More plants setting fruit and some blushing in the hot July weather

July 2014 was unusually hot, with most days in the 80s, and even a week in the high-80s and low-90s. Overnight lows were in the mid- to high-50s. When temperatures started heating up, I removed the black plastic over the tomato beds, and as the days got hotter, the plants really took off.

On July 10th I planted the last of the seedlings, putting two each of the Big Isis Candy and Mini Cherokee Purple in the second tomato bed. The plants were about 12-15" tall, so I buried the roots and most of the stem in a shallow trench angled up, so only about 6" was above ground. I also planted one seedling each of Spudakee and Black and Red Boar, but they were only about 6" tall, so only their rootballs were buried leaving 5-6" above ground. I added a sprinkling of Mycorrhizal Fungi to the roots of each plant then fertilized with Tomato-tone and watered deeply.

By July 7th all 15 plants planted in early June had set fruit, over 121 total not counting the 100+ fruit on the Sungold. By July 16th, they had set 221 fruit, again not counting the fruit on Sungold. Sun Sugar had set the second highest number with 52 fruit, still way behind Sungold. While the earliest fruit on Sungold started blushing by June 25th, the earliest fruit on Sun Sugar did not start blushing until July 16th. The flavor was very sweet, similar to Sungold's. Both plants were planted from 1 gallon containers, but the Sungold gets several more hours of sun compared to the Sun Sugar. Even tomatoes believe in location, location, location!

Fruit on Sun Sugar blushing on July 16th

Matt's Wild Cherry and Chadwick had the next highest fruit set by July 16th, with 30 and 29 fruit respectively. Matt's Wild Cherry were already red-orange by July 16th while the earliest fruit on Chadwick did not start blushing until July 28th. The tiny 0.1 oz. (1/2" in diameter) Matt's fruit were delicious, with a very strong tomatoey flavor, while the 0.7-0.8 oz. Chadwick fruit had a much milder, somewhat acidic flavor. I will definitely save seed and grow the Matt's Wild Cherry in the future. However, unless the Chadwick's flavor improves later in the season, it will not be making my short list for next year.

Fruit ripening on Matt's Wild Cherry by July 16th

Fruit on Chadwick started blushing on July 28th

The next most prolific plant, with 23 fruit set by July 16th, was supposed to be Japanese Trifele Black. However, the fruit forming did not have the characteristic pear shape of JTB, so I suspected it was something else. In any case, it is definitely an extra early variety since it started blushing on July 16th.

Fruit on the Not JTB started blushing on July 16th

By July 28th more fruit had also begun blushing and ripening on the Not JTB

Most of the Not JTB fruit have a starburst pattern on the blossom end, so it might be Glacier. Many images of Glacier show a similar starburst pattern. I've never grown Glacier before, but I grew Kimberley in 2012, and the fruit on Kimberley are not quite as round and usually have a pointy edge. Of course, that was in 2012 when we had a much colder summer, so the pointy end may have been a product of the cold weather. In any case the Not JTB flavor was very similar to the mild flavor of the Chadwick and the Kimberley I grew in 2012.

Of the other cherry varieties, Black Cherry and Isis Candy had only set 12 and 10 fruit, respectively, by July 16th. The earliest fruit on Black Cherry started blushing by July 25th, but the Isis Candy still had no fruit blushing by the end of the month. 

Of the larger varieties the Jet Star had set the most fruit, 17 fruit by July 25th. The largest fruit were about 4-4.5" in diameter, and the earliest fruit started blushing by late July. 

The earliest 4" fruit started blushing on Jet Star on July 28th

By July 16th the three Cherokee Purple plants had set 7, 9, and 11 fruit, respectively, while the two Paul Robeson plants had set 10 and 3 fruit, respectively, by July 16th. 

The largest fruit on Cherokee Purple were about 2.5-3" in diameter by July 16th

Tomato plants loving the heat and setting fruit

This has been an unusually warm and dry summer, with high temperatures in June mostly in the low to mid-70s and even high-70s by the last week, with overnight lows in the mid-50s.

