Looking for Dwarf Tomato varieties with these traits --

[applestar]

As I have been enthusiastically posting in the Winter Indoor Tomato thread , I'm determined to find tomato varieties that have characteristics to enable growing them in winter indoor conditions with not much more effort than a houseplant.

After last winter's casual and this winter's more intensive experiment, I have enough to go on at this interim stage to start looking for suitable dwarf candidates for next winter's grow project.

Please post with the name of the variety if in your experience any dwarf variety meets any or all of the following criteria and provide your anecdotal description. I'm not looking for definitive picks at this point, just general opinion, observation, and/or consensus:

1) Extra short to short: 18-24" to less than 32" maximum or will readiy form trusses and set fruits below that height if topped (can be determinate or indeterminate).
2) Extra early to early maturing
3) Sets fruits and ripens fruits surprisingly well in cool conditions: even 50's and 60's ...°F, low 70's ...°F maximum
4) Prolific/productive: develops floral trusses and sets fruit starting at low height along the vine and at frequent short intervals, and/or forms large multiple floral trusses.
5) Shade tolerant: Blooms and sets fruit in lower light conditions like under heavy canopy or neighboring larger indeterminates or in shade.
6) Must taste excellent to exceptional to be worth all the trouble

Thanks for your input!

[Cirtes]

1) Check out the Tomato Dwarf Project: https://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki ... rf_Project

3) 50's are too low. Most plant growth slows down as you approach 50 degrees. 60's and 70's are fine and dandy.

5) This is likely the most difficult to accomplish. Without 6 - 8 hours of direct sunlight, tomatoes perform very poorly. You can get a few fruit from them in semi-shade but don't expect any kind of production. Providing some kind of supplemental lighting for 18-hours per day can be used to get around this problem.

[applestar]

Thanks for your reply. I'm hoping to narrow down some of the dwarf varieties. Soe of them are 4-5ft tall.

Have you been reading this thread?
https://helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=48807

Even though the usual temp range do say 50's is too low and pollination shuts down at 55°F my plants have been blooming setting fruit at near those limits. So I'm hoping to hear from cool summer climate tomato growers about their experiences. Varieties that are nominated in this thread may be useful for them as well.

I agree about the light, but there are always some exceptions. I'm hoping to chase them down. I'm also trying to learn to cross tomatoes by hand pollinating -- Eventually I will be able to cross low light tolerant varieties with others with desirable characteristics.

[rico fry]

have you looked into a tiny tim hybrid its an exalent dwarf tomatoe plant u can get the seeds from OSC seeds definitly worth looking into for ya

[rainbowgardener]

Good luck! It does seem like a long list of criteria/ qualifications. Perhaps a long term breeding project? But do keep us apprised of what you find. Perhaps eventually you will have a tomato cultivar named after you!

In the meantime, if you find something that works even somewhat, it will help encourage others of us to try it.

Have you seen this:

https://www.tomatofest.com/heirloom-toma ... ion-1.html

It is someone's recommendation of dwarf tomato heirloom varieties suitable for indoor container growing. If you notice, there is a page two of it that includes your Sophie's Choice.