Delicious Tomato is a classic beefsteak slicing variety that lives up to its name with enormous, meaty fruits that often exceed a pound each. This heirloom, indeterminate tomato reaches maturity in 70-79 days from transplant and thrives in hardiness zones 3-10, making it adaptable to most North American gardens. The plants grow tall, typically 3 to 8 feet, and produce abundant yields of richly flavored red tomatoes with surprisingly few seeds, perfect for fresh eating, salads, juice, and canning.
Photo © True Leaf Market
Growing Conditions
USDA Zone
3-10
Sunlight
Full Sun
Water
Moderate
Soil
Well-drained, Fertile Loam With Organic Matter
Preferred Temp70-85°F
Growth Stats
96 in
Height
—
Width
18 in
Spacing
70–79
Days to Harvest
PeriodAnnual, Perennial
TypeForb/herb
Plant Profile
Sunlight
Full Sun
Water
Moderate
Zones
3-10
Size
96in H x ?in W
Growth
Annual, Perennial
Care
High
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Highlights
Giant fruits weighing over a pound emerge from vigorous vines with remarkably smooth skin that resists cracking despite their impressive size. The meaty flesh and minimal seed content make every slice substantial and flavorful, while the plant's indeterminate growth habit ensures continuous production throughout the season. This variety thrives in garden plots, raised beds, and even greenhouses, rewarding gardeners with the old-fashioned tomato taste that defined the kitchen gardens of previous generations.
Common Uses
This tomato excels in any application where substantial, flavorful slices matter most. Fresh slicing for sandwiches and salads showcases the meaty texture and rich taste, while the high flesh-to-seed ratio makes it exceptional for fresh tomato juice and sauces. The variety's productivity and substantial fruit size also make it well-suited to canning, preserving, and other storage preparations that require reliable yields of quality tomatoes.
Growing Timeline
First Bloom
Mid-spring
First Harvest
Mid-summer
Last Harvest
Late Summer
Care Instructions
Start Indoors
Start seeds indoors 6-8 weeks before your last spring frost date. Keep soil temperature around 70-75°F for reliable germination. Sow seeds approximately 1/4 inch deep in seed-starting mix, keeping the medium consistently moist until seedlings emerge. Once true leaves appear, provide strong light to prevent leggy growth.
Transplant Outdoors
Harden off seedlings over 7-10 days by gradually exposing them to outdoor conditions. Transplant into the garden after the last frost has passed and soil has warmed to at least 60°F, ideally when plants are 6-8 weeks old with a strong root system. Space plants 18 inches apart in rows spaced 36 inches apart. Plant deeply, burying the stem up to the first true leaves to encourage strong root development.
Harvesting
Begin harvesting when fruits reach full size and have turned deep red throughout, typically 70-79 days after transplanting. Fruits are ready when they yield slightly to gentle pressure at the blossom end but still feel firm. Twist and lift each tomato, or use pruning shears to cleanly remove the stem. For best flavor, harvest in early morning after dew has dried. You can pick tomatoes at the breaker stage (when the first blush of red appears) and allow them to ripen indoors on the counter, though vine-ripened fruits develop fuller flavor.
Pruning
As an indeterminate variety, Delicious Tomato benefits from selective pruning to improve air circulation and direct energy toward fruit production. Remove suckers (shoots that grow between the main stem and branches) once they reach 2-3 inches long, pinching them off by hand. Prune lower leaves once the plant is established to improve airflow and reduce disease pressure, but avoid removing more than one-third of the foliage at any time. Stop pruning 4-6 weeks before the first expected frost to allow the plant to focus on ripening remaining fruit.
Growing Calendar
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Companion Planting
Pests & Diseases
Ecology & Traits
Edible
Scientific Classification
Solanum lycopersicum L.
Family
Solanaceae
Genus
Solanum
Duration
Annual, Perennial
Growth Habit
Indeterminate
Native Status
L48 (I)AK (I)HI (I)PR (I)VI (I)CAN (W)
History & Origin
“Delicious Tomato belongs to the heritage heirloom tomato tradition, bred and preserved through open-pollination practices that allowed seed savers and home gardeners to maintain its genetics across generations. As a non-GMO, open-pollinated variety, it represents the kind of tomato that home gardeners have selected and replanted for decades, each season refining the plant's flavor and vigor through careful seed saving. This direct lineage from traditional breeding methods connects modern growers to the agricultural practices that sustained vegetable gardening before industrial hybridization.”