Pollock Tomatoes

There is a type of tomato that has been developed for cool, short growing seasons. It is even considered frost resistance.

Andy Pollock of Houston, BC developed a variety of tomato over decades in his mountain-based (100m) unheated greenhouse in the interior of BC above the 54th parallel.

By selectively propagating and selective seed harvesting from an original Bonny Best tomato, over the years he was able to create a new strain ideal for his cool and frosty growing season. It is even blight resistant. The tomato called the Pollock for obvious reasons, is ideal for growing here in NW Ontario.

The tomato is a vine type plant with indeterminate fruit. This means the plants will continue to grow up their stakes and will continue to flower/bear fruit continuously. The fruit produced are medium to large 4oz-10oz rich flavoured slicing tomatoes and will ripen on the vine even in our short growing season.

Seeds should be started indoors in early to mid-march in larger pots under bright lights or on a sunny window ledge. They germinate quickly within 6-10 days. Once the last frost has gone, transplanting the tomatoes outside. Tomatoe transplants require special transplanting instructions to be discussed at a later date in its own article. These tomatoes need to be staked. Typically they reach maturity 50 to 60 days after transplanting. Transplant in mid-June, have ripe tomatoes in mid-August.

I have planted a number of seeds and am currently growing them on my windowsill under grow lights as part of my winter garden experiment. After only a couple of weeks, most of the seeds germinated and the plants are growing well and are already 4-6 inches tall.

Seeds are available from a few suppliers online, and I carry the seeds at the Nipigon River Bait Tackle and Souvenir shop. I may have limited transplants available in the spring.

Pollock Tomatoe Page