Mid season variety, about 80 for ripe fruit from transplant. Fruits develop on indeterminate vines.The Wisconsin 55 Gold tomato is a mutation of the familiar Wisconsin 55 (red) discovered by professor emeritus of UC Berkeley Robert Raabe in 1953 during his time growing the regular Wisconsin 55, interestingly he virtually kept the variety kept it to himself for half a century. Now it is available for home gardeners.
Historically this tomato is important because it was one of the last open pollinated tomato breeding project that plant pathologist J.C. Walker worked on at the University of Wisconsin. After th Wisconsin 55 tomato breeding project, the university focused on hybridization.Then, a young Dr. Robert Raabe discovered the Wisconsin 55 Gold while picking tomatoes in the original patch where J.C.Walker did his research on the Wisconsin 55 Red and picked the surprising golden fruit mutation. 50 years later he still grows the fruit but his intention was purely curiosity.Seed were eventually sent to Martin Longseth who is responsible for its popularity.
The Wisconsin 55 Gold tomato is a great variety to grow in shallow soil, so if that is what you have in your garden this might just be the tomato for you. The fruits are about 8-10 ounces of gold firm tomatoes that hold up well to sauce making. They also are extremely disease resistant, heat and heavy rain tolerant, and can handle bug infestations better than most tomatoes. The flavor is mild but pleasant and the harvests are abundant.