Celebrity tomato is a large globe-shaped tomato fruit which changes color from green to intense red when ripe. It is a popular all-purpose slicing tomato that is suitable for a variety of culinary recipe applications such as cooking, sauces, soups, salads, pastes, juicing, canning and making salsa. The tomato was developed in the U.S and is borne of a vigorously growing bushy determinate vine. Celebrity tomato is considered an easy to grow tomato which is ideal for first-time gardeners.
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What is Celebrity Tomato?
Celebrity tomato is a legitimate tomato fruit of Solanum lycopersicum species. It is a member of the Nightshade family along with eggplants, potatoes and peppers. Although a hybrid (not open-pollinated) cultivar developed in the last 40 years, Celebrity tomatoes bear close resemblance to some heirloom tomatoes. For this reason some growers like to think of Celebrity as an heirloom mirror image with no heirloom problems such as disease, splitting and cracking.
Due to ease of cultivation, Celebrity is often commended as the go to tomato for first time growers. It is a manageable vigorous grower whose plant bears more than a dozen well rounded fruits weighing anything between 8 and 16 Oz. or 220 grams to 450 grams (see characteristics section). As if to line up with its given name, Celebrity tomato has remained for a long time a recognized yardstick by which new tomato varieties are often measured.
Celebrity Tomato Origins
Celebrity tomato was released to the market in 1983 following extensive F1 breeding work which included early field trials in San Diego during the late 1970s. The tomato was developed by Colin Wyatt (pictured) of Petoseed Co.
Petoseed was a hybrid vegetable seed company which developed tomatoes, peppers, squash, and onions with traits such as resistance to disease and insects. This explains the remarkable disease and crack resistance that has been associated with Celebrity tomatoes for decades. Petoseed was eventually acquired by Seminis Vegetable Seeds in October 1995, itself now owned by Bayer.
Asked how the tomato came to be named Celebrity, Wyatt reportedly responded by saying “Simple, at Petoseed we have a naming committee. The committee tries to find a really appealing name for its new seeds, a name that will have a ring and consumer appeal. Celebrity has that ring.”
Furthermore, on developing a new tomato Wyatt had this to say, “I get an idea. I say to myself, ‘I might as well try and do something with this thing.’ Then I get a few more ideas. Then I’m started. The first place I work is on my desk in my office. I develop crossing plans. I doodle. I don’t work on it all the time”.
The actual parents behind Wyatt’s Celebrity F1 hybrid tomato cultivar seem to remain undisclosed. Nonetheless, being a hybrid cultivar, Celebrity seeds cannot be successfully saved for planting the following season. Growers must, therefore, order new seeds for each season to enjoy the true traits associated with the original F1 Celebrity hybrid.
Following its 1983 release, Celebrity was almost immediately recognized by All-America Selections (AAS) in 1984 for its favorable characteristics compared to other tomato cultivars. Most recently in 2021, the tomato was named Texas Superstar plant, a sign of its unweaning status in the tomato gardening community. Texas Superstar plants are selected and tested for superstar performance which includes quality and reliability.
Celebrity Characteristics
Although generally classified as a determinate plant, some sources such as the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station at The State University of New Jersey have characterized Celebrity tomato as a semi-determinate tomato. Semi-determinate plants are in-between determinate and indeterminate. They are more compact than indeterminate types yet also produce fruit throughout the season in a similar fashion as indeterminate vines.
When ripe, Celebrity tomatoes have a deep red outer flesh as well as deep red inner flesh. They are very meaty tomatoes as illustrated in the image, as meaty as heirloom varieties. Despite the fact that Celebrity is not considered an heirloom tomato, it bears the flavor that mimics an heirloom variety.
The tomato does not have too much water in it, is very creamy in texture and has fewer seeds compared to other regular tomatoes.
As earlier mentioned, Celebrity tomato trees are vigorous growers with plants that are bushy and that largely remain close to the ground instead of growing tall. This makes them suitable to also grow in containers (see container growing section). They are very productive plants producing as many as 20 fruits per plant with a round shape and a diameter as wide as 4 inches or 10 cm per fruit.
