In 2005, Craig LeHoullier (aka nctomatoman) of Raleigh, North Carolina, long time heirloom tomato enthusiast and SSE member, discussed an idea with Patrina Nuske-Small of Australia in a forum on a popular gardening website. Craig and his wife, Susan, had been selling tomato seedlings locally for years, and customers would often request varieties that could be grown on decks or patios and still be tasty and delicious.

Craig knew of a very few so-called dwarf varieties, distinct from the determinate types, in that the flavor seemed in general to be better in the dwarfs. These dwarf types are very distinctive in having a thick central stem, stout compact growth, and dark green, crinkly looking (so-called rugose) foliage. As a collector of old seed catalogs, Craig ran across a listing for 'New Big Dwarf' in the 1915 Isbell Seed Company catalog. What caught Craig's eye was that the creation of 'New Big Dwarf' was clearly described! This involved a cross between a medium sized pink-fruited dwarf called 'Dwarf Champion' (well known from the late 1800s), with the largest known tomato at that time, 'Ponderosa'. After crossing and several generations of selection, 'New Big Dwarf' was released. It kept the compact growth of its 'Dwarf Champion' parent, but with the large sized fruit of 'Ponderosa'. It was clear that Isbell's approach was successful, yet strangely never further explored to create a range of new dwarf growing varieties with large fruit, in different colors.

Through their online chats, Craig and Patrina, who was also an avid heirloom tomato gardener and skillful at carrying out crosses, Craig explained the 'New Big Dwarf' story to Patrina. So Craig and Patrina designed a project in which some strategic crosses would be made, the resulting new hybrids grown out, then seeds shared for work on selection of promising new varieties, followed by several generations to reach a stable new non-hybrid variety with the desired characteristics.

Around this same time, a new tomato chat website called Tomatoville emerged. It provided a structure for both tracking the project, as well as a magnet for the kind of extreme tomato enthusiasts who could make up a perfect team of volunteers to accomplish a plan of this scope. Craig set about gathering volunteers in North America, while Patrina did the same in Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand. By working the project across hemispheres, two growing seasons could be achieved in one calendar year, thus reducing the new tomato variety development time by half.

Armed with more than one hundred willing volunteers, the project set off with the first crosses being grown out in 2006. Over a decade has passed and in that time, over forty interesting crosses have been made by Patrina and others, resulting in dozens and dozens of possible color, size and shape combinations. Craig and Patrina are quite sure that this is the very first, all volunteer, world-wide tomato breeding project in documented gardening history. (Stay tuned for a new book from Craig about the whole adventure!)

No one involved with the "Dwarf Tomato Project" received compensation for their part in developing these new varieties. None were professional botanists, plant breeders, or horticulturists; just avid gardeners with a keen interest in learning about tomato genetics or discovering interesting new tomatoes. They have done this awesome work out of a sense of purpose and a passion to create new choices for home gardeners.

The Victory Seed Company, along with three other small companies, were chosen by the project to produce seed and introduce these varieties to the gardening public. From the beginning, the Victory Seed Company has been committed to act as the project's de facto "seed bank," maintaining all of the varieties. We have also, over the years, trialed varieties at various stages of their development.

As of December, 2018, 108 varieties have been officially introduced by the "Dwarf Tomato Project." The table below describes the various working "families" from which these varieties were developed. Although the project has now been officially closed, several additional varieties are near completion and will be introduced by us over the next few years.

For more information, you can check out Craig's project page by clicking here, or Patrina's project page by clicking here.