By the end of June, many of the tomato plants had already set fruit. By June 25th Sungold had set the most, with 20 fruit that were 1 cm or larger. Its first fruit even began blushing by June 25th, about 2 1/2 weeks earlier than in 2013 even though the Sungold planted was slightly smaller and was only planted 10 days earlier than the year before. The other cherry tomatoes (Chadwick, Sun Sugar, Black Cherry, and Matt's Wild Cherry) had also set fruit by June 25th.

By June 21st the Sungold plant had several trusses of fruit

By June 25th fruit were blushing on the Sungold

By June 21st Sun Sugar also had several trusses of fruit

By June 21st Chadwick also had set several fruit on a truss

Of the larger varieties, only Jet Star, Japanese Trifele Black, and Green Zebra had set fruit by June 25th, but the other larger varieties (Cherokee Purple, Paul Robeson, and Moscovich) had a few trusses with open flowers.

Green Zebra with several fruit on June 21st

Japanese Trifele Black with several fruit on June 21st 

Japanese Trifele Black with several fruit on June 25th 

Jet Star with several large fruit on June 21st

The largest fruit on Jet Star was about 2.5" in diameter on June 25th

2014 Grow List of Early Tomatoes

This year I started my seedlings in Ziploc bags on April 8th, then I transplanted them into 2" starter cells, but I had a few problems this year. The Blush, Big Isis Candy F2, and Mini Cherokee Purple F2 all dried out, so I restarted them in Ziploc bags on May 3rd. Next, the EB Stone Seed Starter Mix I used stayed too wet, and most of the other seedlings rotted. I was able to recover the following:

• 3 Mini Cherokee Purple
• 3 Big Isis Candy
• a Black and Red Boar
• a Spudakee

These were repotted in Miracle Gro Seed Starting Mix. They're now about 2-4" tall. 

Since the weather was warming up, with typical highs in the mid-60s to mid-70s, I decided to cheat and buy starters from the farmers market and Sky Nursery. These are the tomato plants I picked:

Cherry Tomatoes

• Sungold (1 gal.) - Farmers Market
• Sun Sugar (1 gal.) - MJD Dist. Garden Center
• Matt's Wild Cherry (4" pot) - Farmers Market
• Isis Candy (4" pot) - Sky Nursery
• Black Cherry (4" pot) - Sky Nursery
• Chadwick (4" pot) - Farmers Market

Black Tomatoes

• Cherokee Purple (3 plants from 4" pots) - Farmers Market
• Paul Robeson (2 plants from 4" pots) - Sky Nursery
• Japanese Trifele Black (4" pot) - Farmers Market

Other

• Jet Star F1 (1 gal.) - Sky Nursery
• Green Zebra (4" pot) - Farmers Market
• Moskvich (4" pot) - Farmers Market

I usually put black plastic on the ground 5-6 weeks before I plant out the tomatoes, but I was really disorganized this year and just put the black plastic over the beds when I planted the starts. I also have PVC hoops over my tomato beds and usually put clear plastic over them to keep them warmer, but since our highs have been in the mid-60s to mid-70s, with lows in the low-50s, I've kept them uncovered and just put 2L bottles full of water beside each plant to keep them warmer at night. The plants were about 8-12" tall when I planted them on June 2nd and June 4th using Mycorrhizal Fungi and EB Stone Tomato and Vegetable Food, and many had flowers on them while the Sungold and Jet Star already had fruit.

Tomatoes finally blushing

The black and other non-cherry tomatoes finally started blushing at the end of August. The tomatoes took between 70-72 days to break color, about 40 days after setting fruit. The DTM this year was about 10 days shorter than the last two years, probably due to the unusually hot summer temperatures, with highs in the mid-70s to mid-80s and lows in the high-50s to low-60s.

