Lemon Boy Tomato

Solanum lycopersicum 'Lemon Boy'

vegetable

Lemon Boy is the bright-yellow counterpart to Better Boy, an F1 hybrid slicer that produces high yields of 6 to 7 oz lemon-yellow tomatoes with mild, sweet-tangy flavor and lower acid than red varieties. Indeterminate vines crop heavily from midsummer to frost. The variety carries an excellent disease-resistance package including verticillium wilt, fusarium, gray leaf spot, and nematodes, making it one of the most reliable yellow tomatoes for the home garden.

✅ Plant alongside

Good neighbors that attract beneficial insects or deter pests

• Basil — The classic tomato companion - masks tomato scent and is said to improve flavor
• Carrot — Loosens deeper soil for tomato roots without competing for light
• French Marigold — Helps suppress root-knot nematodes that can weaken tomatoes over a long season
• Parsley — Flowers attract hoverflies and parasitic wasps that prey on aphids and hornworms

❌ Keep away from

🛡️ Pest & disease prevention

Proactive ways to stop trouble before it starts — tap a name with an arrow for its full guide

• Tomato hornworm →

  Inspect leaf undersides every few days; handpick caterpillars or spot-treat young larvae with Bt

• Aphids →

  Hose off heavy colonies, plant alyssum nearby, and support ladybugs

• Whiteflies →

  Use yellow sticky traps and avoid heavy nitrogen feeding that flushes soft growth

• Early blight →

  Mulch deeply, water at the base, and remove the lowest leaves so soil splash does not reach foliage

🌾 Harvest & storage

Pick when fruits shift from pale green to glowing lemon-yellow and give slightly under gentle pressure; ripe Lemon Boys pull off the vine with a soft twist. Like all yellow tomatoes the color does not deepen further once cut, so harvest at full color for best flavor. Keep at room temperature stem-side down and use within a week.

🥗 Nutrition & benefits

Lemon Boy delivers the same vitamin C, potassium, folate, and B vitamins as red tomatoes. Yellow tomatoes are slightly lower in lycopene but carry more carotenoid pigments like tetra-cis-lycopene and beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A. The lower acid makes them gentler on sensitive stomachs.

⚠️ Toxicity & safety

Eat the ripe fruit only. Tomato leaves and stems (and large amounts of very unripe green fruit) contain solanine-type compounds and are not for eating.