If life were just a bowl of cherries...

[puttgirl]

Originally Posted by stormymater

Super Snow White knocks it out the park for flavor, productivity & producing right through the ugliest of our summer heat, humidity &, oddly, drought. Sweet but balanced, stunning when mixed with other cherries - we grow it every year.

FTR - DH dislikes SunGold. He detests the thick skin & shrugs over the flavor - so I guess tastes & environment make a difference.

Black Cherry is a must grow here.

We have some red must grows but I'll not bother you with those.

Is super snow white different from snow white? I never heard of it. For two years now I've tried to grow champagne cherry-and have never even gotten it to germinate.
I like black cherry, too, but I wouldn't call it the best....they are too many I haven't tried yet.

[stormymater]

Yes Super SW is sweeter & more productive for us - fruit are a bit bigger, which is fine - on the same size as Amy's Sugar Gem; not quite as large as Pink Ping Pong. We grew them side by side one year & opt definitively for the SUper SW. Love it!

We also really like Cerise Orange but the little fruits can be fiddly to pick.
Worth growing every couple of years in our garden - beautiful plant, handles our weather well.

Have enjoyed Haley's Purple Comet each time we have grown it. It is in that strange between sizes category - a 2 bite cherry or small saladette... lunchbox tomato? I'd pack 3 or 4 in my lunch box.

Whenever you are ready to stray from the colors initially listed....

[RebelRidin]

Originally Posted by stormymater

We have some red must grows but I'll not bother you with those.

Stormymater,

Unless I am mistaken you see my heat and humidity...

So regarding those reds... Please feel free to bother me

[stormymater]

Well OK - here it goes -

Hawaiian Currant - sprawly bush that is almost contained by one of those usually utterly inadequate tomato cages - gets repeatedly loaded with tiny little red tomatoes of the greatest flavor. We put them in 5 gallon containers near walkways & on the patio - friends head for them like locusts - we bring out cheese & crackers & pluck & munch. Three days later they are covered again. Sweet but full flavored. Skins tend to tear when picked so eating at the bush is best. Go until killing frost here.

T(not C) omadose de Conores - Fabulous flavor & disease-resistance in an unassuming red smaller cherry package. Great tolerance for our climate & great production.

Gardener's Delight - bigger standard red cherry that produces great & has perfectly acceptable flavor. Unfazed until a tropical storm or freeze comes.

Amy's Sugar Gem - getting to be a 2 bite tomato here but excellent production & good flavor.

[RebelRidin]

For every variety of tomato I am sure there is someone who will love it. Unfortunately at this point I don't have a favorite bite sized tomato, but I need one. In fact I need to overcome an aversion I have been developing for them as my DW loves them. She even buys them from the grocery all through the winter!

I have been wowed by a little tomato just once. It was probably 12 years ago; the first time I ever grew Juliet. At times I wish I never had. I have tried to repeat with Juliet at least eight times since. I can't. Sometimes I think the original plant I grew was a failure in someone’s hybridization program and I have been chasing a ghost the whole time. Last year I was prepared to give up and didn't even start a cherry. At the last minute I picked up a "Sweet Thang" from the local Lowes and stuck it in the ground hoping it would ease my conscious. It didn’t. Sweet Thang (whatever the heck it was) didn't really do it either AND it dropped its fruit if you even looked at it wrong!


This year when I pulled out the Juliet seed I had left I just threw it away. I figured there had to be something better to try. Which brings me back to the original question I posed,

Originally Posted by RebelRidin

If life were just a bowl of cherries/plum/grape tomatoes and you could only choose two plants to grow - one of the white/lemon/yellow/orange persuasion, and one of the pink/red/purple/brick/black persuasion....

What would you choose and why?