Black Krim blushing on August 25th 

 More Black Krim blushing and ripening on August 28th 

 Black Prince blushing on August 25th

More Black Prince blushing and ripening on August 28th 

 Black and Red Boar blushing and ripening on August 28th

Green Zebra blushing on August 25th 

Paul Robeson blushing on August 28th 

Tasmanian Chocolate blushing on August 28th 

Vorlon blushing on August 28th

The Cherokee Purple was grown from seed saved from a CP plant grown in 2012, which was in turn grown from seed saved from a CP plant grown in 2011. This year's plant is producing unusually small fruit, only about 1.5 oz. versus the more typical 4-6 oz. CP fruit. However, it's very prolific compared to CP and other larger black tomatoes. I've already harvested 10 fruit, and the plant still has about 50 more fruit between 1-2" in diameter.  

Cherokee Purple blushing on August 25th

More Cherokee Purple blushing and ripening on August 28th

Last year I grew Isis Candy from seed but ended up getting 1" red cherry tomatoes that were almost as sweet as Sungold. I saved seed and planted two plants this year, Not Isis Candy I and II. The Not Isis Candy I plant is producing Jaune Flamme-size fruit with the look and sweetness of Isis Candy. 

Not Isis Candy I blushing on August 28th

Surprise Surprise

In the three years I've been growing tomatoes from seed, I always seem to get at least one or two surprises each year.

Last year I grew what I thought was Isis Candy from seed, but instead of fruit with red-orange-gold marbling, I got perfectly round 1" red cherry tomatoes. Since the fruit turned out to be very sweet, almost as sweet as Sungold, especially near the end of the season, I saved the seed to grow out this year. I grew two plants from seed saved from the surprise plant (that I now call "NOT Isis Candy"), but only one of the plants seems to be producing the same type of fruit as last year. The fruit are 1-1.5" in diameter and have the same green shoulders and marbling before breaking color. The second plant seems to be producing fruit with lighter coloring.

 The fruit on one "NOT Isis Candy" plant are similar to last year's fruit

The second "NOT Isis Candy" plant is producing much lighter fruit

Cherokee Purple has always been my favorite large tomato, so I've grown Cherokee Purple from saved seed the past two years. This year's plant is much more prolific than the last two years, but the fruit is much smaller in size, similar to Black and Red Boar. By late July, this "Cherokee Purple" plant had 31 fruit set larger than 1 cm in diameter, but the largest fruit was only about 1.5" in diameter, compared to the larger fruit that were 2.5"-3.5"on Spudakee, Vorlon, and Paul Robeson. 

By July 29th Cherokee Purple with 31 fruit set, the largest being 1.5" in diameter

Hundreds of Fruit by Late July

By late July most of the plants had several fruit set. The smaller varieties like Green Zebra and Black and Red Boar plant had 13 fruit larger than 1 cm in diameter. A second Black and Red Boar plant had 10 fruit larger than 1 cm in diameter. Only some of the fruit on the Black and Red Boar had a heart shape, compared to most of the fruit last year having a heart shape, possibly due to fruit set in colder weather.

The largest fruit is about 2" in diameter on Green Zebra by July 29th

 The largest fruit is about 1.5" in diameter on Black and Red Boar by July 29th

The larger black tomatoes like Paul Robeson, Spudakee, and Vorlon had each set a few fruit by late July. The first Paul Robeson had 7 fruit while the second had 9 fruit larger than 1 cm in diameter. Black Prince also had 7 fruit set by the end of July.

The largest fruit on the first Paul Robeson was a fused tomato with 2" and 3" halves 

The largest fruit on the second Paul Robeson plant was 3.5" in diameter by July 29th

The largest fruit on Spudakee was 2.5" in diameter by July 29th

The largest fruit on Vorlon was 2.5" in diameter by July 29th

The first Black Krim plant had 8 fruit set while the second only had 4 fruit since it was planted two weeks later to replace a plant that was uprooted. An Indian Stripe was also planted on June 28th to replace another plant that was uprooted. The Indian Stripe also only had 4 fruit larger than 1 cm in diameter by the end of July.

