Tomato 'Green Zebra'

Solanum lycopersicum

How to grow Tomato 'Green Zebra'

  • Full Sun

  • Medium

If you purchase transplants, look for sturdy, short, dark green plants. Avoid plants that are tall, leggy, or yellowish, or have started flowering. Transplants that are too mature often stall after transplanting while younger, smaller plants pass them by, producing earlier and more fruit.

Starting your own plants from seed gives you more choices of which variety to grow. But if you start your own plants, be sure you have a place where they can get enough light. Even a sunny, south-facing window is barely adequate. Consider using a grow light to supplement sunlight.

Don’t start plants too early. Sow seeds indoors 6 to 8 weeks before transplanting outside. Plant them 1/8 inch deep in sterile seed starting mix in flats or cells. Seeds germinate best at 75 F to 90 F. Then grow transplants at about 70 F.

Don’t rush to transplant, either. Cold soil and air temperatures can stress plants. Wait at least a week or two after the last frost. Nighttime temperatures should be consistently above 45 F. Use black plastic mulch to warm soil and/or row covers, hot caps or other protection to keep plants warm early in the season. Remove covers whenever temperatures exceed 85 F.

Harden off plants before transplanting by reducing water and fertilizer, not by exposing to cold temperatures, which can stress them and stunt growth. Transplants exposed to cold temperatures (60 F to 65 F day and 50 F to 60 F night) are more prone to catfacing.

Green Zebra likes a position of full sun and remember to water moderately. Keep in mind when planting that Green Zebra 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. Green Zebra requires a loamy soil with a ph of 5.5 - 6.8 - it grows best in weakly acidic soil.

Growing Green Zebra from seed

Germinates best at 75 F to 90 F. Germinates very slowly at cooler temperatures.

Start seeds indoors six weeks before last frost date.

Try to aim for a seed spacing of at least 2.60 feet (80.0 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 Green Zebra about 42 days before your last frost date.

Transplanting Green Zebra

Transplant out when around 15cm (6 inches) high.

Plant to first leaves to promote strong roots.

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

Harvesting Green Zebra

Ripe tomatoes will develop yellow striping. The flesh and gel inside is green. This variety does get mealy if left on the vine too long.

Expect harvests to start to occur in mid summer.

Green Zebra folklore & trivia

Relatively new open-pollinated variety developed by Tom Wagner of Redmond, Washington, USA, and was first offered in his Tater-Mater Seed Catalogue in 1983.


It is often mistakenly called an heirloom, but because of its recent origins, it actually is not.

This is the original “zebra” variety, that has since been crossed to produce other colors (black, red, etc.).

Footnotes