Sun Dipper Tomatoes Are a Sweet Snacking Tomato

‘Sun Dipper’ tomatoes are a new small-fruited variety with a curvy, elongated shape that makes them perfect for munching by hand, especially with a dip. The plant is resistant to common tomato diseases and pests. This tomato plant is relatively compact and it ripens fruit fairly early in the season, with the harvest continuing over many weeks.

Common name: Sun Dipper tomato

Botanical name: Solanum lycospersicum ‘Sun Dipper’ F1

Exposure: Full sun

Fruit: 'Sun Dipper' tomatoes are elongated fruits with a shape slightly like the number 8. Their flavor is sweet, like a cherry tomato. Maturing to about 2 inches long and ripening bright orange, the first fruits are ready to pick 60 to 65 days after transplant.

Habit: This tomato plant reaches 5 feet or taller, with a 4 foot spread. It is an indeterminate tomato, meaning that the plant will continue to grow, flower and set fruit as long as conditions are favorable. (This is the opposite to determinate tomatoes, varieties that stop growing at their mature height and produce flowers and fruit in one flush.)

Origin: 'Sun Dipper' tomato was introduced to the retail garden trade in 2023 by PanAmerican Seed as part of their HandPicked Vegetables line of seed.

How to grow it: 'Sun Dipper' is resistant to fusarium, nematodes and tomato mosaic virus. Its needs are typical of any garden tomato plant: full sun, fertile soil and even watering. In most regions 'Sun Dipper' seeds should be sown indoors about six weeks before the typical last frost date. Seedlings can move into the garden after all danger of frost has passed. Initial harvest can be expected 60 to 65 days after transplanting. Because this is an indeterminate tomato, it will require sturdy wooden stakes or a tomato cage for support.

Image credit: HandPicked Vegetables/PanAmerican Seed