Matt’s Hornet Tomato – Seeds

Matt’s Hornet is an excellent cherry tomato option for Florida gardens. We identified the potential of this tomato in our Spring 2026 tomato trial/growout which included over 30 varieties. This variety marries together a number of traits that make it worth trying throughout Florida and other humid areas where tomatoes can be a challenge. The fruit is great tasting and sweet. Production begins very early in the season. According to our notes, this was the first tomato we tasted out of our trial. In the following weeks, production ramped up rapidly and it became the most productive tomato for the earlier portion of the season. For several weeks or perhaps even a full month, full size one gallon pots (our usual harvesting containers for the trial) were coming in multiple times a week from just two plants. Furthermore, almost every one of these fruits was completely blemish free. The main production window occurred during May when temperatures were routinely in the 90’s. With just a few well cared for plants, a family can have tomatoes to eat every day from this variety. Production and plant health dropped off sharply as some of the other cherries in our trial really came into their element. Therefore, we recommend Florida gardeners pair this variety with another that excels in mid to late season production such as ESA or Bolivian. We estimate there was at least some Matt’s Hornet to eat for 7 weeks with copious production for about 4.

Matt’s Hornet behaves as an indeterminate but lacks the unchecked vigor of many cherry tomatoes. This variety strikes a balance of making enough vegetation to build a nice architecture for lots of fruit but not excessive growth. Many tomatoes in our trial scaled the 7 foot tall trellises and spilled over, looking for new victims to smother. These rampant tomatoes have their own advantages but may not be suitable for a lot of gardeners who don’t have the capacity or desire to build suitable trellises and the time to manage the vegetation. Matt’s Hornet topped out for us at roughly four feet high, a size that is manageable for smaller gardeners. There is a large amount of fruit packed onto a relatively small plant. For us, this tomato outproduced some others with extremely aggressive, rampant habits.

Matt’s Hornet was created by the brilliant tomato breeder Tom Wagner, who is responsible for many excellent varieties including the renowned “Green Zebra”. Tom created Matt’s
Hornet by crossing “Matt’s Wild Cherry” with a paste tomato called “Cassidy’s Folly”. The original version was called “Matt’s Folly”. We obtained our seed from Bunny Hop Seeds who changed the name to reflect the off-type bullet shape in their population varying from the original Matt’s Folly. The few scant photos and forum discussions of Matt’s Folly do seem to show some differing appearances and even disagreements on how determinate or indeterminate it is. Tom Wagner releases so many tomatoes that it seems likely some of them are 90 percent finished, with a little variability after they get out into the world. Going forward, we will save our best performing plants for continued adaptation to Florida. We encourage you to support the important work of both Tom Wagner and Bunny Hop seeds in whatever way you can. Bunny Hop Seeds can be accessed through the Heritage Seed Market.

Tom’s brilliance with tomatoes was showcased in the choice to use Matt’s Wild Cherry to make this cross. Matt’s Wild Cherry seems to play a similar role in much of the country that Everglades does in Florida. This is to say, a small fruited S. pimpinellifolium dominant, semi-wild tomato that is highly rampant, disease tolerant and volunteers readily. The Matt’s Wild genes probably contribute greatly to heat tolerance, tolerance to blight and other diseases, nematode tolerance and other problems associated with tomatoes in hot, humid climates. In our trial we noted that some of the paste tomatoes seem to have few blemishes and great shelf life. We therefore deduce that Cassidy’s Folly tomato may have contributed helpfully in this way.

Please note that our writings reflect only the experiences of one season and we may learn new things in the future that change our thoughts on this tomato. Regarding seed purity, please note that our tomato varieties are grown in close proximity to each other as we do not have the growing space to isolate them from each other. Tomatoes are inbreeding, typically pollinating themselves and staying true to type. However, in some regions of the country certain insects may occasionally move a little pollen around and generate crosses with other nearby tomatoes. It is generally understood that this happens in very minuscule amounts with tomato, which is why we feel comfortable offering this seed. The worst case scenario is that you get a plant of Matt’s Hornet crossed with other rare, heat tolerant tomatoes from our farm. Please consider mailing us back seeds from the hybrid if this happens!

~40 seeds