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Italian Heirloom Tomato
Indeterminate
75-80 days to harvest
Solanum lycopersicum
HEIRLOOM Friends, if we could only grow one paste tomato, this is it, without question. And she’s an equally impressive slicer! Italian Heirloom Tomato produces simply incredible amounts of massive 12 to 20-ounce red fruits. Her flavor is the perfect balance of acid and sweet, her texture thick and meaty with very few seeds. We love Italian Heirloom for sandwiches and salsa as well as sauce and so appreciate its tolerance of many diseases, including Late Blight. We had plants producing into early October 2015 in the field here in the Finger Lakes. Many thanks to our friends at Uprising Seeds for sharing this gem with us!
At Fruition, we sow tomatoes in soil blocks indoors 2 months before final frost, early April for us here in Zone 5, germinating them on heat mats with ease. Good light is essential: Younger, less stressed seedlings are healthier and more abundant than older, more stressed seedlings.
Organic Italian Heirloom Tomato
Planting Method:Â Transplant Only
When to sow: 6-8 weeks before last frost
Seed Depth: 1/8 inch    Days to Germination: 7-10 at 80°F (27°C)
Sowing and seedling care: Don’t start too early! Sow indoors 2 seeds/cell or soil block, & thin to 1. We recommend sowing on a heat mat at 80°F to emergence, 75°F after. Good light is essential: Younger, less stressed seedlings are healthier and more abundant than older, more stressed seedlings. Pot up to 3-4” pots when first true leaves, submerging 3/4 of the stem below soil.
When to transplant:Â Harden off & transplant outdoors after frost, again burying stem.
Strong 3′ trellis optional but helpful. Water soil, not leaves. Prune lowest stem “suckers” as they emerge.
Transplant Spacing: 2.5 feet   Sun Needs: Full
Days to Harvest:Â 75-80
Height:Â 5-foot+
Harvest: Perfect for sauces or slicing.
Fruition’s Growing Guide
Videos
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Richard Nuzzi –
I grow tomatoes in my greenhouse due to our short and unpredictable growing season here at 7200 feet in the foothills west of Boulder, CO. I had settled on Goliath Pio, an F-1 hybrid, that I had grown exclusively for the past 10 years due to its great flavor, productiveness and versatility. This year I decided to try Organic Italian Heirloom, and it is hands down the best tasting tomato I have ever grown, and maybe the best I’ve ever tasted. Deep red meaty flesh with few seeds. Great production so far in mid-August, with many more large fruits–many 16-20 oz!– on the vine. 90% of our tomatoes go to red sauce–we put up 50-80 quarts each season, because opening a jar of red sauce in January is one of the true joys of winter life. I will grow a much higher percentage of this variety next season.
Julie –
Seriously the best tomato I have ever grown. So early and so productive! 2 months of solid tomatoes off of my plants. I have made so much sauce and salsa and they’re even a good slicer! Love them so much!
Heather (verified owner) –
YESSS! This is our ALL TIME FAVORITE paste tomato 🙂 So glad that you have put some away to enjoy in the chilly winter months and don’t hesitate to reach out anytime! -Heather & The Fruition Crew
Andria (verified owner) –
This was my first year trying this variety. They germinated great, but once in the ground at first I thought it wouldn’t do that well, the plants seemed more thinly leaved than my San Marzanos. It’s entirely likely, though, that this is part of why they WAY outperformed all the other vareties in my garden in this very wet year in upstate NY. While I frantically thinned all my other varieties to increase airflow in a feeble attempt to stave off fungal diseases in all the rain, this variety pushed through. It definitely still got leaf spot, but it came on a little later, and they still produced giant, softball sized tomatoes. All-in-all this variety is probably the only reason I was able to can ANY tomato products this year. I’ll definitely be planting these italian heirlooms again!
alani –
My new favorite paste tomato! I only grew one plant this year and will be growing several more and giving them to friends next year. Very early, huge, productive and totally delicious.
Will –
I had high hopes for this variety, but, like many heirlooms, it doesn’t seem to perform well for me in the very hot, humid summers here in Central Kansas. The three plants I grew did well despite this, but unfortunately not quite as well as I’d hoped. The fruits were large and very meaty with great flavor. I would still encourage others in similar hot climates to give them a try, but, in my experience, the yields weren’t as thrilling as for those gardening in a more mild climate.
Alexandria –
If you need a canning or slicing tomato and you pick ANYTHING else, YOU MESSED UP! These plants are prolific, abundant, resistant, and down right aggressive in the garden. They have not blighted, they hardly ever stress, and I haven’t found a single cracked one yet! They are prone to catfacing, like most giant heirloom varieties so if that’s a deal breaker for you keep it in mind, as well as their need for STRONG TRELLISES. However, I have 7ft tall plants, growing pound sized fruits, that when I cut them for green tomato fritters are thicker than a snicker with minimal water/seed lobing, so a little extra work trellising them up is so worth it.
TL;DR: Doesn’t matter what you’re using them for, these monster tomatos will back your dreams like Daddy Warbucks if you give them a strong trellis and all your love.
sarahlynnoswald (verified owner) –
My new favorite tomato variety! Given very strong trellising, these plants grew so vigorously and produced so abundantly I was able to feed my family to the brim all season and can several quarts of sauce for winter! Honestly a great tasting, meaty tomato and made a fantastic sauce with its dense, low seed flesh. Give these plants what they need and they will reward you tenfold. Aside from a cherry variety, this will likely be the only tomato I’ll need to grow for many seasons to come. So blessed to have found this seed! Thanks Fruition Folks!
Melissa Knox –
Thank you for sharing your experience and success! We are so glad to hear you are enjoying them.
Mark Ware (verified owner) –
We put up about 60 quarts of sauce every year in addition to the fresh eating and gifting we do. Italian Heirloom was one of the 5-6 heirloom varieties that I grew in 2022 for the sauce blend. The Italian Heirloom so exceeded the others in yield, disease resistance, and mostly importantly, flavor, that it is now my #1 choice for not only sauce but sandwich tomatoes as well. A generous slice of ripe Italian Heirloom on sourdough with a slather of Duke’s Mayo and a touch of salt and pepper will have you lying on the floor, kicking your legs in the air.
Mark Ware
Jasmine Street Farm
Colorado Springs
Melissa Knox –
Hi Mark, Thanks for sharing your experience. We are so glad to hear you love this variety as much as we do.
Michele J (verified owner) –
This tomato will always be in my garden! I have grown it 2 years in a row, with outstanding results. This tomato is fantastic for canning, and also delicious for fresh eating, be it in a sandwich, salsa or salad.
rgneal (verified owner) –
This tomato is absolutely amazing! My favorite in the garden for everything. Roasted tomato, garlic, basil pesto…perfect. They carmelized beautifully and the flavor was perfect.
I had one tomato that weighed in at 1 lb 14 oz.!!!!! and it was so GOOD!
I will always plant this tomato.
Please carry these seeds forever. 🙂
Gary –
Sooo, my sister gave me seeds for this tomato. I live in Southern California, zone 10b
Due to it looking like a malnourished plant, I didn’t hold out a lot of hope for this seedling. I planted the seedling in a half barrel on March 1st. OMG, this is still the sickest looking tomato plant in my garden. But there are no less than 15 golf ball size tomatoes right now. Stay tuned.