Looking for a reliable compact tomato plant that produces masses of red tomatoes? The Celebrity Tomato is a favorite for a reason!

The Celebrity Tomato is a medium, globe-shaped, red, all-purpose tomato variety. Celebrity is best known for its attractive tomatoes, high yields, and disease resistance in the garden. Celebrity is a determinate variety, but these plants do get quite large and require a stake or cage. These classic red tomatoes ripen in the middle of tomato season, with harvest starting about 70 days after the seedlings are transplanted outdoors.

Read on to learn all about the famous Celebrity Tomato!

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The Celebrity tomato

Celebrity Tomatoes are a very popular all-around tomato variety for the garden. These medium-sized tomatoes are very attractive, with a bright red peel that is highly resistant to cracking. The plants are perfect for beginners as they are naturally resistant to many common diseases, including tomato wilts, viruses, and parasitic nematodes like root-knot nematodes, even as young plants.

Celebrity Tomato is a hybrid variety, not an open-pollinated heirloom. Introduced in the 1980s, the Celebrity Tomato was bred using natural techniques by Colen Wyatt at PetoSeed/Seminis and went on to win the All-America Selections award in 1984 for best vegetable variety.

Celebrity is a determinate tomato variety. These types of tomatoes are naturally bushy and grow tomatoes to a pre-determined height of about 4′-5′ tall. That said, Celebrity tomatoes are unique in that they sometimes continue to grow tomatoes after they set their main summer crop. The plants sometimes fruit all the way up until frost (behaving more like an indeterminate cultivar). This is why the Celebrity tomato is sometimes labeled as a semi-determinate variety. Even though these tomatoes are determinate, they should be grown with a tomato stake or proper tomato cage.

Celebrity Tomatoes ripen in the middle of tomato season, with the first tomatoes ripening 65-80 days after the seedlings are transplanted into the outdoor garden. Harvest season for Celebrity plants generally lasts about 10 weeks, with well-supported plants sometimes producing 20-40 tomatoes each.

“Medium-large fruit; often flawless appearance; very disease resistant; dependable and tasty. Observed to be resistant to speicifc diseases and/or pests.”
You Bet Your Garden Guide to Growing Great Tomatoes: How to Grow Great-Tasting Tomatoes in Any Backyard, Garden, or Container, by Mike McGrath

What do Celebrity tomatoes taste like?

Celebrity Tomatoes have an average garden tomato taste. The flavor is not overly rich or complex but is among the higher-quality available medium-sized red hybrid tomatoes. While Celebrity is not usually considered the best-tasting tomato varieties, the tomatoes are certainly much richer in flavor than grocery store varieties.

Celebrity Tomatoes typically weigh about 7-8 ounces each (200-225 g). There are usually about 2 Celebrity Tomatoes in a pound. Celebrity tomatoes are about the same size as typical grocery store field tomatoes and quite a bit smaller than the large heirloom varieties.

How to grow Celebrity tomatoes from seed?

Celebrity Tomatoes are easy to grow tomatoes from seed. That said, it does require quite a bit of space and gear, so many gardeners opt to purchase Celebrity seedling plants from the garden center. If you’re starting with seedlings, skip to the next section.

Seeds are usually planted indoors 6-8 weeks before the local last frost date in your area. This timing generally translates to seeds being sown indoors in February-April, depending on the climate.

Supplies for planting Celebrity tomato seeds

Celebrity Tomato Seeds
Organic Seedling Potting Mix
Seedling Tray
Floral Snips
Dibber (optional)
Seedling Heating Mat
Seedling Plant Light
Seedling Watering Nozzle or Spray Bottle

1. Plant tomato seeds

To plant tomatoes properly, fill the seedling tray up with potting soil so the mix goes into all the cells. Then water the whole tray to help the potting mix settle. Add a little more soil if necessary. The seed starting soil mix should be about a half inch from the top of each cell.

Using a seed dibber or your fingertip, carefully sow the seeds about a ¼ inch deep in the seed starting mix. Most gardeners put 2-3 seeds in each cell, but if you don’t have many seeds, place one per cell. Once the seeds are in the soil, brush a little bit of potting mix over them. Give the seedling tray one more gentle watering and allow all the excess water to drain out of the seedling tray. Pour out any water that has been collected in the bottom pan tray.

