Rose Tomato is an Amish Pennsylvania heirloom that produces strikingly beautiful pink-blushed fruits weighing 10 to 16 ounces, ready to harvest in just 75 to 80 days from transplant. These indeterminate vines grow tall and vigorous, reaching 36 to 96 inches, and reward patient gardeners with clusters of three to five fruits per stem that are meaty, juicy, and remarkably tender. Open-pollinated and non-GMO, this heirloom offers the rare combination of old-world flavor and robust disease resistance, thriving in gardens, raised beds, containers, and even greenhouses.
Full Sun
Moderate
2-11
96in H x ?in W
—
High
Hover over chart points for details
The pink rose-colored fruits are as beautiful as they are delicious, with a rich sweet flavor perfectly balanced between sugar and acid that makes them equally at home in a summer salad or eaten straight off the vine. Vigorous indeterminate vines produce abundant clusters of fruit throughout the season, and the shiny, meaty flesh reflects the heirloom's strong genetic vigor. Rose Tomato's exceptional disease resistance package, combined with its ability to thrive in containers and raised beds, makes it a genuinely reliable choice for both traditional garden plots and modern growing setups.
Rose Tomato excels as an all-purpose slicing tomato, perfect for fresh eating straight from the garden or transformed into summer salads where its balanced sweet-acid flavor and tender texture shine. The meaty interior and juicy character make it suitable for sauces, though the heirloom's primary calling is as a fresh market variety that rewards eating at peak ripeness. The size and substantial flesh also make these fruits excellent candidates for halving and grilling or preserving whole in a basic tomato sauce.
No timeline data available yet for this variety.
Start seeds indoors 6 to 8 weeks before your last spring frost date. Sow seeds 1/4 inch deep in sterile seed-starting mix, maintain soil temperature between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and provide bright light once seedlings emerge. Keep soil consistently moist but not waterlogged.
Transplant seedlings outdoors after the last frost date has passed and daytime soil temperatures consistently reach 60 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. Harden off seedlings by gradually exposing them to outdoor conditions over 7 to 10 days before planting. Space transplants 24 inches apart in rows 36 inches apart, setting them slightly deeper than they were growing in their containers to encourage strong root development.
Harvest Rose Tomatoes when they have fully developed their characteristic pink-blushed, rosy-red color and yield slightly to gentle pressure at the blossom end. Individual fruits typically reach their prime 75 to 80 days after transplanting, though the indeterminate nature of the plant means it will continue producing until frost. Twist or cut fruits gently from the vine rather than pulling to avoid damaging the branch, particularly important when harvesting the clustered fruits that typify this variety. Fruits harvested at the breaker stage (when color just begins to show) can be left on the counter to ripen fully, though vine-ripened fruits deliver superior flavor.
As an indeterminate heirloom variety, Rose Tomato benefits from selective pruning to manage its vigorous growth and improve air circulation. Remove suckers (shoots that emerge between the main stem and branches) to direct energy toward fruit production rather than excessive foliage. Prune lower leaves once the plant is established and beginning to fruit, removing growth below the first fruit cluster to improve air flow and reduce disease pressure in the lower canopy. Avoid aggressive pruning that removes more than one-third of the plant's foliage at once, which can stress the vine and expose fruits to sunscald.
Enter your ZIP code to see a personalized growing calendar for this plant.
“Rose Tomato traces its roots to Amish farming communities in Pennsylvania, where it has been carefully preserved and propagated as an open-pollinated heirloom for generations. The variety's name reflects both its distinctive appearance, with those characteristic pink-blushed, rosy-red fruits, and the communities that cultivated and saved its seeds. As an heirloom adapted to the Amish agricultural tradition, it represents the accumulated knowledge of gardeners who selected for traits that matter: productivity, flavor balance, disease resilience, and the ability to produce reliably in diverse growing conditions.”