The major highlights associated with the Celebrity tomato is crack, disease and pest resistance. In particular, Celebrity is resistant to root-knot nematodes, a parasitic pest that few tomato types can resist that targets plant roots.
The following is a summary of Celebrity tomato characteristics.
| Botanical name – Solanum lycopersicum |
| Family – Nightshade family |
| Type – F1 Hybrid |
| Origins – 1983, Colin Wyatt , U.S.A |
| Shape – Globe-shaped, round |
| Size – Medium to large, 8Oz. weight, 4 inches diameter |
| Skin – Green when unripe, red when ripe |
| Flesh – Dark red |
| Flavor – Good tasting, not too sweet, slight acid tart |
| Applications – cooking, canning, juicing, salsa, sandwich, snacking |
| Plant type – Determinate, semi-determinate |
| Yield – Vigorous, Very productive |
| Days to Maturity (DTM) – 70 days (practical 90-100 days) |
| Plant Height – 3 to 4 ft. or 0.91m to 1.2m |
| Fruit Size – 8 and 10 Oz. or 220 grams to 280 grams |
| Cracking – Resistant to cracking and splitting |
| Disease Resistance – Verticillium Wilt, Fusarium Wilt Race 1, Fusarium Wilt Race 2, Nematodes, Alternaria Stem Canker, Tobacco Mosaic Virus |
Handy Tomato Kitchen Utensils
There is more to be done with tomatoes that many people actually get to do. Much of what can be done with tomatoes calls for certain simple but handy kitchen utensils and equipment. The following is our list of useful items to consider when working, not only with Celebrity tomatoes, but all kinds of tomatoes in general.
- Tomato strainer
- Tomato/Salsa Blender
- Food Processor for Tomatoes
- Tomato press
- Tomato mandoline for slicing
- Tomato slicer holder
- Heavy duty tomato slicer
- Tomato dicer
- Tomato corer
- Tomato jars for canning
- Tomato knife
- Tomato saver
- Countertop storage basket
- Tomato growing pots
Celebrity Tomato vs Better Boy
A comparison of Celebrity tomato and Better boy reveals more similarities than differences between the two tomato cultivars. To begin with, both tomatoes are very popular hybrid types with home growers. They both ripen with a deep appealing red.
Furthermore, the tomatoes were developed by the Petoseed Company in the United States beginning in the 1970s. Paul Thomas bred Better boy while Colin Wyatt, as earlier stated, developed Celebrity. Both plant breeders worked as colleagues at Petoseed.
Celebrity and Better boy tomatoes have almost similar culinary applications. Just like Celebrity, Better boy is suitable for cooking, salads, slicing, freezing, canning and making sauces and salsas. Both tomatoes can be sliced up for sandwiches and burgers among other recipe applications.
Although sharing in these uses, Better boy tomato is considered by some to be a better tasting tomato with a faithful tomatoey taste while Celebrity tomato has been referred to as average in some circles.
In contrast to Celebrity which tends to be uniform in shape and smaller in size, Better boy tomato is a much bigger tomato. In some cases Better boy fruit can weigh as much as 1 lb. or 450 grams compared to Celebrity’s 10 Oz. or 280 grams.
Nonetheless, both tomato cultivars are meaty. They have interiors that are very fleshy and suitable for making thick tomato paste. Additionally, both tomatoes have minimal seeds and are less juicy compared to beefsteak or some pear varieties, for example.
Although Celebrity tomato and Better boy have some things in common, these two tomatoes are borne of two different vines. As earlier mentioned, Celebrity is a determinate tomato. On the other hand, Better boy is an indeterminate tomato, a tall vine grower which can grow as tall as 6 ft. or nearly 2m. In contrast, Celebrity tomato grows 3 to 4 ft. or 0.91m to 1.2m in height.
Be as it may, Celebrity and Better boy tomatoes are high yielding tomatoes which produce robust tomatoes in clusters. For this reason, the tomato plants must be strongly supported in both cases due to their high yield.
Similar to the Celebrity tomato, Better boy is also a disease and crack resistant tomato. This is consistent with Petoseed Co. tomato breeding objectives at the time. Disease resistance and split resistance were at the core of the company’s plant breeding work. Thus, Better Boy tomato was also developed to withstand verticillium wilt, fusarium wilt race 1, nematodes, Alternaria and gray leaf spot diseases, serious tomato disease that heavily impact yields.