2. Add heat & light

Place the seedling tray on a flat stable indoor surface on top of the seedling heating mat. Tomato seeds germinate best at soil temperatures in the range of 75°-90°F (24°-32°C). In this soil temperature range, the seeds should germinate in about 6 days (source: University of California).

The seedlings will also need supplemental light to thrive when grown indoors. Position a plant light over the seedling tray. If possible, add a pulley system to raise the LED lights so you can keep them about 4″ above the seedlings as they grow (or whatever distance your specific lighting system recommends). Most gardeners leave the fluorescent plant lights on for 16 hours during the day and then turn them off for 8 hours overnight. Most plant lights have an automated timer built-in.

3. Water & thin seedlings

Water the seedling tray regularly using a very gentle watering can or even a spray bottle full of clean water. Once the seedlings have emerged and are an inch or two tall, you can start bottom watering the seedlings by filling up the bottom pan tray with a bit of water and allowing it to passively wick up through the potting mix to reach the roots of the seedling plants.

Choose the strongest seedling in each cell and remove the others. If you seeded 2-3 seeds per cell, most cells will have 2 seedlings in them. Wait until the seedlings have their first pair of serrated “true” leaves prior to deciding which one is the strongest. Look for the seedling with the thickest, straightest stem. This is the one to keep. Using clean floral snips, trim the other (weaker) seedling off at its base, as close to the soil line as possible. Take care not to damage the seedling you’re keeping.

4. Pot seedlings up in larger containers

Once the seedlings become about 3x taller than the seedling tray and have about 3 pairs of proper serrated “true” leaves, it’s time to think about transplanting them into larger containers. You can use a seedling tray with larger cells or plant each seedling into its own individual 4″ wide pot. Most tomato seedlings have to be up-potted at least once before going outdoors as it’s still too cold in most climates for the tomatoes to go outside.

How to plant Celebrity tomato seedlings outdoors

Celebrity Tomato plant seedlings can be planted outdoors in the ground or they can be grown in raised garden beds or large container planter pots. If planting in a container, use a 10-gallon container at minimum. Large grow bags or half whiskey barrels are excellent. The best natural soil for these plants is a sandy loam that drains out excess water easily. In containers, use a lightweight mix with a base of coco coir and/or peat moss plus some perlite to add air into the soil matrix.

Celebrity Tomatoes require a full sun planting location with plenty of space. This means at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight should hit the leaves of the plant each day. This will help stop the leaves from turning yellow. You’ll also need room for a heavy-duty tomato cage and close access to a water source or automated drip irrigation.

Tomatoes are generally kept indoors until nighttime temperature lows are above 50°F (10°C). These tender plants can be permanently damaged at temperatures below 43°F (6°C). Resist the urge to plant them outdoors too early in cool soil, as it can stunt the plants and inhibit the growth of the roots. The result of this is often plants that grow slowly, do not yield well, and are susceptible to common tomato diseases and conditions like Blossom End Rot due to their underdeveloped roots.

Supplies for planting Celebrity tomato seedlings

Celebrity Seedling Tomato Plant
Handheld Garden Cultivator
Slow-Release Organic Tomato Fertilizer
Outdoor Watering System
Plant Label
Organic Compost
Heavy Duty Tomato Cage

1. Harden off the tomato seedlings

Tomato seedlings are “hardened off” in the spring to reduce transplant shock. This is done by slowly exposing them to outdoor conditions over a period of about a week. Once temperatures are above 50°F (10°C), start taking the seedlings outdoors for a few hours a day. Place the seedlings in a sheltered area protected from wind and direct sunlight and be sure to bring them in at night. As the week progresses, leave them outdoors for longer periods each day and start to introduce them to direct sunlight and a bit of wind.

2. Prepare the garden bed

Prepare the garden bed prior to planting the seedlings. Start by removing any dead plant debris from previous seasons. Next, work a slow-release granular fertilizer into the top 6″ of the soil. Then rake the surface flat with a handheld cultivator. Lastly, water the entire bed thoroughly and deeply to saturate the soil.

3. Plant the tomato seedlings

Remove the bottom leaves from the seedlings. Tomatoes planted deeper than their original soil like do better than tomatoes that aren’t. Depending upon the height of the seedling, remove 1-3 pairs of leaves from the bottom of the plant. Be sure to leave a cluster of leaves at the top (do not remove all the leaves).

