How To Identify Tomato Variety

Figuring out what kind of tomato plant you have can be a fun garden mystery. This simple visual inspection guide will show you how to identify tomato variety using just your eyes and a little know-how. You don’t need to be an expert to start recognizing the common clues.

Maybe you lost a plant tag, saved seeds from a friend, or inherited a garden full of surprises. By looking closely at the plant’s leaves, fruit, and growth habit, you can make a very good guess. Let’s break down the process into easy steps.

Start with a broad look at your plant. Is it a sprawling giant or a tidy bush? This first big clue points you in the right direction. Then, you can zoom in on the finer details.

Step 1: Determine the Plant’s Growth Type

This is the single most important clue. Tomato plants fall into two main categories:

Determinate (Bush): These plants grow to a fixed size, usually 3-4 feet tall, and stop. They flower and set all their fruit in a short period. They are often stockier and may need less staking.
Indeterminate (Vining): These plants keep growing and producing fruit all season until frost kills them. They can get very tall (6-12 feet) and require strong, tall supports like cages or stakes.

If your plant is huge and sprawling, it’s likely indeterminate. A compact, bushy plant that sets a big crop all at once is probably determinate.

Step 2: Examine the Leaves (The Foliage)

Tomato leaves are not all the same. Their shape, size, and texture are key identifiers for specific varieties.

Regular Leaf (RL): This is the most common type. The leaves are serrated, with pointed edges, and look like a typical tomato leaf.
Potato Leaf (PL): These leaves have smooth, rounded edges, resembling potato plant leaves. They are often broader and fleshier. Many heirloom varieties, like ‘Brandywine,’ have potato leaves.
Rugose: Leaves that are deeply textured, dark green, and crinkled-looking.
Angora or “Hairy”: Varieties with exceptionally fuzzy stems and leaves. The texture is very noticeable.

Take a clear photo of a typical leaf from your plant. Comparing it to online images can give you a huge hint.

Step 3: Analyze the Fruit Shape and Size

This is the most obvious clue. Tomatoes come in a wild array of forms. Ask yourself these questions:

Size: Is it a tiny currant, a small cherry, a medium plum, or a large beefsteak?
Shape: Is it perfectly round, oblate (slightly flattened), deeply ribbed (like some heirlooms), pear-shaped, or elongated (paste tomato)?
Shoulders: Look at the top of the fruit, near the stem. Are they smooth, or are they prominently ribbed and green even when the rest is ripe?

For example, a small, pear-shaped tomato often points to a ‘Yellow Pear’ heirloom. A huge, lumpy, pink-red fruit could be a ‘Brandywine.’

Common Fruit Shape Categories

Cherry/Grape (small, round or oval)
Plum/Paste (oval, with thick flesh and less juice)
Slicing/Globe (round, classic tomato shape)
Beefsteak (large, often irregular and ribbed)
Oxheart (heart-shaped, very meaty)

Step 4: Note the Color Progression

Color isn’t just about the final ripe stage. Watch how the color changes as it matures.

Mature Color: This is the color of the ripe fruit. It goes far beyond red! Look for yellow, orange, pink, purple, black, green-when-ripe, or bi-color stripes (like ‘Green Zebra’).
Immature Color: What color is the unripe fruit? Some are pale green, while others are a darker, almost gray-green.
Shoulder Color: Does the top part (the shoulders) stay green or yellow while the rest colors up? This is a common trait in many heirlooms.

Writing down the exact colors you see can really help narrow your search later.

Step 5: Check the Flower and Cluster Style

Few people think to look at the flowers, but they offer clues. Simple yellow flowers are standard, but their arrangement matters.

Cluster Type: Does the plant produce long, branching clusters with dozens of flowers (common in cherries), or simple clusters with just a few fruits (common in large beefsteaks)?
Fasciated Flowers: Some varieties, especially large heirlooms, produce weird, fused, or multi-petaled flowers. These often develop into big, multi-lobed fruit.

Step 6: Consider the Plant’s “Personality”

Some varieties have distinctive habits or features that set them apart.

Disease Resistance: If your plant is thriving while others around it are sickly, it might have resistance codes like “VFN” (Verticillium, Fusarium, Nematode resistance) bred into it. This is more common in modern hybrids.
Productivity: Is it an incredibly heavy yielder? Some cherries and determinate varieties are famous for this.
Early or Late Season: Does it set fruit very early in the season, or does it take a long time to produce? This can point to specific early-harvest or long-season types.

Putting It All Together: A Practical Example

Let’s say you have an unknown plant. Here’s your detective work:

Growth: It’s 7 feet tall and still growing. → Indeterminate.
Leaf: Leaves are smooth-edged and rounded. → Potato Leaf type.
Fruit Shape: Fruit is very large (over 1 lb), pinkish-red, and heavily ribbed. → Beefsteak, likely an heirloom.
Color: Ripe color is pink (not deep red), with green shoulders. → Common in many pink heirlooms.

Putting these clues together—indeterminate, potato leaf, large pink beefsteak—strongly suggests a classic heirloom like ‘Brandywine’ (pink strain). A quick image search for “pink potato leaf tomato” would confirm it.

Tools to Help Your Identification

Once you have your visual clues, use these resources:

Seed Catalogs & Websites: Browse the photo galleries of major seed companies. Filter by leaf type, fruit color, and shape.
Gardening Forums: Post clear photos of your plant, leaf, and fruit on sites like GardenWeb or Reddit’s gardening sub. Experienced gardeners love a good plant mystery.
Local Extension Office: They can be a great resource, especially for common regional varieties.
Books on Heirloom Tomatoes: These often have detailed comparison charts and photos.

Remember, hybrid tomatoes can be trickier because they mix traits. But even then, you can often identify its general family or the heirloom parent it most resembles.

What to Do If You’re Still Stuck

Sometimes, you might not find an exact match, and that’s okay. The goal is to understand your plant’s needs and potential.

Give it a descriptive nickname (e.g., “My Early Yellow Cherry”).
Save seeds carefully if you like it, labeling them with all the traits you observed.
Enjoy the suprise! Part of gardening’s joy is learning from the plants themselves.

With practice, you’ll start recognizing common varieties at a glance. It makes you a much more observant and connected gardener.

FAQ: Tomato Variety Identification

Can I use an app to identify a tomato plant?
Some plant ID apps can get close, but they often struggle with specific vegetable varieties. They might correctly ID it as a tomato, but not the exact type. Your own visual inspection is more reliable.

How can I tell if my tomato is a hybrid or an heirloom?
If it came from saved seeds and grows “true to type” (the babies look like the parent), it’s likely an open-pollinated heirloom. If it shows a wild mix of traits from seeds you saved, it was probably a hybrid. Heirlooms also often have more distinctive, sometimes “imperfect” looks compared to the uniform hybrids in supermarkets.

Why are the leaves on my tomato plant so different from my neighbor’s?
You are likely growing different varieties! The difference between regular leaf and potato leaf plants is very dramatic. It’s a perfect example of how leaf inspection helps.

Do all cherry tomatoes grow on big vines?
Most cherry tomatoes are indeterminate and get very large, but there are determinate (bush) cherry varieties bred for containers and small spaces. Always check the growth type.

What if my tomato doesn’t match any description perfectly?
It could be a unique cross or a less-common variety. Focus on its main traits for care: its growth habit (bush or vine) and fruit type. That’s what matters most for supporting and harvesting it successfully.

Identifying your tomatoes adds a whole new layer of enjoyment to gardening. It turns a simple plant into a story with a name and a history. Grab your notebook, head to the garden, and start looking at your plants with a detective’s eye. You’ll be amazed at what you notice.