As can be seen, a comparison of Celebrity tomato vs Better boy tomato yields more similarities than differences. It is safe to say these tomatoes can be and should be freely used as alternatives or in combination in any recipe (see recipe section).
Celebrity Tomato vs Early Girl
Juxtaposed, Celebrity and Early Girl tomatoes will also reveal some differences as well as similarities. Although first distributed in the United States by Petoseed Co. in the 1970s, Early Girl has origins in France while Celebrity was an in-house developed tomato cultivar at Petoseed (see Celebrity tomato origins section).
Ultimately, depending on application, Early Girl tomatoes can replace Celebrity tomatoes in certain uses. For example, both tomatoes are befitting, slicing tomatoes which can be used in sandwiches and burgers. They are also both meaty although Celebrity is arguably slightly more meatier than Early Girl.
Contrasted on flavor, both tomatoes have generally good flavor, however, Early Girl tomato is considered as having better flavor than Celebrity tomato. It can be said to have a flavor that is closer to cherry tomatoes. In addition, Early Girl has been cultivated in California using a technique called dry-farming, which among other things is designed to increase tomato fruit flavor including sweetness.
Overall, Early Girl is better placed between the two to apply uncooked such as in salads, bagels and sandwiches although there are other tomato varieties that surpass it in flavor. Applying it uncooked allows for its flavor to be enjoyed undisturbed through cooking.
This, however, does not mean Celebrity is not suitable for these uses. It simply means it is overtaken in flavor by Early Girl tomato when the two are counterposed. Early Girl tomato will also have a further advantage on size when applied to smaller sandwiches, for example.
Regarding cultivation, for all intents and purposes, Celebrity tomato is a mid-season cultivar while Early Girl tomato is a true early season tomato variety. It sets fruit within 54 days from transplanting while Celebrity reaches maturity in reality at about 90 to 100 days compared to the often talked about 70 days. Therefore, one of the reasons some growers prefer to use Early Girl tomato in raw dishes with minimal cooking is to highlight its early-season tomato flavor.
Furthermore, when compared, the two tomatoes are borne by two different vine types. Celebrity tomato is a determinate plant, as already stated. On the other hand, Early Girl tomato is an indeterminate tomato vine which will continue to grow and produce as long as conditions permit. Of the two, Celebrity tomato is best suited for growing in containers than Early Girl tomato (see growing in containers section).
Finally, the Early Girl tomato vine produces a much smaller fruit compared to the size of the Celebrity tomato fruit. While Early Girl fruit is bright red when ripe much the same way as Celebrity’s fruit, it is only about 2 to 6 inches or 5 to 16cm in diameter and 4 to 6 Oz. or 113 grams to 170 grams in weight. On the contrary, Celebrity tomatoes can weigh as much as 10 Oz. or 280 grams.
As the foregoing comparison of Celebrity Tomato vs Early Girl shows, there are marked differences between these two red tomato cultivars.
Celebrity Tomato vs Beefsteak
A comparison between Celebrity tomatoes and beefsteak tomatoes first acknowledges that beefsteak is in fact an umbrella name that refers to many tomato varieties of a shared South American origin. There are no less than 8 varieties of beefsteak in the world today, the majority of which are heirlooms. While there are heirloom beefsteak tomatoes, there are also hybrid beefsteak tomatoes that came much later such as the Big Beef developed by Colen Wyatt, the same plant breeder as Celebrity tomato.
Put side-by-side with Celebrity tomatoes, most beefsteak tomatoes have similar use cases as the Celebrity tomato (see recipes section). They are good slicing tomatoes that can be used for sandwiches and hamburgers, for example. Although producing big slices, beefsteaks can be appropriately sized for salads or even stacked. They are also good for canning and making pasta sauce in a similar fashion as Celebrity tomatoes.
Contrasted for flavor, beefsteak tomatoes have better tasting classic tomato-flavor compared to Celebrity tomatoes. Depending on variety, you can expect sweet to-the-taste flavor, something you would not get with Celebrity. While Celebrity tomatoes are essentially red tomatoes, there are also other beefsteak varieties that produce purple, black, or yellow fruit.
