Early Girl tomatoes are an extremely popular variety that is one of the most common supermarket and backyard vegetable garden varieties in the U.S. This indeterminate variety grows to about the size of a tennis ball and has the look and shape of what most people would equate with a “standard” tomato. The Early Girl is fast-growing, has high yields and is easy to grow.
This variety earned its popularity in the United States when researchers at the Center of Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at the University of California Santa Cruz found that this tomato is particularly well-suited to “dryland farming.” This method involves low watering methods that force deep rooting, producing slightly smaller tomatoes with a higher flavor concentration. This makes this tasty fruit a highly popular local tomato at San Francisco-area restaurants and farmer’s markets.
Best Soil for Growing Early Girl Tomatoes
Early Girl tomato plants do well in cultivated, nutritious soil. Slightly acidic is best, but not important – they will thrive in 6.5-7.5 pH. Rich soil is an important factor to this variety as its fast growth comes at the cost of high nutritive use. The speed at which these plants grow will often mean that fertilization does not happen during their short growing season.
Proper Care of Early Girl Tomatoes
Early Girl plants are relatively maintenance-free once established. Pinch off early shoots to encourage upward growth and be sure to use sturdy stakes or tomato cages as these plants get quite large (up to 9 feet) with limbs heavy with fruit. For best results pick and pickle or discard tomatoes that are crowded too close together on the vine to encourage larger tomatoes and faster fruit production.
Watering on the ground, such as with soaker hoses, rather than from the air, will keep rot at a minimum and will help with root growth. Early Girls have good disease resistance. They are resistant to most common tomato diseases and pests, so they are well-suited to organic methods of growing — despite the variety’s patent being owned by Monsanto.
When to Harvest Early Girls
Fruit will come to maturity in about 50 days. Ripe tomatoes will turn bright red. The best way to harvest early girls is to pick them slightly before total ripeness as these tomatoes can become soft and lose their table appeal fairly quickly. A gardener who is not observant may miss the right time for prime picking for these fast-growers, as they can go from green to red in such a short time, just a day or so.
Early Girl Tomato Pests and Diseases
Few natural enemies affect the Early Girl, which was bred for its fast production and disease resistance. Because they are a short-season tomato, by the time most pests are active in the garden, the Early Girl has already finished its season.
How to Prepare Early Girl Tomatoes
Early Girls are a great choice for just about every dish tomatoes can be used in. From salads to salsa, they do it all. They are somewhat softer and less crisp than many longer-growing varieties, however, so most people do not find that they pickle, bake, or fry very well.
Tips for Growing Early Girl Tomatoes
The primary thing to do is have excellent soil. This will encourage these indeterminate plants to have fast growth and high productivity. Outside of this, Early Girls are very low-maintenance tomatoes. They grow well in large containers or buckets, in the ground, and in raised beds. They are a good choice for home gardeners because of their size & productivity. This makes them perfect to grow in a kitchen garden or porch-side.
Want to learn more about growing early girl tomatoes?
Check out these resources:
NC State University – Commercial Production of Tomatoes [PDF]
University of Illinois – Tomatoes
My Early Girl tomato plant had lots of sun, water and Miracal-Gro fertilizer. It produced lots of 1″ to 1 1/2″ fruit with rather leathery skin.
Any advice?
Lyle Dolven
My initial guess is that your soil may be short on organic material and/or high in clay. If the soil is dense and hard packed without much organic material, the roots can’t develop a big healthy ball. My second guess is temperature; very often tomatoes do best in rather high temperatures. You may find that a plastic sheet suspended over the plant (like a sort of greenhouse, but less permanent) can raise the temperature to 30C for longer periods of time. The fruit should be less inclined to have a tough skin in hotter conditions.
My early girl plants were doing really well fertilized and plenty of water so wht would the blossoms die as the plants are loaded with tomatos please let me know what I can do. Been keeping ground lose around them. Thank You
Most tomatoes need moderate temps. Blossoms fail to set for me when temperatures exceed 90 or so. This past season max temps were more moderate and I had my biggest late crop ever.
I’m raising some Early Girl tomato plants for the first time.
First, I would advise against using Miracle-Gro, as it’s company,”Scotts” is tied to Monsanto (infamous for its production of GMOs and other toxic products), and instead, use organic materials for compost and mulch such as banana peels, coffee/tea grounds, egg-shells, grass clippings, leaves, and straw.
Keep in mind that temperature also plays an important factor.
If the temperature is too hot or too cold, it may affect the plant
(as perhaps even the fruit)..
As mentioned earlier, this is the first time I’m raising a
couple of tomato plants my beloved neighbors gave me
before they moved to Helena…And thus, I’m still experimenting
and Googling up some info that might help.
I’m a 87 year old widow & bought a Early Girl Patio tomato plant that is already quite high with blossoms. They told me it can grow in the plastic
pot it is in. Would it do better if I planted the whole pot & all in the ground.
Also, what brand fertilizer & how often to apply it.
If I leave it in the pot above ground it will probably dry out every day,
can I safely water it every day.
Will sincerely appreciate your reply.
