Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners - Variety Details

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'Green Zebra' Tomatoes

Sub-Category:	Standard Main-Season
	Greenhouse
Sub-Category 2:
Description:	Open pollinated. Main season standard type developed by Tom Wagner of Tater Mater Seeds in 1985 from four heirlooms. Indeterminate plants produce 4 to 5 ounce green to yellow fruit with dark-green stripes and emerald green interior. Suitable for greenhouse or field/garden. About 57 to 80 days to maturity.
Days To Maturity:	75-80
Seed Sources:	Seed Savers Exchange - updated in 2014 Fedco Seeds - updated in 2014 Totally Tomato - updated in 2014 Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds - updated in 2014 High Mowing Seed - updated in 2014

Rating Summary

Overall: (3.9 Stars) Taste: (4.3 Stars) Yield: (3.9 Stars) Ease/Reliability: (3.9 Stars)

Reviews

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Number of Reviews: 27

KEY: O=Overall Rating, T=Taste, Y=Yield, E=Ease

Reviewed on 03/21/2015 by NancyMA - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States Frost Free Season: 103 - 123 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Medium - 400 square feet to 1,600 square feet Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
Delicious and pretty, solid yield for me every year, tends to be infested by late blight later and more slowly than other non-resistant varieties and the fruit remains edible under blight pressure.

Reviewed on 01/16/2015 by Saratoga MG - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Saratoga, New York, United States Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days Soil Texture: Sand Garden Size: Small - Less than 400 square feet (20' x 20') Sun Exposure: 6 to 8 hours per day
Did not produce well on our site. Susceptible to blossom end rot and early blight.

Reviewed on 01/03/2015 by klossoke - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Howard, Maryland, United States Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Medium - 400 square feet to 1,600 square feet Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
One we grow every year, fairly consistent performer. Best flavor after fruit develops a yellow tone under the stripes. Tall vine.

1 of 1 gardener found this review helpful.

Reviewed on 11/27/2014 by CCE Oneida County - An intermediate gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Oneida, New York, United States Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days Soil Texture: Loam Garden Size: Medium - 400 square feet to 1,600 square feet Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
Interesting-looking, relatively small tomatoes. Some cracking and some end rot, but the remaining tomotes used in salads were interesting with slightly spicy flavor. Grown from seed, took long time to mature, but continued to produce until mid-fall..

1 of 1 gardener found this review helpful.

Reviewed on 07/23/2014 by edeven - A novice gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Porter, Indiana, United States Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days Soil Texture: Not Sure Garden Size: Small - Less than 400 square feet (20' x 20') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
Definitely the best of the 3 slicing varieties I planted last year (ananas noire and chianti rose being the other two). Not much of a problem with cracking, which the others certainly had. About the same amount of early bottom end rot (cool weather) as the others, not a large portion of the crop. Hold well on the vine and don't go to mush immediately once picked. Nice, bright, classic tomato flavor good for salads, soups, sauces, you name it. Slice up nicely for sandwiches or burgers, and it was so nice to have the pretty green as a contrast to all the rest. I eagerly recommend them and share with others. Kids love the variety of green tomato soup and salsa, too!

Reviewed on 10/05/2011 by A. W. Davidson - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Marion, Indiana, United States Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Medium - 400 square feet to 1,600 square feet Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
Very good flavor and decent yield. Had cracking issues but so did all my other big heirlooms. Was popular at market when I could get people to try them. Will grow again.

Reviewed on 02/28/2011 by Joseph L - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Cache, Utah, United States Frost Free Season: Fewer than 103 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Large - More than 1,600 square feet (40' x 40') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
My landlady says this is the best tasting tomato I grew in 2010. It's way too tart for my liking. Yield was among the lowest of any tomato I've grown. It didn't have any noticeable problems with disease or pests.

Reviewed on 12/27/2010 by Lilikoi - A novice gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	San Diego, California, United States Frost Free Season: Fewer than 103 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Medium - 400 square feet to 1,600 square feet Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
This has been a constant in our garden. Great taste, grows well in full sun; with water here. Has always produced well until last year, it was a cooler Summer last year. We plant it on our front fence and tomato thieves don't pick it because they have no idea it is ripe. Best tasting tomato in the garden.

Reviewed on 12/15/2010 by Dorinda - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Ravalli, Montana, United States Frost Free Season: 103 - 123 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Small - Less than 400 square feet (20' x 20') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
My grandson brought this tomato to a tomato tasting party at my house this last summer and it was up against some very top performers - probably a good 20 varieties. We all thought it was exceptional tasting. Very tomatoe-y, tangy, full of flavor. We rated it best of all the tomatos including a pile of other heirlooms. Grown in Missoula, Montana by my son-in-law.

Reviewed on 08/24/2010 by pks - An intermediate gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Bernalillo, New Mexico, United States Frost Free Season: 183 - 203 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Small - Less than 400 square feet (20' x 20') Sun Exposure: 6 to 8 hours per day
The tangy flavor of this tomato is a great contrast to the other sweeter tomatoes I grow. This plant usually doesn't produce much for me in the hot weather, but it usually explodes with ripe tomatoes in the early fall.

