Cherokees

[jwr6404]

Here in the PNW I just picked my first Cherokee Purple last week and today I have many ready to eat. When I planted this tomato I also planted a Cherokee Chocolate. I have been harvesting Cherokee Chocolate since late July. Is this normal? I must say there is no comparison as to the taste. The Cherokee Purple IMO is, by far, the best of the two. Maybe it has something to do with longer growing cycle. They were both planted in 27 cu ft pots separated by 5 ft.

[carolyn137]

Jim, Cherokee Purple and Cherokee Chocolate are the same so I'm not sure why you're getting different tastes.

Cherokee Chocolate was a spontaneous mutation of the skin of Cherokee Purple that occurred in Craig's garden and it took that skin from clear on CP to yellow on CC, which meant that CC was a dark mahogany color as opposed to what one normally sees with CP.

So the plant habit, days to maturity and all else are the same, just a different skin color separates the two.

[pbud]

To round out your Cherokees I highly recommend Cherokee Green - it does better (much) than Cherokee Purple for me in my cool climate and is just a down-right awesome tomato.

[Grub]

I prefer Cherokee Chocolate for the same reason you state, ie, more productive than Cherokee Purple. Why I don't know.

[Andrey_BY]

I'm trying Cherokee Green this year for the first time and it is so late for me that I'm still have no ripe fruit after 130 days after transplant in glasshouse... Only several very firm green fruits...

[montanamato]

Oh Andrey...That saddens me, because I am trying both Cherokee Green and Grubs Mystery Green next year. Green Giant was about that many days for me and I started with a huge transplant....I was hoping to gain a few weeks by trying Cherokee Green and GMG...
I hope I don't have to be content with only Lime Green Salad!

Jeanne

[carolyn137]

Andrey, I'd have to say that that's really the exception that your Cherokee Greens are so late.

If you look in your 2006 SSE Yearbook you'll see that the range from lots of folks is from about 73 to 85 days from different folks growing in different locations under different circumstances and the average days to maturity from setting out is around 75 to 80.

And that's what it's been for me as well.

Almost ALL of my green when ripes come in around 75-80 days after setting out.

At least yours are in a glasshouse and will ripen eventually.

[Sorellina]

Ciao Jeanne,

Don't despair, cara, I know your climate is different from mine, but for what it's worth, Grub's Mystery Green was and still is one of the healthiest, most robust plants of the 48 tomato plants in the ground. Production has been very good, I've gotten 2 batches of sauce and salsa from it, didn't need to even augment with Green Zebra and the sizes have been close to a pound each. I think you'll like this one.

[montanamato]

Thanks Sorrelina....I knew it was a slim chance with Green Giant when the Aussies were getting it to ripen late, but you never know until you try....
Yes, GMG sounds like a super plant....

Jeanne