Despite these variances, there are, however, some more interesting similarities between Celebrity tomato and beefsteak. Both tomatoes grow big and have a very meaty texture when cut open. This meaty texture makes both tomatoes suitable for making thick paste and thick sauces as desired although beefsteaks tend to be juicier than the Celebrity tomato.
While both tomatoes grow big in size, a differentiating factor between Celebrity tomatoes and typical heirloom beefsteaks is that these beefsteak types tend to have ribbed surfaces, in some cases producing a totally different looking fruit shape compared to the Celebrity tomato.
Nonetheless, the Big Beef beefsteak tomato, in particular, is not only big but also smooth and well rounded almost to the same particulars as the Celebrity tomatoes. There are therefore some similarities between the tomatoes in this regard.
Another evident difference between Celebrity tomatoes and beefsteak tomatoes is that the beefsteak is an indeterminate tomato while the former is a determinate vine. Nevertheless, both tomato types will require strong support due to their high and heavy yields. As for maturity, the beefsteak is a long season tomato taking as much as 90 days to reach maturity. Furthermore, it is also resistant to fusarium wilt and nematodes in a similar fashion as Celebrity fruit.
Overall, a Celebrity tomato vs beefsteak tomato comparison shows that much depends on the beefsteak variety under consideration. Hybrid beefsteak tomatoes such as the Big Beef have closer resemblance to Celebrity tomatoes than heirloom types and can easily be used in place of Celebrity tomato in certain recipes.
Celebrity Tomato Nutrition
Celebrity tomatoes are highly nutritious vegetables (botanically fruit). According to Texas A&M AgriLife Research they are considered a superfood. According to Medical News Today superfood is a term associated with foods that “offer maximum nutritional benefits for minimal calories. They are packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants”.
Nonetheless, Celebrity tomatoes offer these nutritional benefits not merely because they are Celebrity tomatoes but because they are red tomatoes. According to a 2014 report which appeared in the journal Mediators of Inflammation, there is evidence demonstrating that tomatoes have anti-inflammatory and anticancer effects in humans.
Ripe Celebrity tomatoes contain lycopene, a carotenoid which is also a source of their red pigment or color. A 2020 study in the journal Antioxidants established a possible vital role played by lycopene in reducing the risk of cancer.
Furthermore, Celebrity tomatoes consumed ripe are a very good source of vitamins A , B and C as well as potassium. Each of these vitamins play an important role in the human body from reducing risk of acne to repairing body tissue to heartbeat regulation and ensuring proper function of muscles and nerves as in the case of potassium.
Finally, tomatoes are often featured in many nutritional and weight loss diets for a reason. They have very low calories. It is estimated that an average tomato size has only 22 calories. A large one that could be as big as the Celebrity tomato would have only 33 calories.
Tomato types such as the Celebrity which are meaty would have an even higher level of dietary fiber. Fiber, which is also found in other vegetables such as white eggplants plays an important role in bowel movements, lowering cholesterol and making one feel fuller for longer among other benefits. Feeling fuller for longer is important in weight loss efforts.
While red tomatoes such as Celebrity tomatoes offer some good health benefits and nutrition as demonstrated, there are other tomato cultivars such as the black cherry tomato which offer even more superior health benefits, according to scientific findings. Such varieties are also worth bringing into the mix of one’s dietary consumption of tomatoes.
Celebrity Tomato Recipes
Celebrity Homemade Salsa Recipe
If you have ever enjoyed Mexican salsa at a restaurant, this recipe brings it home. It is easy to make and could even be used on the famous Chilaquiles rojos. The recipe calls for half of the tomato ingredients to be Roma tomatoes and the other half Celebrity tomatoes.
The use of bigger tomato varieties such as Celebrity in this recipe vs using Romas alone is to prevent the salsa tasting too dry. Other ingredients will be garlic, cilantro, onion and jalapeno peppers which itself could also be substituted with pimento peppers. This recipe takes 45 minutes to make and yields 2 quarts or 2.27 liters of salsa. View Recipe.