The largest fruit on Black Prince was 2" in diameter by July 29th

 The largest fruit on the first Black Krim plant was 2.2" in diameter by July 29th

The largest fruit on Indian Stripe was 1.5" in diameter by July 29th

Two of the plants grown, Rosella Purple and Tasmanian Chocolate, are part of the Dwarf Tomato Project. The quality of the Rosella Purple fruit has been reported to be comparable to Cherokee Purple, and the flavor of the Tasmanian Chocolate tomatoes should be balanced and very good. However, the yields seem to be much lower than Spudakee and Vorlon, with Rosella Purple only having 3 fruit set and Tasmanian Chocolate only having 5 fruit set larger than 1 cm by late July. Tasmanian Chocolate fruit also has quite a bit of catfacing. 

The largest fruit on Rosella Purple was a fused tomato about 1.5" wide by 2.5" long

The largest fruit on Tasmanian Chocolate was 2.5" in diameter by July 29th

The only large non-black tomato I grew was Orange Strawberry, which was expected to produce orange heart-shaped fruit. However, my fruit have an oblate shape. The plant is also later and not very productive, taking 39 days to set fruit, the longest of any plant I'm growing this year, with only two fruit set larger than 1 cm by late July.

The largest fruit on Orange Strawberry was 1.5" in diameter by July 29th

Tomatoes Loving the Hot Weather and Setting Fruit

Seattle has been having an unusually warm summer, with average highs in the mid-70s to mid-80s in June and July. My tomato plants have been loving this weather and have set fruit earlier than they have in the three years I've been growing tomatoes.

The tomato beds on July 14th 

Two Sungold and one Green Zebra plant are 3-4' tall by July 14th

A third Sungold plant is also about 3.5' tall 

The first two Sungolds, planted from 1 gallon containers, were about 2' tall when transplanted on June 9th. Both already had two 1-cm fruit set and several open flowers at the time they were transplanted. New fruit set took less than 20 days from transplant since the flowers had already formed and about 40-45 days from transplant to color break. Newer fruit are also taking about 25 days from fruit set to blush. This is much faster than the 30-35 days from fruit set to blush (or about 70 days from transplant to color break) in 2012, when the average daytime temperatures were about 5-10 degrees cooler.  

The first fruit breaking on the first Sungold plant on July 14th

 The same truss on the first Sungold plant on July 16th

The first fruit also breaking on the second Sungold plant on July 14th

The same truss on the second Sungold plant on July 16th

A Green Zebra was planted on June 9th from a 4" pot and also took less than 20 days to set fruit. By July 16th, it had four fruit, the largest being about 1.5" in diameter.

The largest fruit on a Green Zebra plant is about 1.5" in diameter on July 16th

The larger black tomatoes also started setting fruit by July 16th. These included Cherokee Purple, Paul Robeson, Black Prince, Black Krim, Vorlon, and Rosella Purple, one of the plants from the Dwarf Tomato Project.

Cherokee Purple had set fruit by July 14th

Black Prince plant on July 14th

Black Prince also started setting fruit by July 16th

 A Paul Robeson plant with a megabloom by July 14th

A closer view of the Paul Robeson megabloom 

 Black Krim on July 16th

Another megabloom on a Rosella Purple on July 14th

Flowers but no fruit on Vorlon by July 14th

Fruit set on Vorlon by July 16th

The other black tomatoes (Spudakee and Black and Red Boar) had several open flowers but no fruit set by July 14th. 

Flowers but no fruit on Spudakee by July 14th

Last year I grew Isis Candy from seed, but the fruit formed were not the expected reddish-orange fruit with characteristic starburst. Instead, I got perfectly round 1" red fruit that got sweeter, almost as sweet as Sungold, by the end of the season. I saved seed from a few of the fruit, and I grew a few plants. I'm calling them "NOT Isis Candy F2", and I planted two plants and gave away a few plants to friends to grow out. 

 Flowers but no fruit on a NOT Isis Candy F2 plant