Dig a planting hole. The planting hole should be deeper than the seedling’s planter such that some of the exposed stems will be buried. Try to make the planting hole deep enough to bury about half of the total length of the stem while positioning the remaining leaves far enough above the soil line that they don’t contact the soil.

Place the seedling plant in the hole. If there are quite a few visible roots on the root ball and it appears root-bound, gently loosen the root ball up with your hands to free the roots. Once the plant is in the hole, the leaves should be at least an inch or two above the soil to minimize soil moisture affecting the foliage in the first few weeks.

Backfill the planting hole. Use the soil that was dug out of the hole to fill in the sides between the root ball and the hole and up along the portion of the stem that will be belowground. Gently tamp the soil down with your hands. Take a moment to place a label beside the seedling so you know which variety it is throughout the growing season.

If planting multiple tomatoes, space them 24″-48″ (60-120cm) apart. These plants are quite large and need several square feet of garden area. Also, make sure to account for the size of the specific tomato cage you’ll be using.

Water the seedlings after planting. Give the seedlings a thorough drink after they have been planted. If your garden beds have drip irrigation, move the line so it is close to but not touching the base of the stem.

4. Mulch the soil

Spread a thin organic mulch over the soil surface. An excellent mulch for tomatoes is a ~1″ thick layer of homemade or store-bought compost. Rake it over the soil surface to provide a slow-release source of nutrients that will also buffer soil temperatures and moisture levels as well as reduce the amount of precipitation that may splash off the ground and up onto the foliage.

5. Install tomato cages

The best time to install tomato cages is as soon as the seedlings are planted. The cages will look quite large (and a bit ridiculous) around the small plants, but the vines will soon wind around the cage and reach the top.

“Celebrity: This is one of the most popular varieties of tomatoes. It is a hybrid that is often recommended by county extension agents, as it is a good size, produces well, and is disease resistant. While it is classified as a determinate, it is a fairly large plant that is sometimes hard to distinguish from an indeterminate.”
The Complete Guide to Growing Tomatoes: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply —Including Heirloom Tomatoes, by Cherie Everhart

After planting your Celebrity Tomato seedlings, take a moment to mark your calendar for the expected date of the first harvest. Celebrity Tomatoes typically take an estimated 70 days after seedlings are planted outdoors before the first tomatoes ripen on the vine.

How to grow & care for Celebrity tomato plants

Celebrity Tomatoes start as tiny seedlings but quickly produce fruit to fill in a surface area of 24″-36″ wide and 48″-60″ tall (or more if the tomato cage is taller).

Watering Celebrity tomato plants

Celebrity Tomato plants should be watered frequently and consistently so they can produce fruit and large tomato crop yields. The easiest way to water them is with automated drip irrigation, but you can water them using any method that waters the soil around the base of the plant. Avoid getting water on the foliage of the plants.

Plants may only need watering once or twice a week in the spring or during rainy weather, but the plants will likely require watering every other day or even daily in very hot weather (especially if planted in a small container). The best time to water is early in the morning so that any moisture that gets on the plants has the opportunity to dry quickly during the heat of the day.

Irregular watering once the tomato fruits have set can lead to cracking of the developing tomato peels. Provide the plants with an even supply of moisture. Avoid sudden influxes of water such as heavy watering after missing watering for a few days, as this sudden burst of water can cause the tomatoes to swell and the peels to crack. While Celebrity tomatoes are crack-resistant, they’re not completely crack-proof. Try to water consistently.

Weeding garden beds

Weed garden beds on a regular basis, typically once or twice per week. When weed seedlings are small, they are easy to rake out with a handheld cultivator or pluck out and toss in the compost heap. If allowed to grow larger, they become more difficult and disruptive to the tomato plants to pull out. If left for quite a while they may even go to seed and lead to a whole new generation of weeds in the garden.

Pruning tomato plants

Larger tomato plants like Celebrity grown inside large, heavy-duty tomato cages typically do not need much pruning at all. If, however, your plants are growing tomatoes up the stake, they will likely require pruning of the suckers to keep the plants under control and prevent them from toppling over. When growing tomatoes up a stake, one vine should be designated as the main stem and tied very gently to the stake at 1′ increments.

