Tomato Varieties That Ripen in Time in Washington

Days to maturity, counted from transplant, is what decides this — not the frost dates NOAA lists for Seattle, which run from late February to mid-November and look generous on paper. Puget Sound’s overcast spring keeps the soil cold long after that last-freeze date passes, so a tomato’s real season starts weeks later than the calendar claims. That gap is why a 55-day variety like Sakura finishes fine while a 75-day slicer can be racing October rain.

What this comes down to in Washington

Near Seattle, NOAA’s 1991-2020 climate normals place the last spring freeze between February 27 and March 18 and the first fall freeze between November 13 and November 30. That’s a long, mild window by national standards, but Puget Sound’s cool nights and overcast spring keep the soil cold well after the frost date passes, so the season that actually counts for a tomato starts later than the calendar suggests. Days to maturity, counted from transplant, is the number that decides whether a variety finishes with room to spare or right up against the fall rain, not the frost dates themselves. Catalogue days-to-maturity figures are counted from transplant, not from seed, and they shift by a week or so depending on how warm the season runs.

Sakura

Sakura reaches first ripe fruit in about 55 days from transplant, the shortest season on this list. It’s a small, round, red cherry tomato bred to keep the vine producing through a long stretch of summer, and its resistance to nematodes, tomato mosaic virus and two races of fusarium wilt suits ground that has carried tomatoes for years. At 55 days it’s about as safe a bet as this state’s cooler summers allow.

Sun Gold

Sun Gold ripens in about 57 days from transplant, a small orange cherry tomato prized for sweetness over storage life. Its resistance to tobacco mosaic virus and fusarium wilt race 1 keeps it dependable in beds that have grown tomatoes before, and its short season gives it the widest possible margin before this state’s first fall freeze.

Supersweet 100

Supersweet 100 needs about 60 days from transplant and produces small red cherry tomatoes in long, heavy clusters. It resists verticillium wilt and fusarium wilt race 1, and its early finish leaves it plenty of room to keep fruiting into fall in a normal year near Seattle.

Juliet

Juliet also needs about 60 days from transplant. It’s an oblong red grape tomato bred to resist splitting, and its tolerance to late blight and early blight matters here, since both diseases favor the damp falls this region is known for. A 60-day tomato with blight tolerance is a reasonable hedge in a wet year.

Amalfi

Amalfi takes about 68 days from transplant to first ripe fruit. It’s a determinate paste tomato, setting elongated red fruit in a concentrated flush rather than trickling in over the season, and its resistance to late blight, early blight and nematodes makes it one of the sturdier sauce tomatoes for this state’s damp late summers.

Cherokee Purple

Cherokee Purple needs about 72 days from transplant. It’s a large, flattened heirloom beefsteak with dusky pink-purple skin and darker shoulders, grown for flavor rather than yield, since it carries none of the disease-resistance ratings the newer hybrids do. It still finishes with over a month of margin before this state’s first fall freeze, but a cool, wet summer will slow it more than it slows a resistant variety of similar season length.

Big Beef Plus

Big Beef Plus also needs about 72 days from transplant and produces large, round, red slicing tomatoes. Its resistance to nematodes, gray leaf spot and tomato mosaic virus makes it a steadier pick than an heirloom of the same season length for a garden that wants big slicing fruit without gambling on the weather.

Tiren

Tiren takes about 75 days from transplant and sets medium to large, round red fruit on an indeterminate vine. Its resistance to verticillium wilt, tomato mosaic virus and fusarium wilt race 1 helps it push through a longer season, though at 75 days it carries less margin before frost than the varieties above.

San Marzano II

San Marzano II is the longest-season variety on this list at about 78 days from transplant, an elongated red plum tomato grown for canning and sauce. Set out in mid March to early April, it ripens by mid June and still carries roughly 148 days of margin before this state’s first fall freeze, but it’s the variety most likely to run short of warm days in a cool, late year.

Working it out for your own garden

The method behind every date above is subtraction done twice, and it works for any variety, not just the ones on this list.

• Find the transplant window: set out later than the last spring freeze, since cold, wet soil stalls tomato roots even once the air has warmed.
• Add the catalogue days-to-maturity to that transplant date, then check the result against the fall freeze range.

Two examples, worked out

Take Sakura, at 55 days from transplant. Set out between mid March and early April near Seattle, it reaches first ripe fruit in late May. Counting forward from there to NOAA’s 1991-2020 fall freeze range of November 13 to November 30 leaves roughly 171 days of open season, far more than the plant needs to keep fruiting.