Your suggestions:

SunGold F1
Matt’s Wild Cherry
Black Cherry
Coyote
Isis Candy
SuperSweet 100
Galina
Dr. Carolyn
Super Snow White
SunSugar
Hawaiian Currant
Tonadose des Conores (Tomadose Des Comores in Tatiana’s Tomatobase)
Gardener's Delight
Amy's Sugar Gem
(And a few others mentioned but not #1 recommendations)


Your reasons:

Taste!

and

Consistent taste and performance (i.e. grows well, productive, resilient, disease free and I like it)

I had already searched and I knew SunGold and Black Cherry were popular and praised for their taste. Taste is really important… but... every small tomato I have ever tried has had someone who said it tasted great! In the case of at least one in one year I had said it too! I needed more of a reason...

I was concerned about Black Cherry as it’s a later variety. I have troubles in late season and DW will want something earlier. I will have to try Black Cherry sometime but not this year.

I was worried SunGold could be a problem cracking as we usually see some BIG RAINS about the time it should peak and I had seen a few “thick skin” comments. Hopefully with raised beds I can control the moisture better.

Finally, I knew DW would be looking and hoping for a nice bright RED one…

And the winners are... (Drumroll please)

Matt's Wild Cherry
SunGold F1
Tomadose Des Comores
Hawaiian Currants



Kath showed a real passion for SunGold and Matt's. She defended SunGold admirably against the cracking complaints and Matt's against Johnny's Seeds reserved (if not downright negative) comments. In fact, I am looking forward to trying this “softer” and apparently thinner skinned cherry (I don’t like to chew skin). Finally, she has grown quite a few of the other suggested varieties in an area pretty near to and probably not that different from me in order to reach her conclusions. She admits that they might have a few shortcomings but she loves them anyway.

I know I asked “which two” BUT ... BUT… BUT…
Stormymater came up with completely different suggestions from everyone else, grows them in a climate virtually identical to mine, described how well they do in it and vouched for their taste! I consider her suggestions a gift and they are all now "must try’s" for me. I will just have to give up a beefsteak for the Tomadose Des Comores and I will put a couple of those bushy Hawaiian Currants in some pots if I can locate some seeds in fairly short order.

Again, I really appreciate everyone's willingness to share their thoughts and experiences with me. My thanks to you all, particularly to Kath and Stormymater for putting up with my pressing them about/for their choices and reasons.

Best of all.. I am looking forward to trying some cherries!

[kath]

You're very welcome, RebelRidin- it would be great to be able to pick winners for other people but it's not easy to do. I really dislike thick skin and haven't noticed that with Sungold, except for last year in the very beginning of the season, so I think it might have been weather related. I was shocked when I read what Johnny's had to say in their catalog. I'll also say that I grew Black Cherry, Snow White, Super Snow White, Chocolate Cherry, SunSugar, SuperSweet 100, Hawaiian Currant and dozens of others, so far- each only one year, but they didn't beat out Sungold or MWC for me. The reasons were a combination of fruit size, seediness, skin thickness, taste, yield, earliness, growth habit, disease resisitance, etc. I continue to grow way too many new cherry varieties each year in hopes of finding some of different color with equal or better flavor to add to my favorites list. You'll need to find your own favorites, though and that can only happen by trying them. Have fun and I hope your choices don't disappoint!

kath

[stormymater]

Do you need seed? PM me if you do, RebelRidin - time is nigh...

[RebelRidin]

PM sent. You are right too... "The hour grows late...."

Thank you

[RebelRidin]

In our cherry lineup Sungold and Tomodos des Camores took the honors. My DW really liked Sungold and TDC had thin enough skins to keep me interested and good flavor. Matt's Wild Cherry was very tasty and thin skinned but it was so thin I couldn't seem to pick them without the skin tearing and we didn't like that. Also the vines were too aggresive for my space. Like THE BLOB, it took over the space for every other plant around it. Hawaaian Currant was tasty but I don't do the best with things in containers which I tried with HC and they suffered in the heat. The two SSW I kept got some strange disease early on (almost looked like blisters on them and they were obviously stunted) and I had to pull them. I will have to try them again. I liked the taste of Black Cherry but they had nasty thick skins. (yuck) They didn't ripen till later though and the heat may have caused that. I may try BC again.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me with this years lineup. Your help was appreciated.