I’m sure we can all agree that there is nothing quite like a freshly picked, homegrown tomato.
In fact, I would go so far as to say enjoying an exceptional tomato can be an almost life changing experience.
This might sound a tad dramatic, but I can certainly testify to this.
Growing up in England, a place not exactly renowned for being sunny, it’s safe to say the tomatoes of my youth weren’t typically top quality.
Years later, while exploring the south of France, I was visiting a farm and was invited by the farmer to choose a few tomatoes fresh from the vine.
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I chose a little bright yellow one, and the second I popped it in my mouth and experienced the explosion of taste and texture that followed, I knew I would never again be satisfied with the supermarket toms of my childhood.
Luckily for us tomato enthusiasts, there are many varieties to choose from, with over 700 different types in cultivation today.
A rainbow of options are available in all shades, from red to yellow to purple, in all shapes and sizes, from a teeny-tiny cherry up to the biggest, beefiest slicer.
I can say without reservation that there’s a perfect type out there to suit every gardener’s needs.
Here, we explore a selection of the best hybrid varieties to grow in your garden. If heirlooms are what you’re after, you can read more about those here.
17 of the Best Hybrid Tomato Varieties
When choosing varieties to plant in your garden, you’ll find that you come across two kinds of seeds: hybrid and heirloom.
Hybrid plants are a cross of two different varieties, designed to select the best traits from both parents.
They tend to have desirable traits such as improved disease resistance, more dependable yields, less required TLC, and higher quality fruit.
There is one drawback: although they tend to have more beneficial traits, you can’t save and replant hybrid seeds as you can with heirloom tomatoes, since they won’t grow true to type.
From the tiniest tom to the biggest beefsteak variety, tomatoes certainly come in some impressive shapes and sizes.
As an absolute sucker for beautiful multi-colored veggies, I always get really excited about all the rainbow colored hybrids on offer.
In addition, hybrids are often perfect for creating fun visual effects, and tomatoes one of the best types of produce for this.
When growing tomatoes, you will find cultivars are either classified as “determinate” or “indeterminate.”
Indeterminate varieties grow continuously until killed by frost, whereas determinate cultivars will only grow to a certain height (usually when the fruit sets on the top bud) and then stop growing.
Other differences include that determinate varieties tend to ripen faster and simultaneously, whereas indeterminate cultivars produce for a much longer period.
Read more about determinate vs indeterminate tomatoes here.
1. Better Boy
‘Better Boy’ is a slicer or beefsteak variety, producing fruits up to 16 ounces with a balanced sweet-tangy flavor.
This hybrid is a prolific producer – the known record is 342 pounds of fruit from a single plant!
The indeterminate vines grow five to eight feet with dense foliage that protects fruit from sunscald and is resistant to verticillium and fusarium wilt.
The fruit matures in 70 to 75 days.
You can find ‘Better Boy’ seeds and plants available at Burpee.
2. Black Pearl
A standout in taste tests is the ‘Black Pearl’ cherry cultivar.
This indeterminate type has a deep, rich, and sweet flavor all at the same time.
The round, one-ounce fruits are a deep purplish-red with a mahogany hue and bright red flesh, on plants that typically grow four to five feet tall with an 18-inch spread.
Some growers report that the flavor of this variety when chilled is reminiscent of a Concord grape.
‘Black Pearl’ only takes 65 days to reach full maturity. Seeds are available from Burpee.
3. Celebrity
Bright red ‘Celebrity’ tomatoes are globe-shaped, firm, and crack-resistant, with a mild flavor and meaty texture.
Perfect as slicers, they grow on semi-determinate vines which means a growth habit similar to a determinate variety but with the extended harvest season of indeterminate.
Plants reach three to four feet tall and are highly disease-resistant.
Expect to start harvesting this All-America Selections winner after 70 days.
Ready to add a ‘Celebrity’ to your garden? You can find plants and seeds available at Burpee.
4. Early Girl
A classic, medium-sized slicer, ‘Early Girl’ packs sweet flavor and aroma into five- to six-ounce fruits.
This indeterminate hybrid grows up to six feet tall and is resistant to fusarium wilt and verticillium.
Maturing in just 50 to 60 days, this one certainly lives up to her name.
You can find ‘Early Girl’ seeds and plants available at Burpee.
5. Galahad
‘Galahad’ is a vibrant red slicer or beefsteak variety with sweet, meaty flesh, weighing in at nine to 10 ounces.
The globe-shaped fruits feature excellent crack resistance as well as being resistant to gray leaf spot, late blight, and fusarium and verticillium wilt.
An All-American Selections winner, ‘Galahad’ is a determinate type with a compact growth habit, topping out at about four feet tall.
You can expect to harvest about 55 days after transplanting.
Grab some seeds in a variety of packet sizes from High Mowing Organic Seeds.
6. Juliet
An All-America Selections Winner in 1999, this tiny red cherry variety, weighing in at just one-ounce apiece, is produced in grape-like clusters on vigorous, indeterminate vines.
Vines can reach four to six feet in length and fruits typically mature in 60 to 70 days.
‘Juliet’ tomatoes grow to be between one and one and a half inches long and they are sweet and plentiful, with excellent crack resistance.
Seeds are available from True Leaf Market.
7. Lemon Boy
Another colorful delight is this bright yellow ‘Lemon Boy’ hybrid. The fruits are bright lemon-yellow, weigh about six to eight ounces and have an intense, slightly tangy taste.
Ideal for slicing, the fruits are resistant to verticillium and fusariam wilt, as well as nematodes.
Ready to harvest in 72 days, this plant produces high quality fruit on vigorous, indeterminate vines that grow up to five feet long.
You can find seeds available at True Leaf Market in a variety of packet sizes.