One area that is generally pruned on most tomato plants is the bottom of the stem. Once the plant has been in the ground for a month or two, the bottom leaves can become yellowed. Trim off the leaves from the base of the plant up to about 8″-10″ from the soil level. Keeping the base area relatively clear can help with air circulation and make the foliage less susceptible to foliar disease.

Fertilizing tomato plants

Tomato plants are typically fed throughout the growing season with either a slow-release granular tomato fertilizer or a water-soluble tomato fertilizer. The granular fertilizers typically last for a month or two while liquid formulations last only a couple of weeks. Be sure to follow the application instructions and frequency guidelines listed on the fertilizer of your choice.

Additionally, avoid using fertilizers with high amounts of nitrogen like lawn fertilizer, evergreen fertilizer, and even some all-purpose fertilizer mixes. High amounts of nitrogen can lead to large tomato plants with lots of foliage but very few tomatoes. It can also occasionally exacerbate Blossom End Rot.

Protecting tomatoes from pests

As tomatoes ripen on the vine they become targets for pests and wildlife. This includes everything from slugs, snails, and ants to birds, rabbits, and even deer.

Slug and insect protection usually consists of either crushed eggshells or horticultural diatomaceous earth on the soil around the base of the plant, or beer traps if slugs are particularly bad. For flying insects, a protective row cover fabric works well. Row cover is easy to set up with garden bed hoops and insect netting fabric. If you see any tomato hornworms, remove them from the garden and destroy them.

If larger wildlife is a problem, there are more options. Both protective bird netting and deer fencing are easy to find in garden centers. You can also try to lure birds away from the garden by placing a bird feeder and birdbath away from the garden or even try your hand at making your own scarecrow.

Growing celebrity tomatoes in the vegetable garden

Harvesting ripe Celebrity tomatoes

Celebrity Tomatoes are best left on the vine to ripen. It typically takes ~70 days after the seedling was planted outdoors for the first tomato to ripen. Expect to wait anywhere from 65-80 days after planting the seedling before the first tomatoes are ready to pick. It may take longer if the seedling was planted out too early in the spring or if midsummer weather was extremely hot. It is not uncommon for Celebrity plants to take 90-100 days to bear if conditions are less-than-perfect.

Celebrity Tomatoes are ripe when they have a rich red peel color and have just barely started to soften up. The tomatoes should still be quite firm but will have a bit of “give” when gently squeezed. Pick them in the morning and enjoy them as soon as possible!

Celebrity Tomatoes are determinate but sometimes will continue to set tomatoes after their main crop through early fall until frost. Keep an eye on the weather forecast, as frost or freezing temperatures will kill the plant. If frost is forecasted, harvest all the green tomatoes on the plant. These green tomatoes will ripen indoors off the vine. Bring them inside and set aside any tomatoes with open cracks or other damage for immediate use.

Storing Celebrity tomatoes

Celebrity Tomatoes can be stored for up to a month or two in a cool dry storage area. Choose only whole, undamaged tomatoes for storage. Any less-than-perfect tomatoes can be stored on the kitchen counter at room temperature out of direct sunlight for 2-3 days until ready for fresh use or processing into a cooked sauce or another recipe.

The most important part of tomato storage is to find a location that is not too cold but not too hot. Tomatoes store best between 55°-60°F (12°-16°C). Sometimes you can find a good spot in a basement or garage that naturally stays in this temperature range. Resist the urge to store the tomatoes in the fridge as the cold temperatures cause the flavor to deteriorate rapidly and the texture to become very mushy.

Storage tomatoes are generally wrapped in newspaper or placed in paper bags to ripen. The paper keeps the tomatoes from contacting each other, as this can cause early rot. It also helps to trap some ethylene gas that comes off the tomatoes naturally and keeps it nearby to encourage further ripening. Check the ripening tomatoes regularly and remove any that have signs of rot or mold.

Common pests affecting Celebrity tomato plants

Celebrity Tomatoes and other attractive ripening tomato fruits in the garden can be very attractive to garden pests such as insects and larger wildlife. The protective netting covers described earlier in this article will deter most pests that affect home growers, but occasionally pests will sneak in to attack your tomato plants.