Homemade Tomato Sauce Recipe
This recipe produces homemade old fashioned tomato sauce which can be used as base for lasagna sauce, spaghetti sauce, vegetable soup and chili among other applications. The recipe does not tie down one to a specific tomato variety to use, making it a wonderful opportunity to involve Celebrity tomatoes.
The sauce can be made as spicy hot as one desires or vice versa. Other ingredients apart from the tomatoes will be red hot sauce, dry mustard, cinnamon and vinegar among others. The actual making of the recipe takes about 60 minutes. The final product can be jarred, frozen and kept as a handy overwinter tomato sauce. View Recipe.
Roasted Tomato Pasta Sauce Recipe
This recipe has what it takes in ingredients to produce a flavorful pasta sauce that is rich and chunky. The key element that produces the heightened flavor and inviting texture is the roasting of the tomatoes. The recipe calls for beefsteak tomatoes.
However, as explained in the Celebrity vs beefsteak comparison earlier above, these two tomato types can be interchangeable depending on application. This is one application suitable to use Celebrity tomato in place of the beefsteak. The ingredients list is quite diverse but includes extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil, fresh thyme, dry red wine, yellow onion and black pepper among others. The recipe takes 2 hrs. 15 minutes to make. View Recipe.
Green Greek Salad Recipe
This green salad recipe is ready in 10 minutes and serves 6 to 8 people. This will be another case of tomato substitution in order to get an opportunity to use Celebrity tomatoes in this very recipe. Originally the recipe calls for Roma tomatoes.
However, this can be entirely replaced by Celebrity tomatoes which are also suitable for use in salads or used in combination with the Roma tomatoes. The recipe is in two parts, the dressing and the salad. Other ingredients to go into the salad include lettuce (green, purple or both), red onion, feta cheese, kalamata olive (example) and cucumber among others. On the cucumber, the recipe calls for English cucumber which is bitterless. Persian, Armenian or even lemon cucumber could also be used in this recipe. View Recipe.
Slow-Roasted Summer Tomatoes Recipe
Roasting is one recommended way of assisting tomatoes intensify flavor. This recipe seeks to accomplish this using Celebrity tomatoes in place of beefsteaks. Furthermore, the roasted tomatoes can also be preserved frozen for months making it a suitable method of stocking up tomatoes for winter.
Ingredients used in this recipe apart from the tomatoes include extra virgin olive oil, granulated sugar, fresh thyme leaves, garlic, balsamic vinegar and kosher salt among others. View Recipe.
Celebrity Salad Recipe
Finally, this recipe produces a scrumptious salad full of color thanks to the red tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, and fresh basil leaves coming together. Once again, the beefsteak tomatoes in this recipe are replaced by Celebrity tomatoes. Other ingredients are green onion, balsamic vinegar and freshly ground black pepper.
The salad is invitingly arranged on a platter and drizzled with the dressing before serving as an appetizer or side dish. Recipe takes 10 minutes to make and serves 2. View Recipe.
Celebrity Tomato Seeds
Celebrity tomato seeds are widely accessible in North America. Since this cultivar is an F1 hybrid tomato type, it is not recommended to save seed from Celebrity tomatoes. Open-pollinated tomatoes are suitable for saving seed.
Hybrid tomatoes such as Celebrity, produce second generation plants and fruit that may be totally different tomatoes altogether and that have all the undesirable elements not found in the original F1. In a worst case, the seeds may even be sterile.
The following are some North American Celebrity tomato seed suppliers.
- Celebrity Seeds vi Amazon
- Park Seed Celebrity Hybrid Tomato Seeds
- Hoss Tools Celebrity Tomato Seeds
- Johnny’s Seeds Celebrity F1 Tomato Seeds
- Harris Seeds Celebrity F1 Seeds
- Burpee Celebrity Seeds
Growing Celebrity Tomatoes
Growing Celebrity tomatoes is not only considered easy but also recommended because of the tomato’s resistance to diseases and pests, especially root-knot nematode parasites. Considering that many home gardeners plant tomatoes on the same space every single season due to space limitations, the tomatoes grown must particularly have resistance to root-knot nematodes according to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. Celebrity fits this bill.
