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Post by daylilydude on Jan 15, 2018 5:52:16 GMT -5
Do you think they are seedy and worth growing... what are your favorites and how do you use them?
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jan 15, 2018 6:22:22 GMT -5
Seedy? Yes Worth growing? Definitely Favorites? Oh boy, too many to list, but here's a few. Black Cherry Sun Gold Porter I have a variety that an internet Buddy gave me that is similar to Sungold except it's a little bigger.
I grow mine just like I do all my tomatoes and peppers. I put a hand full of Mumsey's mix into the hole, bury as deep as possible, water, mulch, every few weeks side dress with mix.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jan 15, 2018 6:58:14 GMT -5
I grow (or I should say, harvest) more cherries some years than larger varieties! In those years when tomatoes drop their blossoms due to heat waves, cherries revover quickly (and some are heat resistant), while larger ones take much longer to grow and ripen. I make a lot of salads in the summer, using a lot of halved or quartered cherries.
Here are my favorites:
Sunsugar (many of these are eaten right in the garden) Green Tiger (large elongated, sort of a cherry) Sunrise Porter (sort of a large cherry) Sweet Treat (pink hybrid, great flavor, and huge production)
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Post by bluelacedredhead on Jan 15, 2018 8:11:01 GMT -5
I haven't grown any the last 3 or 4 years. I guess I should dig out some of my seeds and put a couple of plants in? The last one I grew that sticks out in my mind was Guernsey Island Pink Blush. It grew and thrived in a year that saw little production from large tomatoes. I love the shape and the taste was sweet.
There was a tiny yellow tomato that I grew for a few years as well that we ate like candy off the vines. It wasn't in my records back to 2010? I thought I had grown it in this location but it must have been the house prior. I'll see if I have seed left for it and add it to the list. I don't know why I haven't been making room for it in recent years. OH Geez, I hope I didn't run out of seed!!
UPDATE: I found them! It's Yellow Marble. Must change my Garden plan to include these!
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Post by brownrexx on Jan 15, 2018 9:21:49 GMT -5
I have grown Sun Sugar for the last 2 years and they were really good but this year I will be trying a Black Cherry that I have heard is really good.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jan 15, 2018 9:22:20 GMT -5
bluelacedredheadI'm glad you found them. I haven't grown that one. Take pictures this year, I'd like to follow along and see how it does for you.
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Post by september on Jan 15, 2018 9:59:23 GMT -5
I've never been much of a cherry fan, but I start cherry plants for others in my family, so I end up growing samples of each for myself as well.
Every year - and I do love this one because the taste is unique - Sungold F1
Black Cherry and Snow White are two more that are always requested. I also like Iva's Red Berry, and Goldkrone, a yellow is that is very sweet. I try a few new varieties in different colors each year, but not too many come back.
What do I do with them?
Mostly are eaten off the vine as snacks - sometimes I can skip coming in the house for lunch if I eat a couple of cucumbers off the vine along with a good handful of cherries. Also halved as part of tossed salads (too slippery to get a fork in a whole cherry!) I tried refrigerator pickling them once, but you need thicker skinned ones for that, the thin skinned ones that I prefer all turned into soggy bags of vinegar. I've also halved and sauteed them to add to fresh pasta sauce.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jan 15, 2018 10:12:44 GMT -5
septemberYou've peaked my interest. I haven't heard of those last two. I see right now, we need to start a cherry tomato seed trade. I bet someone comes along with other interesting varieties.
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Post by september on Jan 15, 2018 10:17:07 GMT -5
I should have enough seeds to share with anyone who wants them, either cherries or other tomatoes I may have mentioned. Just send me a PM with your address anytime.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jan 15, 2018 10:20:16 GMT -5
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Post by spike on Jan 15, 2018 10:23:09 GMT -5
I love cherry tomatoes! (sadly so does my tomato stealing dog) My most favorite ever was a smallish, red tomato. When you bit into them, the outside was slightly crisp so you got that lovely snap, then the juice hit your mouth and oh the sweet sweet flavor. I have no idea what it was. I found it sitting by itself, with no tag in a green house. Poor thing was a tad wilty and I felt sorry for it and bought it. ALSO I love to plant my cheery tomatoes along the sides of the garden. That way when I am mowing I can drive past, grab a handful and munch while mowing.
