Lemon Boy Plus Hybrid Tomato Seeds

An improved Lemon Boy variety, Lemon Boy Plus, an F1 hybrid beefsteak tomato, is grown as a fruit vegetable. The plant sets small “perfect” flowers, followed by firm, round tomatoes with a unique yellow color. The fruits are larger than Lemon Boy, weighing in at 5 to 7 ounces, and are firmer, giving them a longer shelf life and less radial cracking. They have better uniformity and a higher brix value (6.6), meaning they have the same delicious tangy flavor as Lemon Boy, but sweeter. Tomatoes are considered a superfood for their nutrient rich content, having a high (top 20) Aggregate Nutrient Density Index score (ANDI), or micronutrient-per-calorie density. Tomatoes are a good source of vitamin C and provide vitamin A and potassium. They also contain carotenoid lycopene and beta-carotene as well as phenolic acids and flavonoids.

Typically grown as an annual, Lemon Boy Plus, an herbaceous tender perennial, is a member of the nightshade family (Solanaceae), which contains plants that typically grow in temperate to tropical regions. A vigorous indeterminate variety, often called a “vining” tomato, Lemon Boy Plus requires staking or caging for support. Blossoms and fruit continue to develop as the vine grows, so, it bears an impressive amount of fruit over the course of a season.

Lemon Boy Plus grows best in a sunny location with deep, moist, humusy, fertile loam. It has a high resistance to fusarium wilt Fol:1-3; gray leaf spot Sbl,Sl,Ss; tomato mosaic virus ToMV:0-2; and verticillium wilt Va:1/Vd:1. It has intermediate resistance to root-knot Ma,Mi,Mj. Self-pollinating, the plant will bear fruit without any pollen from other varieties.

A warm-season vegetable, sensitive to cold temperatures and frost, tomato seed should be direct sown into warm spring soil after all threat of frost has passed. Seeds can also be started indoors about 8 weeks before transplanting to the garden. Flowers begin to set fruit with night temperatures between 55° and 75°F. Protect plants with row covers if temperatures are expected to dip below 50°F. Mulching helps to moderate soil temperature and to maintain soil moisture.