Crop type: Tomatoes
Solanum lycopersicum ‘Ildi’ AGM
Common name: Plum tomato ‘Ildi’
Crop slug: tomatoes
This Allotment Pro editorial draft summarises the cited RHS cultivar profile.RHS cultivar profile
1 - Overview
‘Ildi’ is a cordon cherry-plum tomato for greenhouse or outdoor growing. It produces heavy crops in long cascading trusses, each packed with small pear-shaped yellow tomatoes. The combination of yellow colour, tapered fruit and exceptional truss size is highly distinctive and holds an RHS Award of Garden Merit.
2 - Size
- Ultimate height
- 1–1.5 metres
- Ultimate spread
- 0.5–1 metre
- Time to ultimate size
- 1 year
Train the columnar upright cordon against a tall support.
3 - Growing conditions
- Suitable soils
- Clay, loam or sand
- Moisture
- Moist but well drained
- Soil pH
- Acid or neutral
Keep moisture steady while the many small fruits swell.
4 - Position and hardiness
- Light
- Full sun
- Aspect
- South- or west-facing
- Exposure
- Sheltered
- Hardiness
- H1c — grows outdoors in summer above approximately 5–10°C and must be protected from frost
An unheated greenhouse offers a dependable long season.
5 - Colour and seasonal interest
| Season | Flowers | Foliage | Fruit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring | — | Green | — |
| Summer | Yellow | Green | Yellow pear-shaped cherries |
Its cascading trusses of yellow pear-shaped fruit are the defining feature.
6 - Botanical details
- Family
- Solanaceae
- Native to Great Britain and Ireland
- No
- Foliage
- Evergreen on the profile; grown as an annual
- Habit
- Columnar and upright
- Name status
- Accepted
- Award
- RHS Award of Garden Merit
Genus
Solanum includes annual, perennial, shrubby and climbing plants whose five-lobed flowers are followed by fleshy fruits.
7 - How to grow
Cultivation
Start seed indoors or in a heated greenhouse, then grow under unheated glass or outside after frost. Tie in the cordon and keep moisture even.
Propagation
Propagate by seed indoors.
Pruning
Remove side-shoots and stop the leader after seven trusses under cover or four outdoors.
Pests
Glasshouse whitefly and tomato moth may attack.
Diseases
Rare honey fungus, blossom-end rot, magnesium deficiency, tomato spotted wilt virus and grey mould under glass are listed.