Haley's Purple Comet!

I would appreciate any negative or positive comments you may have about Haley's Purple Comet cherry tomato from Wild Boar Farms. Along with Sungold, Juliet, Jaune Flamme, and Improved Porter; I grew Black Cherry this year and haven't been impressed with it. It is the slowest of the varieties mentioned to provide ripe fruit though the vines are loaded with green fruit. The occasional ripe fruit harvested hasn't had a taste that I find pleasing. I understand Haley's Purple Comet has some parental connection to Cherokee Purple and may be interesting as a replacement for Black Cherry next year or this fall.

Thanks

Ted

[Sun City Linda]

Wow, cant imagine anyone would have a negative comment about SunGold! I didnt care for Black Cherry either and am growing HPC this year for the first time. LOVED Jaune Flammee. Never stopped producing wonderful, tasty juicy salad size maters. Also, a real beauty!

Originally Posted by Sun City Linda

Wow, cant imagine anyone would have a negative comment about SunGold! I didnt care for Black Cherry either and am growing HPC this year for the first time. LOVED Jaune Flammee. Never stopped producing wonderful, tasty juicy salad size maters. Also, a real beauty!

I've read and reread my question and I can't find where I mistakenly made a negative comment about Sungold. I love Sungold. I wasn't really trying to make a negative comment about Black Cherry. I just haven't been able to appreciate the flavor other folks seem to love. It may be the fault of my taste buds or the fact that I'm not letting them ripen enough before eating them. I will continue eating them through the summer searching for the sweetness and other flavors people seem to love in them.

I will admit I am not a fan of the Juliet's I grow every year. My daughter loves them so I guess I am stuck with them.

Ted

[Sun City Linda]

LOL, Ted, looks like maybe I misread your initial question, I thought you were asking for negative or positive feedback on all the toms listed, which is why I thought, who doesnt love SunGold?

Thanks Linda, that was fun trying to figure out how I could have insulted Sungold.

Ted

[ChrisK]

I tried to grow HPC last year in Raleigh. Apparently the WBF varieties do poorly in our climate. Yield was very poor in our heat and humidity as the plants languished.

The fruit that it did produce were larger than a golf ball but smaller than a tennis ball. Every single fruit had extensive concentric cracking and were unusable for the most part (Some may have made it into the sauces and soups though)

Wont be growing it again here.

[kath]

My one time experience with HPC was similar to ChrisK's- the splitting was frustrating and I got few ripe fruits that were usable. I also find that I like cherry tomatoes to be more bite-sized. Black Cherry was one I grew a second time because, like you, I liked the taste of some of them. But the second year I grew tired of the huge plant that produced so late and was plagued with splitting fruits.

I love Sungold F1 but didn't care for Juliet or Jaune Flamme either...picky, picky, picky. I am still searching for open-pollinated cherries that are "worth the space"- hopefully even in hues other than Sungold's. This year I'm triaing Maskotka, Fruhe Liebe, Blush, "Dark Striped Cherry F2", Marko's Flortis Cherry, Honeydrop Cherry, Jan's, Josefina, Matt's Folly, Matt's Wild Cherry, Sweet Beverley, Vince P1 F5 and Zima F2 against Sungold and each other.

Thanks Chris, I've grown a few of the WBF varieties and have wondered what they mean in some of their descriptions when they say "Marginal tomato climate recommended". I guess it's possible the HPC proved the point in your case.

Kath,

I really like cherry tomatoes, but I've never considered myself much of a "berry picker". While tomatoes like Sungold have outstanding taste, I really don't like picking the little jewels. I really would like a cherry which I can harvest a handful at a time like Juliet, but tasted like Sungold.

Ted

[kath]

Originally Posted by tedln

I really like cherry tomatoes, but I've never considered myself much of a "berry picker". While tomatoes like Sungold have outstanding taste, I really don't like picking the little jewels. I really would like a cherry which I can harvest a handful at a time like Juliet, but tasted like Sungold.

Ted
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In our family DH is the berry picker, thankfully, but I don't find picking Sungolds to be tedious probably because I don't harvest a bunch to be used later- they just get eaten in the garden every time I walk by. Picking Matt's Wild Cherry can get annoying because I find that I have to bend the stem back to snap it off attached to each fruit to prevent splitting...lots of work for a little bite. I grew it for a few years and got tired of working so hard to keep it within bounds- I'm giving it another chance this year since I have a trellis for it to grow on and because it seems impervious to disease and is always still hanging on in the fall until the first good frost.
Hope you find your perfect cherry tomato!

kath

[RobinB]

I'm growing HPC for the first time this year. I was only going to grow ONE (in one of my raised beds), but my backup plant really, really wants to live. It's been outside, neglected mostly, and darned if it isn't the sturdiest thing with lots of new growth. It's still in a plastic cup, but it will be put into a large pot in the next week. I just can't bear to kill it. I can't wait to taste this one. I too, have been a bit disappointed with black cherry the last two years. I used to love it. Hmmmm.

[swamper]

HPC is outstanding, though not early for a cherry, expect it ripe after black cherry. it will make a big plant and not a huge yield, but the quality will be well worth the wait. it's one of my must grows, and notable since the flavor remains good late into the season, when flavors fade on others. I suspect high leaf to fruit ratio means lots of nutrition to make tasty fruit.

[carolyn137]

Ted, as an alternative to Black Cherry why don't you consider Kazachka, seeds sent to me by Andrey in Belarus and offered for the past couple of years in my seed offer here.

Some plants give cute mini beefsteaks and other plants give cherries, and seed saved from either one can give plants of either one. And also very productive.

When I asked Andrey about it he also gets both mini beefsteaks and cherries on different plants

I happen to like Black Cherry very much and grow it from time to time ever since Linda at TGS offered it many years ago now, as bred by her deceased husband Vince, but I also like Kazachka, also a so called black.

About Halley's Purple Comet ( Tania says it should have 2 L's)

http://heritagetomatoseed.com/heirlo...-purple-comet/

The above link to Heritage Seeds, and Steve gives the same background that Tania does. So it may not have Cherokee Purple in it at all if it's an unknown cross that was stabilized.

As Gomer Pyle used to say "Suurrprise, Suurrprise!".

I picked two or three Black Cherry tomatoes this morning that were well past what I previously thought was the ripe stage. They were surprisingly sweet and tasty. I will let some more ripen to that stage and see if it is a consistent trait for them to have a real spiitter taste until they fully ripen and then develop the sweet taste. They were probably 50% as sweet as a Sungold, but definitely sweet. They may be like a good wine grape requiring an extended ripening period for the sugars to develop. They may also require ripening on the vine like a grape to fully develop the flavor.

It will be interesting to see if I was totally wrong about the Black Cherry taste.

Ted

[Granite26]

Yes I think that is the key to some varieties. Let them hang...flavors improvres greatly in those Black Cheries. Late season Juliets that are at the stage they fall off when you pick them are also very good.

I also noticed my Halleys Purple comet were very stocky plants as seedlings.

[Sun City Linda]

Tania could be wrong. It is on "L" on WBF site.