Please advise, growing early girl tomatoes first the . growing on my patio in a large pot. My tomatoe ingplant is over 6ft tall. I now have 42 tomatoes of various sizes but the larger (med size) are showing no signs of turning green.
When will they start to turn? Its been a month since it sprouted its ?.
Please advise,
Helena
I’ve found that Early Girls should be classified as Early/Middle/Late Girls. They are always my first ripe tomatoes and produce all season, having the most tomatoes remaining when I make my last harvest! I plant 2 of them along with another15 plants of 5 varieties. My other highly productive early/late variety is Juliet, a large grape tomato with great flavor and mass numbers.
I planted my Early Girl plant the end of February in a 10 gal. plastic pot. It is only 2 1/1 ft tall and has 3 small tomatoes and a few flowers on it. The plant is not at all full. why am I having this problem? Yesterday I fed it some Fox Farm Liquid plant food hoping to help its growth. Last year my Early Girl grew and produced fine.
i will welcome any advice.
Sounds to me like it doesn’t have enough room in the pot. I planted my early girl in a 18 inch pot two weeks ago and it has doubled in size! I highly recommend Mater Magic as an organic fertilizer which really gives it a boost! I water about once a week. Good luck!
Too cold the temp in February is still too cold. This most likely stunted your growth
My Early Girl tomato plant is in the same tub as my Beef Master tomato plant. the Early Girl has NOT made 1 bud this year, unlike my Beef Master tomato plants. My Beef Master tomato plants are incredible. I planted all of these plants on the same day, it was the first Sunday in April 2017. They all get watered, fertilized etc together. No clue as to why the Early Girl hasn’t produced one bud. Any ideas are welcome. Cheers 🙂
I got a cs.of early girl tomatos in my food box..bit
into a nice, red one-mmvery juicyButNO Flavor
Why?
My early girl tomatoes always did the best and tasted the sweetest when I used gypsum in the soil. and steer manure. They were so sweet and made the best lettuce and tomato sandwiches. We had the last of the tomatoes Christmas Day. Wait till the soil dries before you water again. The times I didn’t add gypsum they weren’t sweet and it was disappointing. Never wanted to buy store tomatoes again. Just like growing your own corn . Never knew corn was so sweet.
This is my first time doing early girl tomatoes. I watched videos on how to prune the plant now my plant has hardly any leaves and the ones left are having brown spots I have used Epson salt and plant food egg shells and coffee grounds I have ?growing but my plant looks sick what can I do to save my plant it is in a large container I gotten from the super market I need help please
You have to be really careful about over watering them
How Often do you fertilize and how much
I used Sheep manure this year in my garden, mix well with good soil, water every second day, full sun, and keep soil at base loose. My entire garden has gone crazy and have insane amounts of tomatoes and we can’t keep up with production. They are delicious. Best tomatoes I have ever planted. Not hard or leathery. Just juicy and delicious.
My early girls produced well until about 2 weeks ago. Now very few fruit, and they are very small. It is mid August and I am in Clovis/Fresno, CA. Could this be due to the high temperatures of over 30 days exceeding 100 degrees?
My first year planting earl girl tomatoes in a long time. I’m growing them in 45 gallon tubs. I used a mix of sandy loam and rich potting soil mixed with some earthworm castings. Topped with a light layer of mulch. I hate work with tomato cages, so I placed tall stakes in each quadrant of the tub and am using twine to hold them up by running a row around all the stakes every 6 inches up and then adding more rows as they grow.
I’m in central Texas, so our summers get hot. I water about every 4-5 days (I do use a hygrometer) unless it rains and every other watering I use Fox Farm’s Tiger Bloom. I have probably 20 or more tomatoes on each plant (I only grew 2 plants) and picked my first tomato today. 7.6 ounces. You have to watch these closely.. it went from green to ripe enough to pick in 3 days. I should have 2 or 3 more to pick within a couple days and the rest are nicely scattered time-wise.
I didn’t realize I should trim the side branches, so I’ve started doing that with my very sharp gardening shears, which I also soak in chlorhexidine before and after so I’m not transferring any bacteria. These plants are not a lot of work compared to my carrots and peas. Almost as easy to grow as my rutabega! Having this first tomato tonight in chicken salad.
This is my first year growing Early Girl. She’s in a raised garden bed and looks great, huge but it has no blooms. Not one! What can I do or is this normal? Thank you for your help hope to hear from you soon.
Thank You,
Erika
Just need to know if you dont have a tomato cage will they die…
absolutely. They get heavy and you can’t hardly get in or see the tomatoes in the center
I live in Michigan and in May I purchased one potted early bird tomato plant with buds already on it. It has been putting out small to medium delicious tomatoes all summer, even thru very hot 90’s June and July.
It has grown very large in height and width and Although some of the leaves are wilting and dead it is still producing.
I left it in the purchased container and just set it in a larger pot filled 1/2 dirt giving it room to drain. Water every two days. I have never pruned it but did stake it all around for support.
The Early Girl is owned by the infamous Mansanto corporation…. I’m pretty sure they have done something to the seeds or seedlings to compromise growth as of late! I’m not getting anything on both of these plants but my other three from a different company are thriving! Things that make you go Hmmm!