15 Small Tomato Varieties for Container Gardening

  • By: SFUAA
  • Date: April 15, 2022
  • Time to read: 4 min.

If you’re looking to grow tomatoes but don’t have much space, you need a type of tomato that stays small enough that you can grow it on your patio, apartment balcony, or inside under a grow light.

Unfortunately, most tomatoes get way too big to be grown anywhere with space limitations. That’s where this list comes in.

Whether you want a slicing tomato for sandwiches or cherry tomatoes for snacking, these tomatoes will give you all the tomato in under 4′ of space.

Maskotka

Maskotka Tomatoes | Photo 44111493 © Arenaphotouk | Dreamstime.com

The Maskotka tomato variety is a type of cherry tomato that stays truly small – under 12″ at full height. If you’re looking for a tabletop tomato or a tomato for your refillable aerogarden pods, this is about as good as you’re going to get.

These tomatoes are designed to be grown in hanging baskets or planters that leave room for the vines to spill over the sides, so you don’t even need to worry about setting up a trellis. Taste is said to be sweet.

New Big Dwarf

If you’re looking for something that produces tomatoes that are a bit larger, on the other hand, the New Big Dwarf is the tomato for you. This variety produces slicing tomatoes that get between 8-12oz, all while staying under 4′ most of the time.

Said to have good flavor.

Pinocchio Orange

Back to cherry tomatoes, this variety stays even smaller than the maskotka tomato, coming in at only 10″ when mature. This may not produce as many tomatoes as larger plants, but for its size it produces a fair amount.

As its name implies, these tomatoes are orange instead of your typical red cherry tomatoes.

Groovy Tunes

The groovy tunes variety is a medium sized tomato – around the size of plum tomatoes or those vine ripe tomatoes you can find at supermarkets. The plant itself gets to be about 18″ tall when mature.

This variety is sweet but has more of an acidic taste than some other tomatoes.

Vilma Micro

The vilma micro tomato is another micro dwarf variety that only gets up to 8-12″ tall when fully grown. This variety produces small cherry tomatoes that taste pretty good.

Like other plants in this size range, vilma micro is an excellent choice for growing indoors under grow lights or in an aerogarden. Smaller tomatoes like this remove most of the barriers from growing tomatoes. A T5 shop light should be enough to grow this tomato.

Red Viper

The red viper dwarf tomato is a 3′ tall tomato plant that produces red tomatoes with yellow and green insides. This is a sweet tomato that is about 3″ in diameter. It makes a great addition to salads, sandwitches, or eating straight from the vine.

Tiny Tim

Tiny Tim Tomatoes at Market | Photo 178945916 © Rusty Elliott | Dreamstime.com

Tiny Tim is a classic (heirloom) dwarf tomato from 1945. Generations of people have had a chance to enjoy this sweet cherry tomato, and you should definitely try it for yourself.

Tiny Tim only gets between 10-18″ tall, so it makes a great tomato for patios and indoor growing.

Monteka

The moneka micro dwarf tomato is a small tomato that gets up to about 8″ tall and fits in a 1 gallon pot. This tomato plant produces a large amount of sweet tasting yellow cherry tomatoes that are great for salads and snacking.

42 Day

42 Day is a variety of tomatoes that promises to give you a full harvest of tomatoes in only 42 days. It might be a little longer in practice, but it should be faster than most normal tomato varieties.

Said to have an excellent, sweet flavor and stays around 2′ tall.

Rosella Purple

Rosella purple is a dwarf tomato that gets to 3-4′ tall but produces large, 6-12 oz tomatoes that are great for slicing. These tomatoes are said to have a slightly smoky flavor.

These are a dark reddish color that is similar to the cherokee purple variety but on a dwarf tomato.

Rosy Finch

Another micro dwarf tomato, rosy finch is a small tomato variety that only gets up to 11″ high when fully grown. This variety produces a lot of bright red cherry tomatoes with a mild flavor. This is another variety that is great for growing indoors due to its small size.

Orange Hat

Orange hat is a micro dwarf tomato that only gets up to 6-8″ tall, making it one of the smallest options on this list – even moreso than other micro dwarf varieties. As its name implies, this produces fragrant, mildly flavored tomatoes.

Maritime Bell

Maritime bell is an dwarf tomato that gets 3-4′ tall and produces interesting looking pear shaped tomatoes. These tomatoes are a dark red color with dark green stripes running down them. Said to have a very strong flavor.

Mongolian Dwarf

Mongolian dwarf is a dwarf tomato variety that stays below 2′ heigh that was designed to be a low effort tomato. Not needing to be trellised or to have suckers pinched off, these tomatoes are a lot easier to grow than other varieties.

Also is a bit more drought tolerant than normal tomatoes. Produces fruit that is around 7 oz.

Rumplestiltskin

The rumplestiltskin dwarf tomato is a 4′ tall variety that produces 3-5oz beefsteak-like tomatoes. Its fruit is yellow and somewhat misshapen (like ugly tomatoes at the store). It’s also said to be low acid and have a sweet flavor.

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