It means not a hot house or a hydroponic tomato.

I take it to mean the ones you buy bulk in a basket, which may not be as pretty as the ones you choose individually and pay more for. Just my interpretation, could be wrong.

I consider a "field" tomato as one that is not grown in a hot house.

~Ann

A field tomato is one that is grown in a field, not in a hot house. Maybe it's a Canadian term but that is what we call "real" tomatoes.

There seem to be several interpretations out there, but not mine, LOL!

Actually FOAS in away you are right....I've never seen anything but field tomatoes sold by the bushel.

Thanks everybody.

FOAS, that's okay - at least you HAD a definition. I was just scratching my head.

/t

We would see "fields" of tomatoes growing on stakes along the road to my grandparent's cabin up in the NC mountains near Waynesville. These were grown in the summer growing season that were taken to a local cannery for canning. They weren't huge beefsteak type of tomatoes, probably 5-7 oz. each. In days gone by, many market tomato growers let the vines grow without any stake or cage support. They would just vine all over the ground. But you end up with more blemish free tomatoes when they are trained up a tall stake, and you have fewer tomatoes rotting on the ground.

Teresa

Being from New Jersey... land of the BEST tomaotes... NO idea what a field tomato is?? Do know that when you drive past vast fields of toomatoes on the back roads to the shore... they're just laying on the ground... no stakes or cages.

Remember a drive to Wildwood, NJ as a kid. Probably crossed the Delaware on the Chester Ferry. Roads were all one lane in each direction and definitely NOT high speed. We got stuck behind a DUMP TRUCK mounded up with tomatoes. Every bump it hit meant tomatoes splatting on the road. Truck looked like it was BLEEDING from the juice running out of the bottom. Load was probably destined for Camden to become Campbell's tomato soup... or ketchup... or tomato sauce.Don't even wanna think about the QC (or lack of) when it comes to those products?!

Tricia, I've never heard the term "field" tomato. Could you have been thinking of "field corn", which has been mentioned on some threads this summer?

Another Canadian here. I agree with the "grown outdoors" definition. Although home gardeners around here can get an outdoor crop, if the weather cooperates, and one plants short season varieties (60 days or less), all the local commercial growers grow under glass. Even so, heating costs are extreme enough that the season is limited to not much more than 6 months.

Field tomatoes = Free-range tomatoes? :-)

Really, my tomatoes are cage free. I developed a system for supporting tomato plants with no stakes, no cages. Seems to be working very well.

In the many years I have been growing tomatoes, I have not come across the term "Field tomatoes". It doesn't mean it is not in use.

dcarch

Chairlady....another transplanted Jerseyite here...
As good as Iowa grown tomatoes are, I still fondly remember the Jersey tomatoes....and corn and peaches and blue berries.
Yes, I have heard the term field tomatoes...meaning those meant for canning...the determinant varieties.

Seems the new thing in growing field tomatoes is red plastic on the ground between rows. They say that the reflected red light makes them ripen faster? Must be so because lots of South Jersey growers do it.

As Sharon mentioned, maybe it is a Canadian term for "real" tomatoes. Homegrown or farm grown. Field tomato is a term I've heard all my life. My mom would buy beef steak tomatoes by the bushel and they were referred to as field tomatoes. Even now our grocery stores differentiate between "field" tomatoes and hot house tomatoes.

Ann

I'm sure it is must be a Canadian term if so many Americans have never heard it although I would think it would be a term familiar to our Michigan friends. It does not refer just to canning tomatoes. It refers to any tomato grown in the fields as opposed to hot houses. As Ann says the term is used in the grocery stores to differentiate from hot house tomatoes.

Perhaps the term is used in Canada because, as a result of our short growing season, there is a lot of Canadian hot house tomatoes and "imports" in the markets so a "field" tomato is something we Canadian lust after.

First I have to say that I agree with Thatchairlady, the very best tomatoes are grown in NJ. There is something about that sandy soil that produces the most delicious tomatoes. People used to be able to buy Campbell Soup tomato plants, but no more. I love to find those road side stands that sell real field grown tomatoes. They are invariably ugly to look at but gorgeous to eat.

