Drought-Tolerant

We are constantly on the lookout for tomato varieties that do well in lower-irrigation conditions. Being careful (full of care) about how we use water in the garden is forefront in our minds. And some tomato varieties might be better than others at dealing with drought. In their 2023 paper, “Tomato Biodiversity and Drought Tolerance”, Conti and colleagues write: “Many different tomato cultivars are currently cultivated, and they differ in terms of genetic, biochemical, and physiological traits; as such, they represent a reservoir of potential candidates for coping with drought stress.” In addition to growing specific varieties, there are some general strategies you can use to grow tomatoes with less water. The University of California Master Gardener Program of Sonoma County (an area of the world that experiences drought conditions) has some good ideas: (1) Grow varieties with fewer days to maturity. From their website: “The earlier a plant yields ripe fruit after planting, the less water it requires.” (2) Grow Cherry tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes are a good choice for dry conditions, because cherry tomatoes get sweeter when they are not over-irrigated. (3) Grow Anthocyanin or ‘blue’ tomatoes. From their website: “Varieties with the unusual blue color that comes from the pigment anthocyanin blocks the sun, protects the fruit, and may result in lower need for irrigation.” (Check out our Anthocyanin tomatoes) (4) Consider growing tomatoes using dry farming techniques. Dry farming techniques include digging deeply into the soil (18”-24”), adding compost, planting tomatoes deeply into the soil, watering in and spacing seedlings widely. Add 3”-4” of leaf mulch, straw or other organic material. Then only water once a week. Here is a link to more information about dry farming: https://ccmg.ucanr.edu/files/140321.pdf. (5) And keep in mind, “even the thirstiest tomato plant requires only one to two gallons of water per week”.

“Homegrown tomatoes are not a luxury,” points out the University of California Master Gardener Program mentioned above. Growing a homegrown tomato takes less water than growing and transporting a tomato from elsewhere. Check out this link to our Musing titled, Water Worries, Adaptation and ‘Go to Where the Puck is Going’ for more thoughts on this topic.

The drought-tolerant tomatoes on our list have lower-irrigation requirements as per the experience of other seedsavers; or based on our experience.