Dwarf Sweet Sue Tomato
A yellow dwarf slicer that its own breeder calls a favorite, sold today under two official fruit size numbers that do not agree with each other.
Flavor & performance
The honest verdict
What's great
- Reaches full slicing size on a compact plant that tops out around four to five feet, per Victory Seed Company.
- Breeder Craig LeHoullier named it after his wife Susan and has called it one of his favorite dwarfs.
- Potato leaf foliage and a true dwarf habit make it easy to manage in a small garden or a large container.
- Victory Seed Company describes it as quite disease tolerant and one of the more prolific dwarf releases.
- Released under the Open Source Seed Initiative pledge, so saved seed stays free to replant and share.
Watch out for
- Two official sources give different fruit sizes, 5 to 10 oz on the Dwarf Tomato Project listing and up to 18 oz on Victory Seed Company.
- It is a late season dwarf at 80 days from transplant, slower than many modern patio slicers.
- As a hand crossed open pollinated variety, no specific disease resistance codes are documented.
- It is a niche release carried mainly by heirloom and dwarf project specialty sellers, not big box racks.
- Being open pollinated seed from a volunteer breeding project, individual seed lots can still vary in size and habit.
Grow it in your zone
| Trait | Dwarf Sweet Sue Tomato | Rosella Purple | Dwarf Wild Fred |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Dwarf, yellow slicer | Dwarf, purple slicer | Dwarf, purple slicer |
| Days to maturity | 80 from transplant | 65 to 75 | 70 to 85, reports vary |
| Fruit size | 5 to 18 oz, reports vary | Medium to large | Up to 8 oz |
| Plant height | 4 to 5 ft | 3 to 4 ft | About 3.5 ft |
| Flavor | Sweet, well balanced | Balanced, intense | Rich, well balanced |
| Breeding | Open pollinated | Open pollinated | Open pollinated |
| Best for | Containers, small yards | Containers, small yards | Containers, small yards |
The Dwarf Sweet Sue tomato is a compact, yellow fruited plant. It was bred for real slicing tomatoes without a six foot vine. It comes from the Dwarf Tomato Project, a volunteer breeding effort Craig LeHoullier helped found, and he liked this selection enough to name it after his own wife.
Look closely at the two seed companies that still sell it and a real disagreement shows up. One says the fruit runs 5 to 10 ounces. The other says it can reach 18 ounces.
Nobody selling this tomato mentions that gap. This page states both numbers plainly instead of picking the flattering one.
What the Dwarf Sweet Sue tomato actually is
Dwarf Sweet Sue began as a 2005 cross between Golden Dwarf Champion and Green Giant. Project volunteer Patrina Nuske Small made that cross. Craig LeHoullier selected the best plant from it and gave it a permanent name in 2007, honoring his wife, Susan.
He has since called it one of his favorite dwarfs in the whole project. The plant carries potato leaf foliage, a trait growers use to spot it in a mixed dwarf bed. It reaches four to five feet by season’s end, according to Victory Seed Company.
The Dwarf Tomato Project classifies Dwarf Sweet Sue as a late season variety. Short season gardeners in cooler climates should start seed on the early end of the recommended window. Waiting too long can push ripening close to first frost in zones with a short growing season.
The size number nobody has reconciled
The Dwarf Tomato Project’s own product page lists Dwarf Sweet Sue fruit at 5 to 10 ounces. Victory Seed Company, which still carries the variety, lists a range up to 18 ounces. Both are documented sources, not a typo repeated between catalogs.
The likely explanation is ordinary seed drift. Open pollinated dwarf varieties get grown out by many different hands across many gardens. Fruit size can shift from one generation to the next without anyone noticing until two catalogs compare notes.
This page will not average the two numbers into a fake middle ground. Grow it yourself and your fruit may land anywhere in that spread.
The story behind the name
Craig LeHoullier is candid on his own project pages about which dwarfs he personally favors. Dwarf Sweet Sue is one of them. Naming it for his wife was a deliberate choice, not a marketing flourish added later by a seed company.
