Tomato 'Maltese'

Try to plant in a location that enjoys full sun and remember to water moderately. Keep in mind when planting that Maltese is thought of as tender, so remember to wait until your soil is warm and the night time temperature is well above freezing before moving outside. Maltese requires a loamy soil with a ph of 5.5 - 7.5 - it grows best in weakly acidic soil to weakly alkaline soil.

Start seeds indoors six weeks before last frost date.

Try to aim for a seed spacing of at least 0.78 inches (2.0 cm) and sow at a depth of around 0.78 inches (2.0 cm). Soil temperature should be kept higher than 12°C / 54°F to ensure good germination.

By our calculations, you should look at sowing Maltese about 42 days before your last frost date.

Plant to the first set of true leaves to promote strong root growth.

Ensure that temperatures are mild and all chance of frost has passed before planting out, as Maltese is a tender plant.

Maltese is a really rare heirloom. It’s closely related to both Costoluto genovese and Goldman’s Italian-American. I heard somewhere that Maltese is also a parent of Gary Ibsen’s famous award winning “Aussie” heirloom tomato.

Maltese is:
The original seeds that came from Malta to Australia were likely from the heirloom “Malta Domatiz” which is very rare and has poor distribution.
“Malta Domatiz” is not currently propagated by Seeds of Diversity’s seed-savers.
Also not known to have been sold commercially in North America for over 20 years.
And not maintained by the Canadian gene bank.
It is, however, maintained by the U.S. gene bank.

Original seeds were brought from Malta to Australia where they have been growing for over one hundred years. They were then passed from sister to sister to London, ON Canada.

Malta, Domatiz, Aussie

Malta domatiz, Aussie maltese