Variety-moneymaker

By David Marks
MoneyMaker dates back over 100 years, to 1913. Over the last 80 years it has probably been the most popular tomato grown in the UK although its popularity is slightly less nowadays. The key virtue of this variety is reliability even when soil and weather conditions are not ideal. It also has good disease resistance.

Taste is average rather than good, although the amount of tomatoes produced will pleasantly surprise most gardeners.

BUSH OR CORDON?

MoneyMaker is grown as a cordon type tomato and produces the best tomatoes when grown that way. However if left to its own devices without any pruning, it will still produce lots of fruits but slightly smaller and later in the season.

APPEARANCE AND TASTE OF MONEYMAKER TOMATO

MoneyMaker tomatoes

The fruits are bright red, sweet lasting but slightly lacking the deep tomato flavour of some varieties. The skins are average thickness neither thin nor particularly thick.

For all the tomato varieties which we have fully reviewed, click the drop down box below, select a variety and then click the More Information Button.

SUMMARY CHARACTERISTICS OF MONEYMAKER

F1 OR OPEN POLLINATED?: MoneyMaker is open pollinated and will grow true from saved seed. Click here for clear instructions and even clearer pictures on how to save seeds from MoneyMaker tomatoes.

GROWTH TYPE: Cordon, vigorous grower

WHERE TO GROW: Outdoors. It can also be grown in a greenhouse.

USE: Salads, and by itself

SKIN COLOUR / TEXTURE: Deep red, medium thin skin

FLESH COLOUR: Red

TASTE AND TEXTURE: Moderately sweet, normal texture

STORAGE: Excellent ripening ability on a window sill

TOMATO SIZE: Average, about the size of a billiard ball

REGULARITY OF CROPPING: Regularly produces a good yield even in poorer conditions

AWARDS: None

SPECIAL FEATURES: Very reliable

WHEN TO SOW MONEYMAKER SEED

The key dates for sowing and planting out MoneyMaker tomato seeds are given below.

The dates displayed below are correct for the UK average. If you want them to be even more accurate and adjusted for your area of the UK click here. It only takes a minute and the adjustment affects every date in this site and lasts for six months.

  • Sow seeds in pots indoorsSecond week of March
  • Pot up young plantsSecond week of April
  • Harden off young plantsFirst week of May
  • Plant out young plantsThird week of May

WHEN TO HARVEST MONEYMAKER TOMATOES

This variety is a cordon type tomato and if they are pruned in that way you can expect to be picking your first MoneyMaker tomatoes in the first week of August

BUYING MONEYMAKER SEED / PLANTS IN THE UK

Seeds for this variety are available from many online seed merchants and most garden centres. It is also widely available in most seed swap schemes for free. They are readily available from the discount stores and supermarkets.

MoneyMaker is also sometimes available as pot grown tomato plants. Taking into account postage it is probably cheapest and easiest to buy them from your local garden centre.

If you need any more information on growing this variety, click here to go to our main tomato page.

Other varieties which may also be of interest include:

RED ALERT GARDENERS DELIGHT
SUNGOLD SAN MARZANO

 

COMMENTS / QUESTIONS LEFT BY OUR READERS

Sometimes our readers ask specific questions which are not covered in the main article above. Our
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