Cherry Tomato
Where to buy seeds
Some links are affiliate links — Verdantly may earn a commission at no cost to you. Learn more.
Red Pear Tomato is an heirloom variety tracing back to the 1700s, prized for its distinctive teardrop shape and vibrant red color. These indeterminate plants reach 3 to 8 feet tall and produce abundantly over a long season, delivering ripe fruit in just 65 to 75 days from transplant. Hardy from zones 3 to 10, they thrive in full sun and moderate water, making them reliable performers whether you're gardening in raised beds, containers, or greenhouses. The small, pear-shaped fruits pack an old-fashioned tomato flavor that balances sweetness with tangy complexity, earning their place as a favorite among gardeners seeking authentic taste over commercial uniformity.
Full Sun
Moderate
3-10
96in H x ?in W
Annual, Perennial
High
Hover over chart points for details
Red Pear tomatoes earned their reputation as heavy producers, bearing waves of small, smooth-textured fruits throughout the season. The flavor captures what heirloom tomatoes are all about: rich, complex, and distinctly old-fashioned, without the watery blandness of modern supermarket varieties. These are equally at home sprawling up a trellis in a traditional garden bed or thriving in a large container on a patio, making them genuinely adaptable to different growing spaces.
Red Pear tomatoes are perfect for snacking straight off the vine, their small size and sweet-tangy flavor making them irresistible during summer walks through the garden. Their shape and appearance make them exceptional garnishes and salad toppers, adding visual interest beyond typical sliced tomato wedges. The high lycopene content delivers nutritional value alongside flavor, and gardeners often preserve them whole or in sauce, their smaller size adapting well to canning whole or in small batches.
Start seeds indoors 6 to 8 weeks before your last frost date. Sow seeds about 1/4 inch deep in warm, moist seed-starting mix kept at 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Seedlings should emerge in 5 to 10 days. Provide bright light immediately after germination, either under grow lights or in a sunny south-facing window. Keep soil consistently moist but not waterlogged.
Transplant seedlings outdoors after the last frost date when soil has warmed to at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit and nighttime temperatures stay above 50 degrees. Harden off seedlings by gradually exposing them to outdoor conditions over 7 to 10 days. Space plants 18 inches apart in rows 36 inches apart. Bury the transplant slightly deeper than it grew in its pot; tomatoes will root along buried stems, creating a stronger root system.
Pick Red Pear tomatoes when they've fully colored red and yield slightly to gentle pressure in your palm. The pear shape makes them easy to identify, and you can harvest them at any point from when they first blush red through full maturity; they continue ripening after picking. Twist gently or cut with pruners to avoid damaging the plant. With indeterminate varieties like this one, expect continuous harvests throughout the season from mid-summer until frost.
Because Red Pear is indeterminate, it will grow indefinitely and benefit from sucker pruning. Remove suckers (shoots that emerge between the main stem and branches) to direct the plant's energy into fruit production rather than excessive foliage. Prune selectively rather than aggressively; the foliage helps protect developing fruit from sunscald. In late summer, pinch off new growth at the top of the plant to encourage the plant to focus ripening efforts on existing fruit before frost arrives.
Enter your ZIP code to see a personalized growing calendar for this plant.
“This variety carries a lineage stretching back to the 1700s, when gardeners in Europe began selecting and saving seeds from pear-shaped tomato plants. The variety survived centuries of cultivation through seed-saving traditions, passed hand to hand through gardening families and preserved by heirloom seed networks. Its persistence through generations speaks to its reliability and the genuine affection gardeners developed for its flavor and prolific harvests. Today it remains one of the classic small-fruited heirlooms, a living connection to home gardening practices that predate industrial agriculture.”