Although relatively new, the hybrid Lemon Boy is a big hit amongst both home and commercial growers. It’s one of the more popular yellow tomato varieties today. The medium-sized fruits grow to 7 or 8 ounces and have a distinct, beautiful bright yellow color. The lemon boy hybrid is very disease-resistant. It grows at an average speed, producing fruit in about 72 days.
The prized Lemon Boys are sugary sweet, high yielding, and can be harvested throughout the growing season if kept well.
Best Soil for Lemon Boy Tomatoes
Lemon Boys, like most tomatoes, require good , highly fertile, rich soil. In this type of soil these vigorous plants, if kept healthy, will grow quickly and for best results should be planted in relatively airy soil and a slight acidity (6.5 pH).
Proper Care for Lemon Boy Tomatoes
Start lemon boy tomato seeds for new plants indoors 6-8 weeks before the last average frost date gives good-sized seedlings that will be robust enough for the garden. When you sow seeds they can be staggered by a week or so, but this really is unnecessary as the harvest itself will naturally stagger due to the inherent variability of the plant.
Seedlings should be watered every other day until planted and established in the garden. After that, they should be watered every three to four days, depending on weather conditions, or whenever the soil feels dry a couple of inches below the surface.
Liquid fertilizers with a higher nitrogen content (20-10-10 is common) will yield the best results for seedlings and new transplants. Change to an evenly balanced fertilizer once the plants are two to three feet in height and begin to bud.
When to Harvest Lemon Boy Tomatoes
Lemon boy plants require 72 to 80 days to mature and will have a bright yellow fruit that will easily drop off the vine at harvest time, when ripe. Pick tomatoes as they’re individually ready rather than all at once. This tomato variety will ripen in small groups, but one plant will not ripen all at once. Be aware that like with other tomato types, leaves and stems can be poisonous if ingested in quantity.
Lemon Boy Tomato Plant Pests and Diseases
The Lemon Boy is an excellent choice due to its good disease resistance. The are also resistant to nearly every major pest that tomatoes can suffer from, which is one reason they’re so popular. Most pests will not attack the Lemon Boy’s leaves because they are poisonous and thus often avoid the fruits as well. Specifically, the Lemon Boy is resistant to Fusarium and Verticillium wilt and to Root Nematodes. Most grasshoppers and leaf-munching caterpillars will also avoid these. Your primary pest is likely to be birds, who enjoy the bright yellow tomatoes.
Learn more about tomato pests and tomato diseases.
How to Serve Lemon Boys
Most often, Lemon Boys are eaten raw on salads or alone. Because of their unique looks and tastiness, they are usually eaten fresh. They retain their excellent flavor when dried. They can also be canned or stewed if desired, of course.
Tips for Growing Lemon Boy Tomatoes
The number one thing to know with the Lemon Boy is that it needs regular watering to avoid dwarfed fruits or splitting. Water regularly (every 3-4 days) and keep the soil fertilized up until fruit appears in abundance.
More Tomato Growing Resources:
University of Missouri – Growing Home Garden Tomatoes
University of Illinois – Tomatoes
My lemon boy plants are tall and look healthy but there are only two tomatoes on it which are both green. Is this unusual?
PS. They were planted on April 15, 2018.
Thank you, Rachel
Things like , The soil , how often you water and the amount of light the plants receive, play an important role in the size and amount of fruit you can expect. A lack of any one of these factors, or a combination of them, may result in low yields. Sometimes, we just get a little anxious , the fruit don’t all come at once.
I planted 67 lemon boy and 113 better boy on the slight slope of a south facing hill. they are receiving 12 hours a day of sunlight. soil ph is 6.5. it is clayie loam that i mixed yard waste compost and aged cow manure compost in to loosen soil and make for better drainage. They were hit by hail twice and yet at end of july/ beginning august my plants are all about 5 feet tall and have completely outgrown their 4 foot cages. most have 50 -60 green tomatoes set on with as many as 200 more blossoms still to set fruit. More than average sunlight, careful ph-ing of soil, even watering and strong cages are key. anyone can produce these results.
My lemon boy have a lot of fruit but now some of the ripe fruit has a brown staining on top of the fruit what is causing this.
Sounds like blossom end rot. This is due to low soil calcium or not enough water. Next time fertilize your tomato plants with fish emulsion fertilizer to prevent calcium deficiency. Water often in hot weather.
how or can you can lemon boy tomatoes like for stewed tomatoes?
I picked my first Lemon Boy tomato today August 17, 2024.
It had a lot of meat in the tomato.
The taste was very good, not as strong as a read tomato.
I would get over all an 8