Now take San Marzano II, at 78 days from transplant. The same mid March to early April transplant window puts first ripe fruit in mid June, and the gap to the November freeze range narrows to about 148 days. That’s still wide near Seattle, which is the point: in this maritime climate, a tomato rarely runs out of days before frost. What actually stalls a plant is a transplant date pushed weeks late by cold, wet soil, or a summer cool enough that the plant never uses those catalogue days efficiently.

If you’re working from a longer-season variety not on this list, run the same subtraction with its own catalogue number. A tomato rated well past 80 days, set out at the same time, would still likely ripen with months of margin left near Seattle. The number worth watching in western Washington isn’t whether the season is long enough on paper. It’s whether the plant went into soil warm enough to grow, and whether the summer gave it enough heat to use those days at all.

What changes across the state

Every figure above is anchored to one weather station near Seattle, and Washington’s climate does not hold still across the map.

The Cascade divide

East of the Cascades, the state turns into high desert, with hotter, drier summers and a shorter frost-free season than the maritime corridor around Puget Sound. A grower in the Yakima Valley or the Tri-Cities area is working with a different frost calendar entirely, and the mild spring freeze dates that apply near Seattle should not be assumed anywhere east of the mountains.

Elevation and distance from water

Elevation moves the numbers even within western Washington. Gardens climbing into the foothills of the Cascades or the Olympics cool off earlier in fall and warm more slowly in spring than low-lying land near the Sound, which shortens the window a long-season variety like San Marzano II or Tiren has to work with. Distance from Puget Sound matters too, since the water moderates temperature swings for gardens close to it while inland valleys away from that buffering see harder frosts and a narrower gap between the two frost dates. A garden in Whatcom County near the Canadian border still trends cooler and later than one near the Columbia River in the southwest corner of the state. None of these differences change which cultivars exist, only how much margin they carry before the season’s two frost dates close in from either end.

The mistakes this state punishes

Planting before the soil is ready

A warm stretch in March tempts gardeners to set tomatoes out ahead of schedule, but soil that hasn’t caught up to the air temperature stalls root growth for weeks. A plant that sits stunted in cold ground for a month gains nothing over one transplanted later into warmer soil. Wait for the soil, not the calendar.

Picking a season length that doesn’t fit the plan

A 78-day tomato like San Marzano II, or a 75-day variety like Granadero, still finishes comfortably near Seattle on its own. Stacking a late transplant onto a long-season pick erodes that margin fast, especially in a cool summer that slows fruit set. Run the days-to-maturity against the transplant window before committing a whole bed to one cultivar. The full arithmetic for your own dates, worked out step by step, is on Tomato Planting Dates in Washington: Counting Back From Your Frost Window.

Missing the blight window

Ignoring the pest and disease calendar costs a crop on a schedule that repeats every year. Late blight favors the damp falls this state is known for, and a tolerant pick like Amalfi or Juliet buys real insurance that a susceptible heirloom like Cherokee Purple does not carry. For what actually shows up here and when to watch for it, see Tomato Pests in Washington: Which Ones Actually Show Up Here.

Checking this against your county

Every date and margin in this article comes from one weather station near Seattle, and it’s a starting point rather than an instruction for your own yard. WSU Extension maintains offices across the state, and the local office for your county is the fastest way to confirm frost dates, soil temperature trends and which pests are active in your area this season. If you’re still working out the basics of the crop before picking a variety, the guide to growing tomatoes in Washington covers the ground this page assumes you’ve already read.

Common questions

Will a 90-day tomato actually ripen before frost near Seattle?

On paper, yes. NOAA’s fall freeze range near Seattle runs into late November, so even a variety rated well past 80 days, set out in the usual mid March to early April window, would likely ripen by midsummer with months of margin left. The real risk isn’t the frost date, it’s a cool summer that slows the plant enough that it never uses those days efficiently, so treat a very long-season pick as a bet on a warm summer, not a sure thing.

Is Cherokee Purple too risky for a Seattle garden?

Not because of timing. At 72 days from transplant it finishes with over a month of margin before the first fall freeze near Seattle. The real risk with Cherokee Purple is that it carries none of the disease-resistance ratings the newer hybrids do, so a wet season that favors blight will hit it harder than a resistant variety like Big Beef Plus or Amalfi finishing on a similar schedule.

Does determinate mean it ripens faster than indeterminate?

Not necessarily. Determinate and indeterminate describe how the plant grows, not how many days it needs to ripen. Glacier is determinate at 55 days, while San Marzano II is indeterminate at 78, so check the days-to-maturity number on the packet rather than assuming a determinate variety is automatically the quicker one.

Can I use these same numbers on the east side of the state?

The days-to-maturity figure on the seed packet stays the same anywhere you plant it, but the transplant window and frost dates used to build the ripening dates in this article are specific to the Seattle area. East of the Cascades the season runs on a different frost calendar entirely, so check with your county WSU Extension office before applying these same windows there.