Reviewed on 08/23/2010 by GaetanoL - An intermediate gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Westchester, New York, United States Frost Free Season: 183 - 203 days Soil Texture: Loam Garden Size: Small - Less than 400 square feet (20' x 20') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
I am a home gardener with 20-25 tomato plants of different varieties. 2010 was my first year growing GZ, and I think I will continue to do so. Mine was easy to grow, and had a very good yield. Great look to the tomatoes. And, definitely a distinctive flavor. To me, the taste is average, but the after taste makes me want to go back and have another. In fact, the longer it takes me to write this review, the better the review gets, as the after taste lingers for minutes. Quite interesting.

Reviewed on 02/01/2010 by genuinefauxfarm - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Bremer, Iowa, United States Frost Free Season: 123 - 143 days Soil Texture: Loam Garden Size: Large - More than 1,600 square feet (40' x 40') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
We gave Green Zebra a full trial in 2008 and it immediately established a fan base. We grow all heirloom tomatoes for our CSA, but it still took us a while to take the plunge with a green tomato. People who love a tangy, smaller tomato will enjoy this one. Many have indicated that this tomato should receive top flavor marks. The only reason it does not get a "5 tomato" rating is that there are also numerous people who do NOT like the taste of a Green Zebra. Very few seem to have a neutral opinion! It does take some getting used to figuring out when to pick them (wait until yellow is more prevalent than green on the shoulders). If you wait too long to pick, they tend to fall off the plant. Taste test winner at Roots in 2008. You can easily harvest 50 salad-sized tomatoes per plant. Easy to pick, not prone to cracking.

1 of 1 gardener found this review helpful.

Reviewed on 01/07/2010 by SueG-ME - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Kennebec, Maine, United States Frost Free Season: 103 - 123 days Soil Texture: Loam Garden Size: Large - More than 1,600 square feet (40' x 40') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
A variety I won't be without. mid-to-late season but worth the wait. Grows well for me most seasons, yield is good for an heirloom. Flavor and appearance are tops. One market customer tried one on my recommendation and then came back and bought me out. Looks so pretty sliced on a platter with red and yellow varieties.

1 of 1 gardener found this review helpful.

Reviewed on 02/09/2009 by Sam Yachup - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Albany, New York, United States Frost Free Season: 103 - 123 days Soil Texture: Loam Garden Size: Large - More than 1,600 square feet (40' x 40') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
I am not a big fan of heirlooms as I do not notice great differences in taste between any good vine ripened tomatoe. But it is worth having a few of these in your garden mainly for salads and fresh eating. They add color and variety to the table. Strong indeterminate plants yielded a bumper crop of smallish size fruit. Avoid blossom end rot by not over fertilizing. We had unusually wet season last year and blight was a problem. This is more common with heirlooms and a preventive program is important. This was my first experience with this variety and I am completely satisfied and will continue again this year.

1 of 1 gardener found this review helpful.

Reviewed on 09/10/2008 by FarmerDoug -
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Culpeper, Virginia, United States Frost Free Season: Soil Texture: Garden Size: Sun Exposure:
Of all the green tomatoes, this is the standard-bearer. It will now become the only green tomato I grow. I've dropped Aunt Ruby's. And Green Sausage was a big disappointment. Green Zebra has an excellent citrusy flavor, and makes a great green salsa, but does not make a very attractive green tomato sauce (even using a bit of lemon juice for citric acid, the color just became less palatable after cooking down into sauce, although as a fresh sauce with less cooking it fares well). In order to achieve large fruit on these plants, they require better nutrition and more nitrogen than other plants for some reason (although don't overfertilize). Try about 1/4 more fertilizer, and make sure you apply minerals to the soil (eggshells will have little immediate effect; apply lime, preferably aragonite, in the fall for best results). With proper nutrition, my plants achieve 6-8 oz. fruits. They are susceptible to blight, so make sure you start preventive spraying as soon as they go in the ground. This year I'm even going to start spraying against blight from day one in the greenhouse. My zebras always start out with BER for the first two weeks then outgrow it. Calcium applications seem to have no effect on it. This variety is very popular with restaurants, and I've actually sat next to tables where people fought over the zebras.

Reviewed on 08/18/2008 by SewingDiva - An intermediate gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days Soil Texture: Loam Garden Size: Small - Less than 400 square feet (20' x 20') Sun Exposure: 6 to 8 hours per day
Not a great producer for us, but this is our first year trying it. We had a very rainy summer this year, and Green Zebra alone of all our varieties was plagued with horrible blossom end rot. Also found the fruits disappointing small. Great taste though, and it looks stunning in a salad with pink, yellow and red tomatoes. Will make me look for a green variety more compatible with our environment.

Reviewed on 02/07/2008 by lakeeriegarden - An intermediate gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Lorain, Ohio, United States Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Small - Less than 400 square feet (20' x 20') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
Really great flavored tomato. Not usually a fan of striped or green tomatoes but this is really, really good. Cool looking tomato but the flavor is better than the appearance. Not really any problems with growing this other than I wish they were bigger.

