Cherokee Purple... Amazing tomato

[b54red]

Originally Posted by luke

This plant was set out about two months after the rest of my plants. The heat and the lack of sun got to it. I'll fix that next year.

But to be honest, the one tomato was well worth it. I've only been growing heirlooms for two years, and have experimented with about 25 varieties. Next year I have a lot of seeds that won't see the light of day to make room for CP.

Luke you need to keep experimenting with the various black tomatoes because most of them seem to like our climate. You definitely need to try Indian Stripe, Spudakee, JD's Special C Tex, Gary O' Sena, Big Cheef, Dana's Dusky Rose, Black Krim along with Cherokee Purple. They are all similar in flavor and get better with the heat; but some years one will do much better than the others. I usually plant at least 50 different varieties but I keep narrowing it down and these varieties are taking more and more of my planting spots. The biggest drawback to them is sauce made from them will be a bit different in color than you are used to.

[luke]

Photo od CP attached. It is a photo from a cell phone, and the quality doesn't do it justice. The flesh was a much darker red than appears in the photo, with a hint of green in the outer pulp mixed with the dark purple outer layer of the skin.

Outstanding.

[JamesL]

Originally Posted by b54red

If I had to pick just one black tomato I would have to go with Indian Stripe because of the experiences I have had with it over several years. It has been the most consistent producer for 3 years. I think that they are all fairly close in flavor and one year one will sometimes be better than the others. This year Spudakee was the tastiest but last year it was the most productive. Last year it was Indian Stripe winning on taste. Cherokee Purple did the best last year in the fall followed closely by Dana's Dusky Rose. I think a lot of the differences are from the spots that the plants are set out in. Usually Spudakee will outproduce Cherokee Purple but this year it didn't. I have had more inconsistency of production with JD's Special C Tex, Gary O' Sena and Cherokee Purple than with Spudakee and Indian Stripe. I try to plant all of them along with Black Krim so that I have a variety of blacks growing every season. It seems that every year one will standout in either flavor or production; but I never know which one it will be.

Thanks for the assessment!

[tam91]

I just got a whole bunch of Indian Stripe PL. It's winning for early and productive so far this year. Cherokee purple did edge it out in taste though.