Celebrity tomatoes can grow in a wide variety of climates. As earlier mentioned, although a hybrid tomato, they are sometimes referred to, in jest, as an heirloom look-alike tomato with no heirloom problems thanks to disease, pest, splitting and cracking resistance.
Growing the Celebrity tomato is very similar to growing a wide range of other tomato cultivars and varieties which share in the Solanum lycopersicum species. Fundamental considerations when growing Celebrity tomatoes are season, soil type and sunlight.
Just like all other tomatoes, Celebrity tomatoes are warm season crops that can be started indoors in late spring or 6 to 8 weeks before the last day of frost. They are transplanted outdoors after some days of hardening and when night temperatures are warm enough not to damage the leaves. There are especially designed kits (example) that can be used to start your seeds early indoors.
When transplanted outdoors, Celebrity tomato transplants must be located in a spot that receives maximum sunlight, in any case, of at least 6 hours per day. Sunlight exposure together with good soil nutrition and watering ensures Celebrity fruit grows to the maximum size possible.
The tomato plants must be planted in rich soil, loam or sandy loam, which are well draining and of slight acidity of a pH of between 6.2 and 6.8. Although sometimes much emphasis is put to soil type, tomatoes can grow and do well in any decent type of soil. In fact, most garden soils are already suitable to start tomato production. Amendments such as calcium supply through bone meal can then be undertaken.
As much as Celebrity tomatoes are determinate tomatoes, the tomato tree will need some support at the fruit production stage due to the weight of the tomatoes. The tomatoes are practically ready to harvest between 90 and 100 days (see section on when to pick Celebrity tomatoes).
Celebrity Tomato Diseases
Celebrity tomato diseases are much reduced than most other tomato varieties have to deal with. Celebrity tomato is resistant to fusarium wilt types 1 and 2, verticillium wilt and tobacco mosaic virus diseases. This is expected because Celebrity was specifically developed to be disease and pest resistant to some of the most devastating tomato pests and diseases. This is one of the reasons the tomato has remained a favorite and performed so well for over 40 years.
We recommend a scan of this list of tomato diseases and disorders by Clemson University Cooperative Extension. Diseases and disorders on the Clemson list that are not among the ones Celebrity tomatoes have resistance to, are likely to affect your Celebrity plants and fruits. Nonetheless, it is also prudent to do an extra check with your local extension office of which tomato diseases affect your area and how to prevent and/or treat them.
Even so, the resistance of Celebrity tomatoes to root-knot nematode pests is considered very significant in the tomato world. This is because very few tomato types are tolerant to this menacing pest. Root-knot nematodes are microscopic in size, move through the soil and invade the tip of tomato plant feeder roots.
Affected plants have stunted growth, wilt and can start yellowing. Furthermore, as earlier mentioned, this pest particularly troubles home gardeners who use the same spot every year to grow tomatoes. Celebrity tomatoes thus become the answer.
Not only is Celebrity resistant to pests and diseases, it is also crack and splitting resistant which is often caused in tomatoes by excess water as occurs during storms and watering following a moisture stress.
There is certainly much more to appreciate about growing Celebrity tomatoes and tomatoes in general. For this we recommend this resource, Growing tomatoes in home gardens, by University of Minnesota Extension.
Growing Celebrity Tomatoes in Containers
Growing Celebrity tomatoes in containers is easy to achieve following the correct steps and using suitable materials. Determinate tomato vines such as the Celebrity tomato are better grown in pots compared to indeterminate long vining types. The following is the method and requirements for successfully growing Celebrity tomatoes in containers.
Container Size
A suitable container to raise a Celebrity tomato plant should be at least 18 inches or 45cm in diameter. The container should also have a depth of at least 12 inches or 30cm and with drainage holes at the bottom. This is an example of such a container. Only a single tomato plant should be planted in an 18 inch container to maximize production.
Nonetheless, Celebrity tomatoes can also be grown in 5 gallon fabric grow bags (example). Only one plant should be raised in a 5 gallon bag. Fabric grow bags will not need holes beneath as they can drain excess water through the fabric itself.
