Tomato – Cherokee Purple

$4.50

An old Cherokee Indian heirloom, pre-1890 variety that is widely grown for its real old-time tomato flavour. A beautiful deep dusky purple-pink with green shoulders and red flesh and a superb sweet flavour. The most popular of the black tomatoes for its outstanding flavour and texture. Very large beefsteak fruits weigh in at 340-450 g (12-16 oz). Indeterminate.

The prices is for seed packets. 0.2g +/-50 seeds per packet. Come visit the store for seedlings.

Shipping Options Available
Local Pickup yes
Specialty Items yes
Canada Post yes

This item is a SEED
SKU: 2b0ea5426e90 Categories: , ,

Description

Botanical name
Lycopersicum esculentum

Family
Solanaceae

Spacing
1 plant per square foot. Climbing.

Depth
Plant seeds 1 cm (1/2″) deep, indoors.

Requirements
Full sun, hot weather plant. pH around 6-6.5

Germination
Seeds will sprout in 7-14 days.

Pests
Tomatoes are susceptible to some fungal diseases, but problems with this plant are mostly caused by cultural practices that stress the plants. Make sure you keep the garden clean and tidy, water consistently and avoid directly spraying water onto the leaves. When plants get off to a good start, few pests will bother them. Protect young plants with floating row covers that are removed when flowering starts.

Timing
Start tomatoes indoors in early April indoors under bright lights. Transplant into the garden at the mid to late May. Night-time temperatures need to be reliably above 10°C (50°F) to avoid shocking the seedlings. Before planting, pluck off the lower two thirds of branches and leaves to increase root growth. You won’t believe the difference in growth rate and especially in the yield.

Growing
Best to have them climb a trellis to save space and keep pests away. Indeterminate tomatoes keep shooting off suckers, or side shoots, from the crotch between the stem and a branch. Pinch out the suckers to have the tomato plant focus its energy on producing fruit.

Harvest
85 days, 72 days from transplant

Season
Warm, annual

Links
‘Pinching Out’ your growing tomato plants (Suckers)
Harvesting heirloom tomatoes