Aphids are a common garden pest that feeds on the plants as they suck the liquid out. These tiny colorful bugs cluster on stems and under leaves. They also drop sticky “honeydew” residue that attracts ants. The ants may even start farming the aphids for their honeydew. If you notice aphids, you can start by ordering some ladybugs and releasing them into the garden to act as natural predators. It can also be surprisingly easy to spray off the plants with a sharp stream of water.

If there are quite a few aphids, consider using an organic insecticide to eradicate the pests. Most organic sprays can be reapplied on a regular basis to ensure the eradication of pests.

Parasitic Nematodes are another common garden pest for tomatoes, especially in warm climates. These microscopic worms live in the soil and damage the roots, leading to wilted or stunted plants. Start by avoiding planting tomatoes at all in infected soil. Use grow bags or large containers filled with fresh potting mix. You can also plant marigolds, try a green manure cover crop during the off-season, and be sure to rotate garden beds each year.

Common diseases affecting Celebrity tomato plants

While tomato plants are quite prone to disease, Celebrity has been bred to be naturally resistant to many common garden diseases like fusarium wilt, verticillium wilt, tobacco mosaic virus, and root-knot nematode. That said, no tomato plant is disease-proof. But fortunately, there are a variety of good organic gardening practices that naturally reduce the prevalence of diseases.

Wilt diseases are fungal or bacterial diseases that cause the tomato plant to wilt with little warning. This is caused by harmful soil-borne bacteria or fungi that attack the roots. Fusarium wilt and Verticillium wilt are of particular concern. Rotate plants, give plants lots of space, apply copper fungicide, and remove/destroy infected plant debris immediately.

Anthracnose is a fungal disease that causes small depressions on ripening tomatoes which get larger and turn black, causing the fruit to be covered with rotten black spots. This fungus is most prevalent when summer weather has been hot and humid, or when the plants have been watered from above rather than at the soil base. To decrease the growth of this fungus, rotate crops annually, give tomato plants lots of space for good air circulation, prune off the bottom leaves, add mulch on the soil surface to reduce the splashing of water onto the leaves, and remove and discard any dead plant material from the garden as soon as it appears. Natural copper fungicide can also be applied as a preventative measure.

Early Blight is a fungal disease that causes brown rings on the leaves of the tomato plant, especially near the base. The leaves eventually turn brown and often drop off the plant. This disease causes the tomato growth to become stunted and the tomatoes won’t grow to their expected size. The tomatoes may even get dark spots and may rot on the plant. This is especially common in cool, wet weather. Avoid watering the plants overhead, give each plant lots of space, and trim any diseased leaves off immediately.

Septoria Leaf Spot is a fungal disease that causes black spots on the leaves of the tomato plant. As with other fungal diseases, it thrives in cool, wet weather and in gardens without adequate air circulation. It generally appears on the bottom leaves first. Treatment is the same as with other fungal diseases. Remove the infected leaves from the area, give plants lots of space, apply copper fungicide before planting, and rotate the plants each year.

Blossom End Rot is a condition where the bottom of each tomato turns brown/black and the fruit rots before it ripens. Blossom End Rot is caused when the plant cannot absorb enough calcium. Once a fruit shows signs of blossom end rot, it won’t recover and must be discarded. To prevent end rot on future tomatoes, start by applying a liquid tomato fertilizer rich in calcium (see above for recommendations) or some garden lime. The end rot may also be caused by damaged roots or stress on the plant, even if there is enough calcium in the soil. Be sure to water and fertilize plants regularly throughout the season.

Are Celebrity Tomatoes Heirloom Tomatoes?

Celebrity Tomatoes are not heirloom tomatoes because they are grown from hybrid seed, not from open-pollinated seed. Additionally, they were developed after 1950, and therefore are also not old enough to be considered heirlooms. Celebrity is a modern hybrid variety that many gardeners find easier to grow, more reliable, more productive, and less blemished than the traditional heirloom tomato varieties.

How tall do Celebrity tomato plants get?

Celebrity plants can get quite tall – about 4-6 feet inside a large tomato cage – over the growing season. These determinate plants are bushy, but do sometimes continue to grow taller and can reach 8-10 feet tall if staked, trellised, or caged and growing conditions are good. Be sure to use a tomato cage or a tomato stake to support your plant.