Soil for the Container
Of all the other home grown vegetables, tomatoes are perhaps the least fussy concerning soil type. This is to say most backyard soil is a suitable base for preparing high quality soil for growing Celebrity tomatoes in containers. This type of soil is sometimes referred to as crummy backyard soil. It is mixed with compost and peat moss to create a suitable growing medium to fill the container size discussed earlier.
The actual soil recipe for container tomato growing is 60% crummy backyard soil, 20% compost and 20% peat moss. Store bought topsoil can also be used in place of the crummy soil, while commercially available dehydrated cow manure can be used in place of mature compost.
The growing container is filled with this mixture leaving 8 inches or 20cm from the top of the container. In other words, the soil should not level up with the container top.
Soil Treatment and Transplanting
After filling the growing container with the soil mixture as discussed above, the top of the soil is treated with powder copper fungicide. This is a precaution against fungal blight disease which tends to attack most tomato varieties.
This fungicide is applied once at the planting stage. The very act of planting the tomato tree transplant, as explained below, naturally works the earlier applied copper fungicide into the soil without need for intentional mixing.
The next step after the soil treatment is to dig a deep hole in the center of the container. The Celebrity tomato plant will be inserted in this hole after it is pruned of any lower leaves on the stem of the transplant.
Only a few leaves at the top of the transplant are left intact. The transplant is then buried deep in the hole dug earlier in the middle of the growing container leaving only the part of the stem with a few leaves.
Care and Maintenance
Before proceeding to water the newly planted tomato tree, calcium deficiency precautions must also be taken. Blossom end-rot is a common physiological issue encountered by many home tomato growers. It is caused by calcium deficiency, a common occurrence in tomatoes planted in containers due to nutrient leaching as a result of water percolation. There are a variety of calcium sources, however the most commonly used source is bone meal (example).
A 1/4 cup bone meal is applied around the planted Celebrity tomato in the container. This is repeated every two weeks until the tomato goes into fruit production. In addition, in the other two weeks that bone meal is not being applied, tomato-tone (example) is applied also at 1/4 cup. This commercially sold product promotes flowering and a healthy tomato plant. Using the approach explained here, Celebrity tomatoes grown in containers will be as equally productive as those planted in the ground.
When to Pick Celebrity Tomatoes
When to pick Celebrity tomatoes is generally informed by the same cues that are used when harvesting red tomatoes. Maturity date as indicated on the seed package is a useful indicator, so is color change and the squeeze test.
As earlier mentioned, although seed packets tend to give about 70 days for Celebrity tomatoes to mature, many gardeners find that in real terms vine ripened Celebrity tomatoes may require as much as 90 to 100 days to be ready for harvest.
Off-the-vine ripened Celebrity tomatoes are picked when they start having a color blush. This begins at the bottom of the fruit and spreads across the tomato as it turns from green to pinkish a color then red to an intense red when fully ripened. Celebrity tomatoes that are harvested at first color change can be left to ripen on the kitchen counter.
On the vine ripened Celebrity tomatoes are allowed to fully ripen whilst still on the vine. Usually, a squeeze test is performed on the tomato which is a gentle squeezing of the fruit in hopes of a slight give. A give is an indication that the tomato is ripe and can be removed from the vine. Along with this indicator is also the color of the tomato itself. When the tomato is intensely red, it is also a sign that it is ready for picking and may actually become over ripened.
When to pick Celebrity tomatoes must also be decided upon with an appreciation of risks involved when the tomato is left to ripen on the vine. Vine ripened tomatoes, especially those close to the ground, are very attractive snacks for pests. Birds, rats and other animals eat these tomatoes. This is one of the reasons some growers prefer to pick their tomatoes early for indoor ripening once the color change starts.
There is a thriving debate among tomato growers on when to harvest tomatoes. We have a dedicated article, When to Pick Tomatoes, which discusses this topic in detail.
Conclusion
Celebrity tomato is a large hybrid tomato developed in the United States. The tomato is an all-purpose slicing tomato that is used in cooking, sauces, soups, salads, pastes juicing and canning. It is an easy to grow tomato that was created to have resistance to certain tomato diseases and pests. Due to these particulars, the tomato cultivar has not waned in popularity among growers in North America despite having been on the market for at least 40 years.
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