Have six plants going, and am getting a steady supply of fruit, so figured I'd write my thoughts down.
1st, they are super robust plants. I had strong germination, and the seedlings had very thick stems that transplanted well. The plants are growing quickly (I'm in Montana, so obviously kind of a short season), and seem to be thriving in the heat we've had lately, showing no signs of stress, even when I'm not around to water them for the better part of a week (traveling for work lately). They are flowering like crazy right now, and if 10% of the flowers produce fruit, I'm going to be swimming in it.
2nd, the fruit is kind of a mixed bag. The color is obviously amazing, and beautiful in a salad. Any health benefits from the anthocyanins is a bonus. The color also makes it unfortunately difficult to tell when it's ripe, and I think some of the complaints of bitter fruit are probably coming from that. That said, even when properly ripe, they're nothing to write home about. A good cherry tomato (in my mind) has a balance of sweetness and acidity. These have very little of that bright pop of acidity that you associate with cherry tomatoes. They're sweet, but not especially so, leaving you just with the impression of kind of bland tomato.They're also fairly fleshy for a cherry tomato, so don't really gush when you bite into them. Will probably try cooking with them once I get the glut of them. I feel like they'll make decent sauce.
Will I grow them again? Probably at least a plant, mostly for that beautiful pop of color in a salad, but no way will they supplant my beloved supersweet 100s and sungolds for cherry tomatoes. Might play around with cross breeding just to see what happens…
by WestBrink
1 Comment
Nice assessment! Here are my thoughts
– I’m fairly new to tomatoes, but I’ve done my homework.
On just my one plant I’ve had 100% fruit setting. I’m incredibly impressed with how many are produced per cluster.
As far as harvesting, they’re ready to pick when they’re solid purple all the way to the top. A little bit of light speckling is ok.
I agree on the flavor – though I’ve never had a bitter one. They don’t have that tangy flavor of a cherry nor do they have the same texture. They feel like mini Rutger tomatoes rather than cherries.
I’m very curious to see if they get blight or not. So far the plant is growing well without any blemishes on the leaves. (Which I’ve pruned to stay clear from the ground). The foliage is a nice forest green.
I’m in 6b.