AMSEED American Seed Intelligence Platform
Tomato comparison

Roma VF vs Plum Regal

The open-pollinated paste standard against a blight-resistant hybrid replacement.

Roma VF Plum Regal
Breeding Open-pollinated F1 hybrid
Growth habit Determinate Determinate
Days to maturity 73-80 68-75
Fruit color red red
Fruit size class plum plum
Typical weight - -
Primary uses sauce, paste, canning sauce, paste
Introduced 1955 -
Documented resistances 2 3
Saves true from seed Yes No (F1)

Measured against each other

These two have never been grown in the same trial AMSeed holds. Every difference in the table above is a difference between what each variety's own sources say about it, which is not the same as a difference between the varieties. Two catalogs counting days from different starting points, or reporting fruit weight from different seasons and soils, can differ by more than the seed does.

Disease resistance

Roma VF

Verticillium WiltV · resistant

Plum Regal

Late BlightPh-3 · intermediate
Verticillium WiltV · resistant

Traits

Only Roma VF

  • Open-Pollinated

Only Plum Regal

  • F1 Hybrid

Origins

Roma VF

The USDA-bred paste tomato that became a supermarket generic. Released from the Beltsville program in the 1950s, with the VF re-selection adding fusarium and verticillium resistance, one of the earliest mainstream examples of resistance breeding in a home-garden variety.

Plum Regal

A modern plum bred for sauce growers in blight country: full Ph-2 + Ph-3 late blight resistance in a determinate Roma-class fruit.

Sources & References

Evidence: 6 sources, including 3 independent references.

  1. Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners · Cornell University Cooperative Extension, Community Collection
  2. Tomato Growers Supply catalog · Tomato Growers Supply Company, Seed Catalog
  3. Vegetable MD Online · Cornell University, Plant Pathology, University or Government
  4. Johnny's Selected Seeds catalog · Johnny's Selected Seeds, Seed Catalog
  5. Evaluation of Late Blight Resistant Tomato Varieties, 2013 · Cornell Long Island Horticultural Research and Extension Center (2013), University or Government
  6. Evaluation of Late Blight Resistant Tomato Varieties, 2012 · Cornell Long Island Horticultural Research and Extension Center (2012), University or Government