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Post by paulf on Jan 15, 2018 11:22:36 GMT -5
I grow a cherry or two every year for my wife. I don't like cherries except for Black Cherry. She also likes Ambrosia Pink. They are all used in salads. I give away loads of them at the local Post Office where all our extra produce gets taken.
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Post by ladymarmalade on Jan 15, 2018 11:32:27 GMT -5
I will always have a rainbow of cherry tomatoes in my garden! I never have more fun than I do when I take a flat of these cherry tomatoes to church and share with my church family. There are people who look forward to this every year! Last year I had: Iva's Red Berry Sun Sugar Evan's Purple Pear Lemon Drop Sweet Sharon Klujkva V Sahare Galina's Yellow Black Cherry Green Doctor's I did not care for the Green Doctor's, so my quest continues for the right green cherry tomato that will taste good AND will not be prone to splitting, which seems to be an issue with these GWR cherries. I had an overabundance of yellows last year, but I don't see how to get around that. Lemon Drop, Sweet Sharon and Galina's Yellow were the perfect variety- each tasted different and brought a different complexity and shade of yellow to the party. I have some new ones to try this year to see if they make the all-star line up. If I had to pick and choose and could only grow two cherry tomatoes, it would be Iva's Red Berry and Lemon Drop. Black Cherry would be a close runner up. ETA: I didn't share what I do with them! Besides the obvious of lunching and breakfasting on them straight of the plant, of course. We use a lot in salads, quick sauteed pasta sauces, roasted applications, lots and lots of sharing, and when all is said and done, if I just can't keep up, I will slice them in half and dehydrate them. Then I pop them in the freezer for sun dried tomato goodness all winter long. I'm going through tomato seeds today, so if I find an abundance of cherry tomato seeds I can share, I will gladly list them!
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Post by meandtk on Jan 15, 2018 12:50:14 GMT -5
They are worth growing. I don't know anything about them. The only ones I ever grew volunteered from grocery store tomatoes that were thrown in with the compost into the garden. My daughter eats them like grapes, so I must have something near that size. I'm thinking I'll just let her graze on some pastes this year
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Post by tomike on Jan 15, 2018 14:28:08 GMT -5
Seedy and worth growing for snacking and salads
Many varieties to choose from including Sun Gold and Sweet Apéritif....... Also, Black Cherry, Chocolate Cherry, Gardener's Delight and others.....
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jan 15, 2018 14:35:09 GMT -5
I've never had a paste tomato that tasted nearly as good raw as a nice cherry or grape tomato. I like my cherry tomatoes to be on the grape size so I can pop 'em in my mouth whole, often straight off the plant. And although I like a balanced flavor in slicing tomatoes, I like my grape tomatoes sweet. My favorite is SunSugar. Very sweet and fruity, it's candy on the vine. When I grow it, is it usually the last tomato plant standing when summer kills off the others. It's a big plus in my rainy summers that it is very crack resistant, and yet the skin is tender! Some years it even survives all summer. I've counted, and I often get 500-600 and as many as 800 tomatoes per plant off SunSugar. So unless you really eat a lot of cherry tomatoes, one plant is enough. A new favorite is Blush. It's an elongated cherry that is delicious, with a complex fruitiness. For that flavor, I'll forgive it for not being a one-bite tomato. The only thing keeping it from perfection was that the skin was a teensy bit chewy. It also isn't as productive as SunSugar and the plant doesn't have the sheer survivability. I've heard very good things about Iva's Red Berry, but the plant I grew last year wasn't true to type. I have new seeds from Iva this year, so hopefully I get to see what the fuss is about. I'm going to be the oddball here and say I didn't care for Black Cherry. It had some of the flavor notes of larger dark tomatoes, but overall the flavor was just mediocre. They looked like the real deal, and were really productive. I've tried a bunch of red, sweet grape tomatoes that I have liked, but none have stood out. In years where I have the bad luck to lose my cherry tomato plants when it's too late to restart from seed, I'll go down to the big box store and get a Sweet Million seedling (or whatever sweet red grape they have) to tide me over. Mostly I use grape tomatoes for snacking and salads, but I have dehydrated them, too, and they are extremely tasty that way as well. Dehydrated, sweet grape tomatoes get even sweeter, becoming as sweet as raisins, but of course they taste like tomatoes rather than grapes. They make great winter snacks.