Reviewed on 02/01/2008 by Kristi - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Bonneville, Idaho, United States Frost Free Season: 103 - 123 days Soil Texture: Loam Garden Size: Large - More than 1,600 square feet (40' x 40') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
Another delicious and unique variety. Definitely a late season bearer but flavor makes it more than worth the wait. Small to medium size but has twice the flavor of larger hybrids like Celebrity or Fantastic.

Reviewed on 12/16/2007 by Oregon - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Lane, Oregon, United States Frost Free Season: 143 - 163 days Soil Texture: Loam Garden Size: Large - More than 1,600 square feet (40' x 40') Sun Exposure: 6 to 8 hours per day
Looks nice sliced on a plate of red and yellow tomatoes. The taste is unique and not for everyone.

Reviewed on 08/14/2007 by MAldrich - A novice gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Greenville, South Carolina, United States Frost Free Season: 123 - 143 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Medium - 400 square feet to 1,600 square feet Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
This tomato was a very prolific and beautiful plant in my garden. It definitely made my list of favorites for the summer. I feel it's true tomato taste is one of the few that bite back when you bite into it. I loved the flavor and it was extremely prolific. The colors are lovely. However, I really struggled with blossom end rot in these plants. I planted all my tomatoes with a handful of eggshells underneath them to provide the calcium to prevent blossom end rot, but these little guys still struggled. About a fourth of the fruit from each plant had blossom end rot. Will have to see how I can stop that next year...

Reviewed on 05/03/2007 by GardenMom - A novice gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Albany, New York, United States Frost Free Season: 103 - 123 days Soil Texture: Loam Garden Size: Medium - 400 square feet to 1,600 square feet Sun Exposure: 6 to 8 hours per day
The flavor in this tomato is delicious. My husband and his family are strictly red tomato people, but even they, on a taste from this tomato, had to admit that tomatos can taste good in any color! These plants were inadvertantly neglected this year, put in a zone 4 garden in the woods during a chilly, wet summer. Green Zebra was one of the only plants that produced fruit and for the conditions, it was downright prolific. Worth a spot in the garden for looks alone, but with the taste and the performance, it earns one.

1 of 1 gardener found this review helpful.

Reviewed on 12/02/2006 by pepperhead212 - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Gloucester, New Jersey, United States Frost Free Season: 143 - 163 days Soil Texture: Loam Garden Size: Large - More than 1,600 square feet (40' x 40') Sun Exposure: 6 to 8 hours per day
This is my favorite tasting tomato - the one I test all new ones against. It is great in salsas and guacamole, having such an intense tomato flavor. It is one of the most heat resistant varieties I have grown, but it has a problem with late blight, which I have controlled with sprays of harpin every few weeks. It grows better in the upside-down buckets, in my garden at least. I will always have a few of these growing in my garden.

Reviewed on 10/03/2006 by Lou - An intermediate gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Ulster, New York, United States Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days Soil Texture: Loam Garden Size: Medium - 400 square feet to 1,600 square feet Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
very hardy and reliable. beautiful "gourmet" tomato - looks more delicate that it really is! smallish size good for salsa, salad, sliced w/cheese. long season in upstate NY. will always want a few plants in my vegetable garden

Reviewed on 09/05/2006 by zoebisch01 - An intermediate gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Centre, Pennsylvania, United States Frost Free Season: 143 - 163 days Soil Texture: Loam Garden Size: Large - More than 1,600 square feet (40' x 40') Sun Exposure: 6 to 8 hours per day
Good healthy plants, with a decent amount of uniform good keeping fruit. For some reason these were the only variety I grew this year that got blossom end rot. Late season for me (which is one reason I may keep them around). These have a good, substantial taste but are very high in acid. This, along with the green color makes them limited in use. Good for fresh eating and combined with other varities make a nice fresh salsa. They are a pretty tomato, with a good solid flavor which is highly acid as tomatoes go.

Reviewed on 04/24/2006 by danceswithferrets - A novice gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Greenville, South Carolina, United States Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Small - Less than 400 square feet (20' x 20') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
I'm not quite as crazy about this variety as some seem to be, but I do consider it a good bit above average. It was very productive for me, and has a nice flavor, both sweet and tart. It's very striking in appearance as well. The tomatoes are somewhat small. It makes a good salad tomato, except that the green blends in with the lettuce. It makes interesting looking sauces and salsas. It was very reliable.

Reviewed on 01/21/2005 by Tania - An intermediate gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Washington, United States Frost Free Season: More than 203 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Large - More than 1,600 square feet (40' x 40') Sun Exposure: 6 to 8 hours per day
little later than I anticipated. Keeps reasonably well after picking, although it is not a 'long-keeper'. Taste is OK but not great - this tomatoes were the last to fetch from the pantry shelf since we had plenty of other, better tasting, varieties.

Reviewed on 12/07/2004 by tplant - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Florida, United States Frost Free Season: More than 203 days Soil Texture: Sand Garden Size: Small - Less than 400 square feet (20' x 20') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
Grows vigorisly and bears green tomatoes with stripes. Quite attractive looks great and tastes good as well whether in salad or eaten right off the plant. I grow this one every season of which I have two per year.

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