Recommended cherries?

[dice]

Dr. Carolyn Pink has good flavor, subtly sweet, but it had
low production for me. There is some genetic instability
in it where it throws plants with two different kinds of fruit,
one round and one boat-shaped, like a thumb-sized
Brandywine. Save seeds from plants with either fruit shape,
and you can still get plants with either kind of fruit in the next
generation.

The plant that I grew had the boat-shaped fruit, 3-4 per cluster.

[coronabarb]

The DCP I've grown were round and very prolific...just like a good cherry should be. Good flavor but I prefer Dr. Carolyn. I do like Snow White too. For some reason, the Black Cherry I grew just didn't thrill me. Odd, as black tomatoes are my absolute favorite. Maybe it just needed a different spot in the yard...

[carolyn137]

I haven't been following this thread b'c I didn't expect to find it in the Starting from Seed Forum.

So a few comments.

First about Dr. Carolyn and the pink version.

While I was the person who found the ivory one now known as Dr. Carolyn, it was Steve Draper who named it, not me. The history/background can be found here at Tville in several threads.

An SSE member sent me the pink version which he had named Dr. Carolyn Pink, and yes, it can give plants that have fruits the size of Dr. Carolyn and other plants that have a larger sized pink cherry. I tried to stabilize it but was not successful but apparently Fusion did and he says it's one of his favoite cherries. Some like the small sized one and some the larger one, when talking just about Dr. Carolyn Pink and both sizes are round.

I'm going to give the sequence in terms of starting from Galina's Yellow, where my saved seeds gave me plants with different colored cherries but not one of those plants was PL. From Dr. C came some red fruited plants and I never saved those seeds, then Dr C Pink, then from Dr. C came Green Doctors and then from that Green Doctors Frosted, and I don't know what might come next.

So you can see that from the get go I found Galina's Yellow to be genetically unstable as did Steve Draper and this was from seed that Bill McDorman sent out, he who brought back so many great varieties from Siberia and was the first US person to do so. And that instability has followed through with the appearance of those I mentioned above.

Currently Dr C and Green Doctors and the frosted version appear to be very stable, but we shall see what the future brings, which I find interesting.

As for my favoite cherries, they would include:

Galina's Yellow, gold
Gardener's Delight, red
Camp Joy, aka Chadwick's Cherry, red
Green Doctors and the clear epidermis GD Frosted, GWRipes
Kazachka, black
Black Cherry
Sungold F1, orange

..... for starters

And while I like Sara's Galapagos a lot and grow it often I don't consider it to be a cherry, actually it's probably a stable interspecies cross between a currant type and something else according to Dr. Chatelet at UC Davis whom I asked about it knowing the island it came from..

For reliable in all weather cherry sized great tasting varieties I like Smarty F1 , a grape tomato and Mountain Magic F1, a larger red cherry. Both of these I distributed seeds for in my seed offer here and both were bred by Dr. Randy Gardner of NCSU and both are now commercially available although they weren't when I distributed seed for them.

I know there are some other cherries I like that I can't remember now b'c it's 4 AM and the wind is screaming and the rain falling and when I now go back to bed I may dream about other cherry varieties that I like b/c I know I might be forgetting some good ones. And actually Mirabel a thumb sized pale yellow and Mini Orange do come to mind.

I didn't list either Dr. Carolyn or Dr. Carolyn Pink above in my list b/c it kinda would sound like self nepotism.

Just a note to those who always ask about such things, Joe Bratka bred Snow White, Super Snow White, Ghost, Rabbit and Isis Candy, so they aren't heirloom varieties.

[tam91]

If Fusion stabalized Dr. Carolyn Pink - did it end up the smaller cherry or the larger one?

And do you think most of the seed vendors (like those on the forum) are selling the stabalized version?

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by tam91

If Fusion stabalized Dr. Carolyn Pink - did it end up the smaller cherry or the larger one?

And do you think most of the seed vendors (like those on the forum) are selling the stabalized version?

Now that I think about it I don't even know why I said that Darrel had stabilized it b/c I haven't the foggiest idea of whather or nor he did.

What I was thinking of when I did that post was that I know he likes the variety a lot and says so in posts, but so do others.

In my opinion it doesn't make any difference at all if one gets fruits the same size as Dr. Carolyn fruits on one plant and fruits a bit larger on another plant. Same variety in just two forms.

The same is true of Kazachka which I listed a couple of years ago, seeds from Andrey. A plant can give black cherries and another plant can give black mini-beefsteaks. Same variety, two forms, and Andrey got the same results as I did b'c when he sent me the seeds he hadn't grown it out yet but did that summer and found the same that I did.

There will always be someone who says they like the smaller Dr. Carolyn Pink fruits better than they do the larger, and the reverse. As far as I'm concerned both forms taste about the same.

Now off to the LV to watch the mens tennis final from Monte Carlo.

[tam91]

Thanks - both for the cherry info, and the tip on tennis (I too am a fan, but not as dedicated as you are).

