One Of The Best Tomato Varieties To Grow Is Resistant To Both Cracking And Blight

Tomatoes are a delicious staple of any edible garden. The fact that there are multiple types of tomato probably isn't news to you; most people have at least heard of cherry and beefsteak tomatoes. But as it turns out, there are even more types than you might think — we're talking thousands of varieties and cultivars, each with their own unique characteristics (and flavors).

Tomato growers may be familiar with potential issues like cracking, blight, wilt, and other diseases. Cultivated tomato species are typically more susceptible to disease than wild species, but prepare to meet a cultivar that's actually resistant to cracking, early and late blight, and Fusarium wilt: Solanum lycopersicum 'Jasper', better known as Jasper tomatoes.

Jasper tomatoes are a variety of cherry tomatoes loved for their sweet, tangy flavor and bred by Johnny's Selected Seeds. That's not a result of genetic engineering — instead, this cultivar was created only by crossbreeding pre-existing tomato genetic material. Its fruits are around 3/4 inch in size, and this particular variety of tomato grows indeterminately, meaning it has no set final plant height and will keep growing and fruiting until the first frost kills it. Jasper tomatoes also hold well on the vine once they're ripe, and because they're less likely to crack, they make for a perfect tomato harvest without the splitting.

Jasper tomatoes' resistance to cracking and disease makes them an easy tomato to grow in your garden. Cracking happens when a tomato plant's soil gets too moist too quickly, leading to the fruits expanding faster than its skin can keep up with. With Jasper tomatoes, you won't need to worry as much about watering mistakes or the weather stress of sudden heavy rain. However, just because Jasper tomatoes are resistant to cracking, blight, and wilt doesn't mean these problems are totally off the table, just less likely to cause issue than with other cultivars.

Like many other tomatoes, Jasper tomatoes require full sun, a moderate amount of water, and medium-rich, loamy soil. The growth process is best started indoors — seeds should be sown in flats with a soilless peat-based mix, which gives roots a chance to start growing and will make transplanting your tomatoes to the garden easier when the time comes, around five to six weeks after sowing.

Jasper tomatoes are hardy in USDA Zones 3 through 9 and don't survive frost well, so don't transplant your seedlings until nighttime temperature lows stay above 45 degree Fahrenheit. Plants should be spaced 14 to 20 inches apart, and because Jasper tomatoes are indeterminate, you'll need to stake them to allow them to vine. Then, around 60 days after transplanting, you'll have clusters of sweet red fruits ready for harvest!