Kings Seeds NZ and Koanga Institute list more than 80 tomato varieties between them, far too many to rank. This guide picks eleven that genuinely differ in season length, heat tolerance, habit or purpose. All of the claims below come from the suppliers' own listings.
Where you garden changes which ones to reach for first. In a cold inland garden, earliness is everything. In the warm north, the season is long and heat is the bigger test. Most of the country sits in between, with room to choose for flavour and use.
The Comparison
| Variety | Supplier | Type | Notable for | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sub Arctic Plenty | Kings Seeds NZ & Koanga Institute | Salad, smallish bush | Bred for extreme cold, reputed earliest tomato | Cool/mountain |
| Oregon Spring | Koanga Institute | Determinate dwarf | Very early, best-tasting of the early types | Cool/mountain |
| Baxters Early Bush | Kings Seeds NZ | Cherry, sprawling | Sets fruit under hot or cool conditions | Sub-tropical |
| Small Sweet Orange | Koanga Institute | Cherry, indeterminate | Southland heirloom that also did well in a very hot summer | Sub-tropical |
| Moneymaker | Kings Seeds NZ | Salad heirloom | Reliable since 1897, adaptable | Anywhere |
| Sungold F1 | Kings Seeds NZ | Cherry hybrid | Golden fruit in clusters of 10–20, extended harvest | Anywhere |
| Roma | Kings Seeds NZ | Bush, elongated paste | Dense flesh for sauce, salsa and drying | Anywhere |
| Watermouth | Koanga Institute | Beefsteak, indeterminate | Bay of Plenty heirloom, meaty, disease resistant | Temperate, sub-tropical |
| Black Krim | Kings Seeds NZ | Beefsteak heirloom | Dusky red-brown skin, black-red flesh | Temperate, sub-tropical |
| Tangella | Kings Seeds NZ | High-health cherry, indeterminate | Disease resistant, intense flavour | Anywhere |
| Dwarf Henry's Bush Cherry | Koanga Institute | Determinate dwarf | Bushes only 20cm x 20cm | Pots, small or exposed spots |
The "best fit" column is our reading of each listing against the regional seasons below, not a supplier claim.
The Earliest Croppers
Sub Arctic Plenty is the variety to build a short season around. Two unrelated suppliers make the same claim for it. Kings Seeds NZ says it was bred "for the USA Greenland military bases to endure extremely cold climates" and is "reputed as the world's earliest tomato". Koanga Institute calls it "way earlier than other main crop indeterminate cultivars". Two seed houses arriving at the same answer is a stronger signal than either alone.
Oregon Spring is the other early pick. Koanga rates it among the very earliest to fruit, with "the best taste of all the very early tomatoes", so speed doesn't have to cost flavour.
Neither listing gives a days-to-maturity figure for the rest of this list. If insurance against an early frost is what you need, these two are the sourced choices.
Built for Heat
Baxters Early Bush is the standout for warm gardens. Kings Seeds NZ describes it as "an adaptable variety that still sets fruit under hot or cool conditions". That's a fruit-set claim, and it matters: in general horticulture, tomato flowers often fail to set once days get hot enough to damage pollen. The same listing notes fruit that's "firm with strong tolerance to splitting", useful where a hot spell ends in heavy rain.
Small Sweet Orange comes at heat from an unexpected angle. It's a Henry Harrington Southland heirloom, adapted for southern conditions, yet Koanga notes that "in a very hot summer it did very well here too". A variety that copes at both ends of the temperature range is rare in this catalogue. None of the other picks here is documented as heat-tolerant.
The Reliable Default
Moneymaker promises nothing flashy. Kings Seeds NZ calls it "a well known and reliable heirloom tomato since 1897", adaptable to a range of growing conditions. If you want one variety that's likely to just work, in any region, start here.
Cherry, Sauce and Beefsteak
Sungold F1 is the cherry benchmark: clusters of 10 to 20 sweet, golden fruit over what Kings Seeds NZ calls an extended harvest. The longer your season, the further "extended" goes.
Roma does the opposite job. Its dense, elongated flesh is built for sauce, salsa or drying rather than eating fresh.
For a big slicer, choose between two heirloom lines. Watermouth comes from near Ōpōtiki in the Bay of Plenty and is described as large, meaty and disease resistant. Black Krim is a Black Sea heirloom with dusky red-brown skin and black-red flesh. Neither listing gives a maturity date, so in a short-season garden, pair a beefsteak with an early variety rather than relying on it alone.
Disease Resistance and Small Spaces
Tangella carries Kings Seeds NZ's "high-health" label and is described as disease resistant and highly productive. It's worth a place if disease has cut a season short before. For what tends to turn up, see Early and Late Blight in NZ Tomatoes and Tomato-Potato Psyllid in NZ.
Dwarf Henry's Bush Cherry solves a different problem. Its bushes grow only 20cm by 20cm, small enough for a pot, a sheltered corner, or a windy coastal spot where a sprawling vine wouldn't cope.
By Region: Timing and What to Lead With
Timings come from our planting data. Which varieties to lead with is our guidance, not a supplier claim.
Northland, Auckland and coastal Taranaki (sub-tropical). Sow indoors from June to September and transplant from August to October, weeks ahead of the rest of the country. Harvest runs from October right through to May. With frost out of the picture for most of the year, earliness matters less. Lead with Baxters Early Bush and Small Sweet Orange, and add afternoon shade in a heatwave, since heat above about 30°C stalls colour (see Why Are My Tomatoes Not Ripening?).
Most of the country (temperate). Sow indoors from August to November and transplant after the last frost in November. Pick from December to April. That's enough time for mid-season beefsteaks to mature, so choose for flavour and use, with an early variety for first fruit.
Central Otago, Queenstown and the Central Plateau (cool/mountain). Sowing and transplanting follow the temperate calendar, but the first frost arrives in March, so harvest runs only from December to March. Make Sub Arctic Plenty or Oregon Spring the backbone of the planting, and give everything your warmest, most sheltered spot.
Leaves curling? See Why Are My Tomato Leaves Curling? NZ Causes and Fixes. For planting times in your zone, see the planting calendar for the sub-tropical north, most of the country or the cool/mountain south and inland.