There is an Amish stand in my local Farmers Market (which has become too fancy-dancy to call a Framers Mkt), that sells "Lancaster County" tomatoes. They are picture perfect to look at, red, perfectly shaped, blemish free and totally tasteless. I am sure they come from Lancaster County hothouses.

Yes, if someone says field tomatoes, I know what they mean and see plenty of those fields on my way to the Jersey shore.

I don't think you can grow corn in a hothouse, so there is no need to distinguish.

Strangely, those field tomatoes often don't look as appetizing as the hot house ones. I don't really enjoy ANY store-bought tomato...so glad I have my own in the garden this summer.

Agreed, Donna. Supermarket tomatoes aren't very tasty, and it doesn't really matter whether they are grown under glass or sky. It has everything to do with the varieties grown, and the criteria growers use to choose. Commercial growers like tomatoes that look perfect, ripen uniformly, can tolerate mechanical picking, and hold their form when shipped across the continent. Taste? What's that????

Home growers, and market gardeners that sell into local markets, are much more concerned with flavour. If you ever read the descriptions in seed catalogues, it is really easy to see which markets are targeted by which varieties.

I had never heard of field tomatoes either, but I do know that tomatoes are a winter crop in South Texas and they are still grown in fields. I have not had luck growing tomatoes lately, but I would add that the best tomatoes I have had were the Dona variety that I used to grow in Venice. Nothing else came close to those, and so I think I will try to find some seeds to grow next year. I get great tomatoes at the farmers' markets, however.

Lars

I've always heard of "field tomatoes" or "field run" tomatoes. All that means here is that the tomatoes came right out of the field, all sizes and shapes. They aren't sorted or classified, you just take the big ones, the little ones, the lopsided ones. They aren't pretty, perfectly round and red tomatoes, some are at the peak of ripeness, others may require a couple of days before they are ready to use.

They are usually reserved for canning or making sauces/catsups/soups to be canned.

Annie

I would equate the term 'field tomato' to 'garden tomato'.
This is the first year that I have heard the term bandied
about.

I've never heard of the term field tomato. Perhaps it is a regional term. Here the baskets of tomatoes are referred to as canning tomatoes.

Another question...

Can "field" tomatoes be either organic or non-organic? In your Canadian stores - do you have signs saying, "Organic Field Toms"? Or, are "field" toms mostly conventionally grown?

/tricia

Field tomatoes can be organic or non organic, sold by the bushel for canning or sold in quart baskets, pints or loose in the grocery store or at a farmers market. Whole Foods here sells organically, locally grown , field tomatoes.

When we use the term "field" tomato...and actually I'm pretty sure it was my use of the term that spurred this thread.... it refers to ordinary tomatoes grown outdoors rather than in a hot house...nothing more. It does not speak to how, the quality or the intended use.

Funnily though we would not refer to heirlooms or Romas as field tomatoes. It is a term reserved for well...field tomatoes! LOL

One thing I can tell you for sure, when we use the term we know exactly what we mean.

I think organic tomatoes would only be "field" here. I do not think it is possible to grow organically in a greenhouse. Commercial operations use a "growing medium" which is not dirt, and fertilize artificially. Blights and other diseases are a huge problem in greenhouses - workers usually have to don sterilized work clothes and disinfect their footwear before entering. There are some "pesticide free" hothouse tomatoes available at my local supermarket, and I would imagine it would take even more stringent measures to keep the bugs out when you can't spray.

From my experience, the field tomatoes in our stores are like what annie describes....from the field and in all different sizes, often the stem isn't attached for some reason.

Donna, the reson the stem is not attached is because the stem can poke a hole in the tomato next to it. when there's a single layer of perfect tomatoes it's not a problem but if you are piling tomatoes on on top of another in a bsket or box, the stem can poke a hole which causes the tomato to spoil much more quickly.

When I picked tomatoes for a local farm I had to take the stems off before I put them into my shoulder bag.

Annie