Indeterminate vs Determinate Tomatoes. So Why is this a Question?
/Determinate - Produce one crop of tomatoes per season, then die.
Indeterminate - Produce tomatoes (in theory) all season until killed by frost.
The normal reasons for planting (and not planting) determinate tomato varieties are easy to find. Determinate varieties tend to grow smaller, and so are better for containers and small spaces. This also means less trellising and smaller cages. These varieties are predictable, producing one big harvest per season (about 45 days after setting out).
Then there are the determinate detractors. Tomato purists (some of my best gardening friends) insist determinate varieties simply aren’t as tasty as their indeterminate cousins. Reasons given range from sensible to strange. Fewer leaves (sensible) means less nutrients are delivered to the fruit. All determinate varieties are F1 hybrids (strange), and so could not possibly taste as good as open pollinated/heirloom varieties. Personally, I have never found a fresh-off-the-vine determinate tomato anything but totally scrumptious.
So much for a quick-and-dirty pros and cons review. You can find lots more for-and-against arguments with minimal Googling. I grow determinate tomato varieties for the usual reasons, and then some:
A). The Summer Salsa Payload
A large crop of tomatoes ripening at about the same time means only one thing at my house - homemade salsa Valhalla . If only someone would develop a deterministic jalapeño.
B). Dog Days
I live in north central Texas. Yesterday (June 2) the high temperature was 100F degrees with an official heat index of 111F. Things will only get worse. Tomatoes will not produce fruit at temps higher than about 95F. So even though indeterminate varieties theoretically produce fruit all year, in my neck of the woods, blossoms get cooked off the vine from late June to September and I am way too lazy to build a shade canopy. If the plants make it through the summer, I find the vines are usually too stunted to produce much of a fall crop.
C). Chemicals
I strive to stay as chemical free as possible. Unfortunately Blight can be a big problem for small gardens - especially if the tomato plants are spaced too close for adequate air flow. With a good determinate variety, I can usually get a decent crop before the Blight outruns my ability to cut off infected leaves.