That kind of small, sourced detail is exactly what most product listings skip in favor of generic praise. The Dwarf Sweet Sue tomato reached home gardeners in 2012 through Heritage Seed Market. That is five years after LeHoullier locked in the name, a gap typical for the project.
Growing the Dwarf Sweet Sue tomato
Starting and transplanting
Start seed 6 to 8 weeks before your last frost date. This follows the standard tomato seed starting timing. Move transplants outside once frost risk has passed and nights stay above 50 degrees.
Space plants 18 to 24 inches apart. The dwarf habit keeps roots and canopy compact. You can fit more plants in the same bed than a standard indeterminate variety allows.
Support, water, and feed
A light stake or small cage is usually enough, unlike the heavy staking many indeterminate tomatoes need. Keep soil moisture even rather than letting it swing from dry to soaked. Follow the same watering guidelines that apply across most slicing types.
Feed at planting with a balanced fertilizer and follow general tomato feeding practice through the season. This dwarf’s compact size makes it a strong candidate for large containers. Gardeners following a pot growing guide can adapt the same steps directly.
Harvest once fruit reaches full yellow color with the characteristic pink blush at the blossom end. Fruit left on the vine too long can soften quickly in warm weather. Picking a touch early and finishing on the counter usually protects flavor better than waiting for perfect vine ripening.
Grower's Picks for Dwarf Sweet Sue
The gear that matters most for growing Dwarf Sweet Sue well, so you can buy the right thing once.
Saving seed
Dwarf Sweet Sue is open pollinated and released under the Open Source Seed Initiative pledge. Saved seed is meant to be shared freely, not restricted the way a patented hybrid would be.
Scoop seed from a ripe fruit and ferment it in water to remove the gel coating. Rinse and dry it on a plate. Given the documented size drift in this variety, save seed only from your biggest, most typical plants each year.
Dwarf Sweet Sue vs Rosella Purple vs Dwarf Wild Fred
All three are Dwarf Tomato Project releases built for small spaces, but they split on color and timing. Dwarf Sweet Sue is the yellow option and the slowest of the three at 80 days from transplant. Rosella Purple ripens fastest at 65 to 75 days.
Dwarf Wild Fred sits in a disputed range of 70 to 85 days depending on the source. On flavor, Dwarf Sweet Sue reads as the gentlest of the group. Rosella Purple is documented as more intense, and Dwarf Wild Fred is described as rich rather than sweet.
Choose Sweet Sue for a mild, kid friendly yellow slicer in a small footprint. Pick a purple sibling instead for bolder heirloom flavor.
The verdict
Dwarf Sweet Sue earns its spot for gardeners who want a real slicing tomato on a patio sized plant. The breeder’s own fondness for it is well documented. The potato leaf foliage plus disease tolerance make it forgiving for less experienced growers.
The honest catch is that nobody selling it agrees on how big the fruit will actually get. Buy seed expecting the smaller five to ten ounce range as your baseline. Treat anything larger as a pleasant surprise rather than a guarantee.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Dwarf Sweet Sue tomato an heirloom?
No. It is a modern open pollinated variety bred by the Dwarf Tomato Project and named in 2007. It behaves like an heirloom in flavor and habit, but its cross is fully documented and recent.
How big does a Dwarf Sweet Sue plant get?
Most growers see a mature height of four to five feet, per Victory Seed Company. That is taller than a true patio tomato but far shorter than a standard indeterminate vine.
How big is the fruit really?
Sources disagree. The Dwarf Tomato Project’s listing says 5 to 10 ounces, and Victory Seed Company reports up to 18. Expect real variation between seed lots.
Can I save seed from Dwarf Sweet Sue?
Yes. It is open pollinated and released under the Open Source Seed Initiative pledge. Saved seed grows true and stays free to replant and share.
What does the Dwarf Sweet Sue tomato taste like?
Growers and the Dwarf Tomato Project both describe a sweet, well balanced flavor with old fashioned character. It is milder than a big purple beefsteak, but still one of the more reliably sweet dwarfs.