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

2013 Grow List of Early Tomatoes

For the 2013 growing season I grew several varieties from seed and a few from starts.

These tomato plants came from starts purchased at the Seattle Central Community College Plant Sciences Lab and from the Master Gardener Plant Sale, and the plants were transplanted on June 9th into planting holes with Hendrikus Organics Start Right.

Cherry

• Sungold F1 (two from SCCC-PSL and one from MGPS) 
• Green Zebra (from SCCC-PSL) 

These tomatoes were grown from seed, started in Ziploc bags on April 16th, transplanted into starter cells on May 4th, then transferred to 2" cells on May 26th. They were hardened off for a week on the back porch then moved to the back patio and finally transplanted on June 14th into planting beds. The beds were prepared by adding 2-3 inches of compost to a garden mix then covered with black plastic in early May. Start Right was added to each planting hole, and each plant was fertilized with Dr. Earth. Finally, the plants were covered with white plastic in PVC hoops for two weeks until the plastic was finally removed in late June when the daytime temperatures were consistently in the 70s and 80s.

Cherry

• "Isis Ruby" F2 (from seed saved from OP 2012 plants that were grown from Isis Candy seed from WinterSown.org that resulted in cherry red 1" tomatoes) 

Black Tomatoes:

• Cherokee Purple F3 (using saved seed from OP 2012 plant) 
• Cherokee Purple Spudakee F2 (using saved seed from OP 2012 plant) 
• Paul Robeson (from Sustainable Seed Company) 
• Indian Stripe (from Gleckler Seedmen) 
• Vorlon (from Gleckler Seedmen) 
• Black Prince (from Sustainable Seed Company) 
• Black Krim (from Sustainable Seed Company) 
• Rosella Purple (part of the Dwarf Tomato project, from Victory Seeds) 
• Tasmanian Chocolate (part of the Dwarf Tomato project, from Victory Seeds) 

Red & Green Tomatoes

• Black and Red Boar F2 (using saved seed from OP 2012 plant) 

Yellow/Orange Tomatoes

• Orange Strawberry (from Victory Seeds)