Home gardeners often struggle with selecting tomato plants, particularly regarding growth habits, which determine the plant’s size, structure, and harvest schedule. Understanding these classifications is important for planning garden space and ensuring a successful yield throughout the season. This article clarifies the specific growth habit of the popular ‘Early Girl’ tomato and explains the practical implications for cultivation.
Understanding Tomato Growth Habits
Tomato varieties are categorized into groups based on their ultimate size and fruiting pattern. Determinate tomatoes, also known as “bush” types, grow to a genetically predetermined height, typically around three to four feet. Once the plant sets fruit on the terminal bud, its vegetative growth stops. This results in a concentrated, single harvest that ripens all at once, making them suitable for processing or canning.
Indeterminate tomatoes are vining plants that continue to grow, lengthen, and produce flowers and fruit indefinitely until they are stopped by frost or disease. This continuous growth pattern allows for a prolonged harvest period that lasts throughout the entire growing season. A third, less common classification is semi-determinate, which exhibits a growth pattern similar to indeterminate types but with a more compact habit.
The Specific Classification of Early Girl Tomatoes
The classic ‘Early Girl’ tomato variety is firmly classified as an indeterminate hybrid. This means the plant will continue its vigorous vining growth throughout the summer, consistently setting new flowers and fruit. The traditional ‘Early Girl’ can easily reach heights of six to nine feet if given proper support. Its popularity stems from its ability to yield ripe fruit in as few as 50 to 62 days from transplanting, making it one of the earliest-producing indeterminate types.
This early maturity sometimes leads to ‘Early Girl’ being mistakenly described as semi-determinate. Gardeners should note that a separate variety, the ‘Bush Early Girl’, exists and is a determinate plant, which is the source of much of the classification confusion. When growing the traditional ‘Early Girl’ variety, it must be managed as a typical indeterminate vine to maximize its potential.
Practical Growing Differences
The indeterminate growth habit of the ‘Early Girl’ variety requires specific cultivation strategies different from those used for bush types. Since the plant is a continuously growing vine, providing a sturdy support structure is necessary to keep the heavy stems and fruit off the ground. Tall stakes, strong tomato cages, or trellises are mandatory to manage the plant’s vertical growth, prevent stem breakage, and ensure good air circulation.
Consistent pruning is necessary to manage the plant’s dense foliage. Indeterminate varieties produce small side shoots, called “suckers,” in the crotch between the main stem and a leaf branch. Removing these suckers directs the plant’s energy toward developing fruit rather than producing excessive leaves and stems. Proper pruning also improves light penetration and airflow, reducing the risk of fungal diseases like blight.
The continuous production cycle dictates the timing of the harvest. Unlike determinate varieties, which offer one large, concentrated yield, ‘Early Girl’ will ripen fruit steadily over many weeks until the first hard frost. This requires gardeners to harvest ripe, four-to-eight-ounce globe-shaped fruit multiple times a week to encourage the plant to set new flowers and continue its prolific output. This extended harvest period is a primary benefit, allowing for fresh tomatoes throughout the entire summer and into the fall.