Myself, I might hope that I get the larger cherry - I love the bigger ones (like Black Cherry size). But I'm sure either will be tasty.

[coronabarb]

Oh Yippee!! I just went to Green Scene in Fullerton with my sons. Most of the tomatoes/peppers were gone, but I did find a Lucky Cross and a Green Drs. I haven't read anything about GD but took a chance, since Carolyn's name is associated with it. Now, I find it is from Dr. C and I love that tomato. Can't wait to taste it.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by coronabarb

Oh Yippee!! I just went to Green Scene in Fullerton with my sons. Most of the tomatoes/peppers were gone, but I did find a Lucky Cross and a Green Drs. I haven't read anything about GD but took a chance, since Carolyn's name is associated with it. Now, I find it is from Dr. C and I love that tomato. Can't wait to taste it.

Whoa Barb, let's back up a little bit.

Yes, Green Doctors is descended from the variety Dr. Carolyn, which I found and yes, the name refers to both me and Amy Goldman, both with Ph.D's, but that's the only association. It was found by Ms Goldman on a plant of Dr. Carolyn and she named it and the name also refers to a popular trout fly as well.

And I think it's a terrific. It's a cherry sized green when ripe that many folks now find to be better than Green Grape and I agree with that.

And then GD had a sudden change of mind and developed a clear epidermis, GD itself has yellow one so it does develop the typical amber blush seen with most GWripes, and Green Doctors Frosted, as it was named by two folks who were the first to find it plus myself, looks just like frosted grapes.

I think it's at Glecklerseedmen that you can see pictures of both.

So save those seeds from GD and you can get GDFrosted next late Dec into Jan from my free seed offer here.

[newatthiskat]

I love brandywine cherry, although it is a little bigger than traditional cherries. I grew it the year before last. I am growing it again this year. I have most of my favorite cherries returning this year. Galina's yellow cherry, Isis candy cherry, Brandywine cherry, sungold F1, and I think I have a super snow white that has survived the massacre. I keep trying to get a black cherry but something always happens and have not gotten on in my garden yet. Very frustrating
Kat

[coronabarb]

Carolyn,

When I said Green Drs was from Dr C, I meant the tomato Dr C (a cherry I really love)

What I was faced with was picking out a free tomato from a display of all green varieties...most of which I did not recognize. (I got a free tomato with the purchase of a t-shirt) Green Drs rang a bell so I bought it...and was happy to see that it is a tomato you like.

[habitat_gardener]

Originally Posted by rosabellis

...I'm just wondering- are there any cherries that taste more acidic than the others?

A few years ago I grew at least 5 or 6 cherries, and the one that was tart or acidic (I gave most of them away) was Black Pearl F1.

I've since read that Black Pearl F1 develops a different flavor after it's refrigerated, but I didn't know that then (and of course did not refrigerate my tomatoes)!

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by habitat_gardener

A few years ago I grew at least 5 or 6 cherries, and the one that was tart or acidic (I gave most of them away) was Black Pearl F1.

I've since read that Black Pearl F1 develops a different flavor after it's refrigerated, but I didn't know that then (and of course did not refrigerate my tomatoes)!

Black Pearl F1 was a Burpee introduction playing off of Black Cherry, and yes they said to refrigerate them and they'd taste like grapes.

Many did, and they didn't.

Burpee is off the radar on my screen.

[attml]

Pretty redundant but here is what I have in the ground this year in the way of cherries:

Black Cherry
Snow White
Matt's Wild Cherry
Gardner's delight
Sungold
Blondkopfchen
Camp Joy

[Suze]

Originally Posted by rosabellis

I've grown black cherry and sungold before, but since I want to try something new. What are some of the best cherry tomatoes?

Btw, Sungold and Black Cherry are my long-time favorites. Pretty hard to beat those two, IMO.

Here are some others I love, though.

Sweet Quartz F1 - it's not a 9-10 for flavor, maybe an 8.5, but extreme, dependable production.
Sweet Million F1 - high production, one of the very best tasting red cherries (if not the best) that I've grown.
Blush - first time growing it this year, but the flavor is outstanding - very intense and fruity. It's an elongated 2 incher, but since it is a one bite tomato, I'll go ahead and mention it as a recommended "cherry" type.

Edit/add - Bi-color Cherry is also excellent. (to avoid confusion since the variety name is so general, Victory seed carries this one)

I'm anxious to try Matts Wild Cherry which is sometimes called Mexican. I understand it will take over a bed it grows so fast and large. I guess I will wait till next year.

I don't know if it is considered a cherry, but I am growing Jaune Flamme this year. If it is as small as I think it is, it should be a cherry.

I'm also growing Black Cherry, Sungold, and Juliet. Juliet is a hybrid that I have grown for many years. It is always the most productive plant in my garden. Unfortunately it is almost tasteless for me, but my daughter loves it. She says it is sweet. For me, if I can't get an acid bite in the taste, it is tasteless.

Ted