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Post by brownrexx on Jan 15, 2018 15:39:19 GMT -5
There are people who look forward to this every year! I can see why. Those are beautiful! I was going to skip the Sun Sugar this year and just grow the Black Cherry but Laura_in_FL, has me convinced that I should grow Sun Sugar again. They really are quite good and I have plenty of room.
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Post by paquebot on Jan 15, 2018 17:28:53 GMT -5
The more seeds, the sweeter they may be. Most of the sugar is in the gel around the seeds. Squeeze the seeds from any sweet variety and eat it. Then you'll know. I've grown probably 70-80 varieties including the "Sun" ones which are the rage. Some growers have concluded that taste depends upon environment and I agree. The test is when one variety is grown under different conditions. If in containers and short on water and nutrients, they will be OK. In normal conditions, same will be super. After all of those which I've grown, Tomadose des Comores is the best that I've ever tasted. And yet, you will find reports of that being the worse. In an opposite finding, I think that Brown Cherry is the absolute worse but others think that it's the best. Location, location, location!
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by brownrexx on Jan 15, 2018 18:00:12 GMT -5
Location, location, location! I totally agree. I don't try all of the varieties that people here do but I always grow Brandywine and it's terrific. It was developed in my area so I am not surprised when people across the country do not think that it's as good as I think that it is. I really think that the type of soil and the conditions make a huge difference.
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Post by tomike on Jan 15, 2018 18:17:36 GMT -5
Location, location, location! I totally agree. I don't try all of the varieties that people here do but I always grow Brandywine and it's terrific. It was developed in my area so I am not surprised when people across the country do not think that it's as good as I think that it is. I really think that the type of soil and the conditions make a huge difference. Oh yes.....the Brandywine Cherry......
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aqua
Pro Member
Posts: 295
Zone:: 8b9a
Favorite Vegetable:: all of them
Joined: March 2012
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Post by aqua on Jan 15, 2018 18:23:01 GMT -5
Once again, I'm not seeing any names I'm familiar with. Oh! Chocolate cherry, yes. I keep seeing Sun Sugar mentioned- guess I need to find some seeds and try it. I've grown Riesentraube, only because it was a free packet. It did ok. Sometimes I grow Yellow Pear because it will often keep bearing even into November. Jasper tomato- aunt google says it's an F1-hybrid, but I've been saving seeds for eight years and I keep getting the same tomato. Just today, my first black cherries broke thru the soil, and I see Brad's Atomic about to break through, too. They were planted 96 hours ago.
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Post by paquebot on Jan 15, 2018 22:19:14 GMT -5
Brandywine Cherry is more a two-bite salad than a one-bite cherry. Can't say that I detected the Brandywine taste despite it supposedly a direct mutant.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jan 15, 2018 22:37:04 GMT -5
SunSugar is a hybrid, and from what I hear throws widely varying results in the F2; I've never tried to save seeds from it. I'm unfortunately out of SunSugar seeds right now or I'd share some seeds with you.
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Post by paquebot on Jan 15, 2018 23:01:13 GMT -5
The "Suns" apparently have a very complicated genetic background. Seems that everyone and his brother had to try stabilizing Sun Gold and results were as varied as the growers. I even tried it! Got red or yellow round fruit, pointed fruit, and square fruit. Some have claimed to have an OP one but everyone wants Sun Sugar now.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jan 15, 2018 23:50:00 GMT -5
aqua I'll check and see how many sunsugar seeds I have. Seems I ordered a new pack this season because I was running short, and since I am sending you those other seeds, I can add another pack.
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aqua
Pro Member
Posts: 295
Zone:: 8b9a
Favorite Vegetable:: all of them
Joined: March 2012
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Post by aqua on Jan 16, 2018 8:32:28 GMT -5
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