Kings Seeds NZ and Koanga Institute between them source 97 tomato cultivars for this zone — far too many to list, so this comparison pulls out nine standouts that genuinely differ from each other in season length, growing habit, or purpose, rather than attempting to rank the full catalogue.
The Comparison
| Variety | Supplier | Type | Notable for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sub Arctic Plenty | Kings Seeds NZ & Koanga Institute | Salad, indeterminate/smallish bush | Bred for extreme cold, reputed earliest tomato — sourced independently by both suppliers |
| Oregon Spring | Koanga Institute | Determinate dwarf | Among the very earliest to fruit, with the best taste of the early types |
| Moneymaker | Kings Seeds NZ | Salad heirloom, indeterminate | Reliable since 1897, adaptable growing conditions |
| Sungold F1 | Kings Seeds NZ | Cherry hybrid | Extended harvest, sweet golden fruit in clusters of 10–20 |
| Roma | Kings Seeds NZ | Bush, elongated paste | Dense flesh built for sauce, salsa, and drying |
| Watermouth | Koanga Institute | Beefsteak, indeterminate | NZ heirloom (Bay of Plenty), meaty and disease resistant |
| Tangella | Kings Seeds NZ | High-health cherry, indeterminate | Disease resistant, intensely flavoured, bred for nutrient content |
| Black Krim | Kings Seeds NZ | Beefsteak heirloom | Black Sea heirloom, dusky red-brown skin, black-red flesh |
| Dwarf Henry's Bush Cherry | Koanga Institute | Determinate dwarf | Bushes only 20cm x 20cm — the most compact option here |
Racing the Season
Sub Arctic Plenty is worth leading with because two independent suppliers back the same claim: Kings Seeds NZ calls it "reputed as the world's earliest tomato," bred originally for USA Greenland military bases to endure extreme cold, while Koanga Institute separately describes it as "way earlier than other main crop indeterminate cultivars." Two unrelated seed houses converging on the same earliness claim is a stronger signal than either alone. Oregon Spring backs it up from the determinate-dwarf side — Koanga rates it among the very earliest to fruit, with, in their words, "the best taste of all the very early tomatoes." Both are worth considering if a cool start to the season or a shorter run to first fruit matters more to you than maximum yield.
The Reliable Classic
Moneymaker earns its name honestly — Kings Seeds NZ's own listing calls it "a well known and reliable heirloom tomato since 1897," adaptable to a range of growing conditions rather than needing everything to go right. It's the sensible default if you want one variety that's more likely to just work.
Purpose-Built: Cherry, Sauce, and Beefsteak
Sungold F1 produces clusters of 10 to 20 golden, bite-sized fruit over what Kings Seeds NZ describes as an extended harvest — the standard against which a lot of home-garden cherry tomatoes get judged. Roma takes the opposite job: dense, elongated flesh built specifically for sauce, salsa, or drying rather than eating fresh off the vine. For a genuinely large slicing or stuffing tomato, Watermouth and Black Krim cover two different heirloom traditions — Watermouth is a Bay of Plenty-sourced NZ heirloom described as meaty and disease resistant, while Black Krim brings a Black Sea heritage and a distinctive dusky, black-red colour to the plate.
Disease Resistance and Small Spaces
Tangella carries Kings Seeds NZ's "high-health" label and is explicitly noted as disease resistant, on top of being described as highly productive with intense flavour. If leaf or fruit disease has been a recurring problem in your garden, that's worth weighing; see Early and Late Blight on NZ Tomatoes for the two most common culprits, and Tomato-Potato Psyllid in NZ for a pest rather than a disease issue. Dwarf Henry's Bush Cherry solves a different problem entirely — at just 20cm by 20cm, it's the most compact plant in this set, genuinely suited to a container or a small bed where a sprawling indeterminate vine wouldn't fit.
Planting for This Zone
Every variety here follows the same temperate calendar: start seed indoors August to November, transplant out after the last spring frost (November here), and expect fruit from December through to April, when the season closes out at the first autumn frost. That's a solid five-month cropping window once plants are in the ground — enough for the mid-season varieties above to fully mature, and enough of a head start from the earliest types to have fruit well before the peak of summer. If ripening is stalling rather than fruit failing to set in the first place, that's a separate, common issue — see Why Are My Tomatoes Not Ripening in NZ Temperate? or Why Are My Tomato Leaves Curling in NZ Temperate? for the likely causes.
Ready to plan the rest of your summer bed? Check the NZ Temperate Planting Calendar →.