2009 cherries: best to worst

[habitat_gardener]

My biggest surprises and biggest disappointments so far have been the cherry tomatoes. Listed from best to worst:

Fox Cherry -- red, excellent flavor, tomatoey with a sweet finish, large size, prolific. I could eat these all day long. This is the first year I've grown this one, and it reminds me of Tommy Toe, but maybe is a little larger size and a bit less juicy. I'll have to grow them side by side next year.

Sun Sugar F1 -- reliable, yellow-orange, prolific, good flavor. I planted it March 9 from a seedling and had my first one in late May, but it didn't produce more than a handful until July.

Black Cherry -- large size, have harvested less than a dozen so far, but they seem bland. I've grown them before and loved them. The plant is lush and vigorous, and it's next to some regularly watered strawberries, so it may be getting too much water.

I'd read rave reviews of the last two, so I was expecting wonderfulness.

Brown Berry -- a big disappointment. Almost a spitter -- rather sour with a touch of bitterness. I wonder if the seed I got was true. The shape is a little squat, rather than round.

Green Doctors -- another disappointment. Maybe I've been picking them too soon? The first ones I tried had some bitterness, the kind of bitterness that makes me gag for a while afterwards. Even the ones that are a little soft and have some yellow blush don't have a good flavor -- sourish. The plant itself is still small and not doing well; if it were diseased, would that affect the fruit quality?

[Tomatovator]

This year our best is Black Cherry. They are growing large, 1 1/4" in diameter and they have a much better flavor than last year. Must be the weather as they are from the same seed pack.

Not real crazy about Sungold. Very small fruits, about 1/2 - 3/4" in diameter with thick skins. Taste OK but don't taste sweet to us. There are a lot of them though.

Still waiting for my first Gardener's Delight. It got a late start. We should have some in less than a week.

I also planted a "Grape" tomato last minute in early June. Its loading up but none ripe yet. I bought it as a plant at a local nursery and it was only labeled "Grape".

[Fert1]

I agree about the thick skins on SunGolds. I usually eat the tomato and spit out the skin. Mine are very sweet though. I tend to pull them a little early so they don't get too sweet. Are you letting them get fully ripe? It's one of the sweetest tomatoes I've ever tasted. They get very orangey when fully ripe and less opaque.

[sprout]

My sungold has been incredibly prolific this year. Tough skins yes but they're so tasty i can overlook that.

Black cherry has a wonderful complex flavor

Purple Haze so far is really nice. Not sure if it qualifies as a "cherry" per se but the fruits on mine are about 1 1/2". Nice balanced flavor

Reisentraube came back as a volunteer and to me it's just okay.

I'm most disappointed with Nicholayev Yellow cherry. The plant grew as a dwarf, never got more than 18" tall and the fruit was just nasty. Very vegetal in flavor, little sweetness and horrible texture.

[ContainerTed]

Black Cherry - Like everybody else, great flavor and my only complaint is that the neighbors ask for more than my one plant can keep up with.

Galinas - Beautiful color and wonderful fruity taste.

Large Red Cherry - Each one is like two bites of a great beefsteak. Taste and production are superb.

Dr. Carolyn - The color alone makes it a salad must. Raw taste is a little too smooth for me, but I do like it in salads.

Dr. Carolyn Pink - Larger, and more like tomatoes I like - more acidic taste. Lovely color.

Baby Beefsteak - They look just like the name, but the taste is nothing to crow about. It's not bad, just not a great taste.

Tiny Tim, Red Robin, Tumbling Tom Red, Tumbling Tom Yellow, and Pinnochio all have great taste, but production is low compared to full sized plants.

The best cherry this year so far has been Mini Gold - seeds from Andrey. Just let this one take on that GOLD color on the counter and I think it may be better than Sun Gold. Smooth and sweet and twice as large as the hybrid, it is determinate and my one plant pushed out 250 half oz toms and took a short rest. Now it has put on another 12 inches of foliage and has set more fruit. All of this on a 3 foot tall plant in a 5 gallon bucket. This one is a must grow.

Ted

[clara]

Champagne Cherry: The best of the best for me! So sweet - I've never had a cherry like this. Thank you once more, Terry! It will be a re-grow every year. Whippersnapper: A standard in my garden - no season without it. Extremely prolific (big hanging basket), sweet, too, but not as sweet as Champagne Cherry. For my little granddaughtor it's the best! Tumbling Tom Yellow: Good production, good taste. Hundred's and Thousand's: It deserves its name! But the fruits are quite small. Brandywine Cherry: I like it! Wonderful taste!
Pendulina Orange: Wonderful color, therefore a must in a salad, but the taste is a little bit too acid for me.
Hawaiian Cherry Orange is just starting to get some color. All I can say at the moment, is that it seems to be a good producer.
Cerasiforme: A little mini-beefsteak, really mini. The taste could be better, nothing special. Nothing I will re-grow.
clara

[Barbee]

I grew 2 cherries this year. I liked them both.
Black Cherry--probably my favorite. Enough said about them by everyone else. Will add that they are beautiful to look at, too.
Snow White Cherry--a lot of flavor for this pale yellow when ripe tomato. Sweet and acidy all mixed together. Not as pretty to look at as the black cherry.

[barkeater]

I've got nothing yet but I will second and third the "spitter" opinion of Sungold: inedible skins like cellophane that ruin any good flavor the inside has.

And there is nothing better than Black Cherry, if they taste bland it's because of bad weather. If the weather changes for the better so will BC.

[sprtsguy76]

Well since you got your Green Doctors plant from me and we both grow them in the Bay Area here is my take on them. My GD is one of the tallest and healthiest plants in the garden about 7 feet tall. They take awhile before they are completely ripe. I let them get almost 75% amber color before picking and eating. I do like the flavor especially over green grape. I would suggest cutting back on watering once the plant is well established, it might help with the flavor. Good luck!

Damon

[montanamato]

Another Sungold non fan...Tried it twice, weird flavor...
Another terrible cherry with tougher skin and worse taste is Mini red cherry...The only time you steered me wrong MDVPC ! I realize location and conditions play into it, but this cherry was bad enough to never try again...
Tommy Toes Yellow was close to a spitter too..
Great cherries over the years Pelican, Peruvian Bush, Camp Joy, and Fence Row...
No cherries yet from my remaining containers, but Marizol Magic was a very good bicolor last year and looks to be the winner for earliness this year...
I lost Black Cherry and Lee Williams cherry plants in the garden and I am embarassed to say this is the first year I had grown a seedling of Black cherry, after years of hoarding the seed...

Jeanne

[Sherry_AK]

Love Sungold and Black Cherry. Besser is very good too, but in my garden it was stingy with the fruit.

[dokutaaguriin]

Does anyone have a picture of Champagne Cherry fruit truss?
This one sounds interesting to me. Thanks.
Jeff

[rsg2001]

My Sungolds are very tasty this year - better than last so far.
Yellow Currants are very disappointing; very tough skinned and not much flavor. And both the plants have had early blight... one planted in a pot, the other in the ground, not near each other, so I'm wondering if the seeds were infected with it.

I have other cherries growing, but they haven't yielded ripe tomatoes yet: Sprite (a red grape type), Reisentraube, and Black Cherry. BC is one of my favorites, however, I have sometimes found the first ones off the vine aren't as good as the ones that come later.

[Moonglow]

chocolate cherry! they are huge, sweet but has complex taste.

[Tomatovator]

I had my first 2 Gardeners Delight cherries today and they were very good. Just tastes like a tomato. Very good.