8. Midnight Snack
When you think of antioxidants, the classic “superfoods” such as blueberries might come to mind.
Well, the same antioxidants that put the “blue” in blueberry can also be found in purple tomato varieties.
‘Midnight Snack’ is similarly purple/dark blueish thanks to the same anthocyanins found in other darkly hued superfoods, and it is jam-packed with nutrition and a delicious sweet flavor.
This indeterminate variety was the 2017 All-America Selections Winner and grows to a mature size of about six feet.
Harvest about 65 to 70 days from planting. You can find packets of seeds available at Burpee.
9. Napa Grape
‘Napa Grape’ is a firm favorite, regularly beating its rivals for best flavor.
Thanks to its higher than average sugar content, this tiny tomato is deliciously sweet and retains this sweetness all summer long.
This indeterminate variety produces tiny one-inch fruits that are ready for picking in 65 days on plants that grow to about four feet tall.
You can find seeds available from Burpee.
10. Orange Slice
‘Orange Slice’ is an eye-catching beefsteak or slicing variety, producing round 16-ounce fruits that was introduced to market in 2011.
A vigorous indeterminate hybrid that offers a beautiful and bountiful bright orange crop, it is perfect for slicing up for salads.
This variety thrives in full sun and is ready for picking in 75 days.
This is a plant that needs its space, as it spreads up to 54 inches, so it’s not ideal for growing on apartment balconies or tiny backyard patios.
Grab yourself some seeds from Burpee.
11. Shimmer
For a stunning garden centerpiece, consider ‘Shimmer.’ These magical little tomatoes are slightly bigger than your average cherry variety, with a unique almond shape.
Instead of the typical red, it’s covered with green stripes and touches of shimmering gold, and is absolutely beautiful.
With yields of 300 to 350 fruits per plant in a season, there’ll be plenty to go around. This is an indeterminate type that grows to about four feet tall and matures in 70 to 80 days.
Seeds are available from Burpee.
12. SteakHouse
You could feed an army with ‘SteakHouse.’
One of the biggest types ever bred, tipping the scales at a whopping three pounds each, you can be sure that there will be more than enough to go around.
While it’s true that bigger is not always better, this type also comes with the added benefit of being both sweetly delicious and delightfully fragrant.
It takes between 75 and 80 days to mature and plants grow five to eight feet tall.
This is an indeterminate variety, and seeds are available at Burpee in packets of 25.
13. Sun Gold
‘Sun Gold’ has a vibrant, orange-gold color, absolutely ideal for brightening up both your garden and your plate.
This hybrid is one of the sweetest cherry varieties and the fruits are round, weighing about one ounce.
This is an indeterminate variety that takes 65 days to reach maturity. Plants grow to about eight feet tall.
‘Sun Gold’ comes in packets of 30 seeds, available from Burpee.
14. Sun Sugar
‘Sun Sugar’ is an orange cherry variety that may be the sweetest type around, winning “Best Flavor” in True Leaf Market’s cherry tomato taste tests.
There aren’t many things in life that are both sweet and good for you – but this hybrid manages it!
These tiny tomatoes also have an especially high vitamin A content, and they’re perfect for healthy snacking.
This cultivar has impressive crack resistance in spite of its thin skin.
And it comes with the added bonus of resistance to fusarium wilt race 1 and to tobacco mosaic virus.
‘Sun Sugar’ is an indeterminate cultivar that grows to about five to eight feet and takes only 62 days to mature.
Seeds are available at True Leaf Market.
15. Supersweet 100
‘Supersweet 100’ sure packs a flavor punch.
This delicious cultivar produces very uniformly shaped, round, one-inch cherry tomatoes that grow in long, lovely clusters.
An indeterminate variety, the plants normally top out at about eight feet but in ideal conditions can reach up to 12 feet. This one is resistant to verticillium and fusarium wilt.
Your ‘Supersweet 100’ harvest will be ready to harvest in 65 to 70 days.
You can find seeds at True Leaf Market, available in a variety of packet sizes
Read more about growing ‘Supersweet 100’ here.
16. Sweet Seedless
Something else that might “pip” your interest is ‘Sweet Seedless.’ I guess by now we’re all pretty used to seedless grapes and watermelons, but perhaps not seedless tomatoes?
This indeterminate hybrid is a world first, doing away completely with its seeds, and producing instead a smooth and solid fruit.
The fact that there are no seeds means that the plant instead invests all its energy into making sweet fruit.
This is a slicer variety, ready for enjoying in 68 to 70 days. You can find seeds available exclusively at Burpee.
17. Tye-Dye
‘Tye-Dye’ is a bicolored gold and red variety, the surface of the fruit is marbled with red streaks making for a colorful addition to your plate.
The large, seven-ounce tomatoes are a slicer type with a sweet, non-acidic flavor.
This indeterminate type takes around 78 days to mature and grows five to six feet tall.
You can find seeds available exclusively from Burpee.
Which Type Tickles Your Taste Buds?
Whichever hybrid you decide to go for, there are so many wonderful varieties out there that you are sure to find one that tickles your fancy and your taste buds alike!
Are you growing hybrid tomatoes? Which is your favorite variety? Let us know in the comments section below!
If you liked this article, be sure to check out some of the following information about growing tomatoes:
Now its trend for hybrid tomato seeds to feed the world which is the only option left for us, vry nice information about varieties of tomato.many of these are vailable commercially.
Am interested in tomato plantation, please how can I get this hybrid seed?
Seeds can be purchased from our trusted affiliates if you follow the links in the article. Thanks for reading!
Ok I will buy seeds pls send all details .
A really informative and in-depth piece indeed
Thanks for the kind words Sanjay!
I want to grow Irish potatoes.. Best variety
Looks like you’ve taken a little detour to Tomatoland, Paul! Find our guide to the best potato varieties here.