior.
- Dixie Golden Giant: Heirloom, open-pollinated, 1 to 2-pound golden yellow beefsteak tomatoes with a sweet flavor.
- Dr. Wyche’s Yellow Tomato: Indeterminate heirloom, one pound golden-yellow tomatoes with meaty flesh and rich flavor.
- Earl of Edgecombe: Heirloom, 3-inch round tomatoes with a yellowish-orange flesh that is firm and meaty.
- Lemon Boy: Hybrid, globe-shaped tomatoes with a mild, slightly tangy flavor.
- Profi Frutti Grape Yellow: Indeterminate, produces large bunches of extra sweet grape-size tomatoes on an indeterminate vine.
- Sun Sugar Yellow Cherry Tomatoes: Disease-resistant, produces hundreds of small, sweet yellow cherry tomatoes.
- Yellow Brandywine: Heirloom, tends to be more orange than yellow, large-sized fruit with a potato-leaf variety.
- Yellow Pear Tomato: One of the oldest small fruit tomatoes, produces masses of 1 1/2 to 2 inch pear-shaped, lemon-colored fruits.
- Yellow Plum Tomato: Old variety, produces large amounts of small, mild, and sweet 1 by 1 1/4 inch oval-shaped fruits.
Harvesting Yellow Tomatoes
Yellow tomatoes are ripe when they are fully colored and slightly soft to the touch. Harvest them by gently twisting them off the vine. Store ripe tomatoes at room temperature for a few days or refrigerate them for up to a week.
Additional Tips for Success
- Start seeds indoors about six weeks before the last frost of spring.
- Plant seedlings deeply, burying the stem up to the first set of leaves.
- Provide support for indeterminate varieties to prevent them from sprawling.
- Water consistently and deeply, especially during hot, dry weather.
- Fertilize regularly to promote healthy growth and fruiting.
- Mulch around plants to retain moisture and suppress weeds.
- Rotate tomato crops each year to prevent disease buildup.
- Harvest tomatoes regularly to encourage continued production.
