Cherry Tomato Plant Life Span!

I usually grow four and sometimes five cherry tomato varieties. Black Cherry is usually the first variety to blossom and produce ripe tomatoes. It is also usually the first plant to die while covered with green fruit by the first week of July. Last week, the plant looked healthy and strong. It was about seven feet tall. This is our first week of the summer to experience day time temps over 95 degrees F every day. My Black Cherry plant is dead. It is covered with small tomatoes, but doesn't have a leaf on it from top to bottom.

Sweet Quartz and Isis Candy appear to be ready to follow the pattern of Black Cherry and die very soon. Risentraube looks totally healthy and continues to pump out very nice, red ripe tomatoes and doesn't seem to have a care in the world. Juliet is performing the same way it performs every year continuing to grow and produce it's little plum shaped tomatoes while a few leaves turn yellow and fall from the vine. As the summer progresses, Juliet will amass a jungle of vines near the top which will eventually start hanging down towards the ground and probably touch the soil before fall arrives.

I wish I could get Black Cherry to perform like Risentraube and Juliet. I had planned on covering the cherry varieties with shade cloth before the real summer heat and intense sunlight of summer arrived. I never seemed to find the time or inclination to do it. Maybe next summer I will.

Ted

[Tracydr]

Are you getting spider mites? I have a Matt's Wild Cherry still from last year but it struggled with spider mites all last summer and looks like it's getting some again.
I do shade my plants in summer or plant in partial shade.
I think Carbon Copy is tastier and hardier in heat than Black Cherry, fwiw.

[Worth1]

I'm glad you like Risentraube.

Worth

[KarenO]

If there is not a disease/fungus issue, mature green cherries will ripen off the vine just like large tomatoes. keep stems on for best results.
KO

[creister]

Ted,

I have seen the same thing with Black Cherry. For whatever reason, it seems to always be one of the first to go. In my experience, it seems to attract spider mites more than others.

Also, just like you, as soon as things really heat up on a consistant basis, my plants always seem to ripen fruit and fade fast. Of course, spider mites are starting to show up.

I can't say I've ever had spider mites. At least I've never been able to identify them in my garden. A guy in a farmers market booth said the white flies have been relentless in his garden this year. I also have not seen White Flies in my garden. I do have Aphids of various colors almost every year. I've never seen them on my tomatoes, but they really attack my squash and cucumbers and to a lesser degree, my pepper plants.

Worth,

At first, I didn't like Risentraube. I always try to select cherry tomato plants which produce fruit with a different flavor than my regular tomatoes. I was disappointed to find my Risentraube provided cherry tomatoes which tasted as good as, but very similar to my larger red tomatoes. I've changed my mind however. I admire it's production and health qualities. It's also nice to have a cherry tomato plant producing fruit comparable to my larger red varieties after the larger varieties have started declining.

I've almost reached cherry tomato fatigue this year. I've harvested so many, and eaten so many; and given so many away that I am a little tired of them. It doesn't really bother me that three our of five varieties are biting the dust of a hot summer. It's also nice that one of the surviving varieties seems ready to continue producing and providing tasty tomatoes at a slower pace.

Ted

[Worth1]

Ted Carolyn describes Risentraube in her book as a little tomato with a big tomato flavor.

You can take a hotdog bun a slice or two of crispy bacon, about as many of the little critters as you can line up in a row, shredded lettuce and some mayo or miracle whip .
Well you get the picture.

Worth

[ChrisK]

I have had horrible luck with BC the last few years. The first year I grew it it was a jungle, lasted all season and we got sick of them. The last few years it has gone down to bacterial wilt and this year it's got leaf diseases I cant control and is about to be cut down.

Oh yeah, we're in the minority camp of loving Juliet. No good for fresh eating but nice cooked in sauce and dried. Bullet proof reliable plant for me.

[Cole_Robbie]

What do you think killed the plants that died? There has to be a specific cause of death.

Chris,

I'm not a Juliet hater. I'm just not a Juliet lover. How can you hate a tomato that produces always without regard to any growing condition. I think you would get a bumper crop of Juliet tomatoes if you sprinkled some seed on a hot, asphalt covered parking lot and it didn't rain for six months.

I filled a one gallon zip lock bag with ripe Juliet tomatoes this year after removing the skins. They are great to simply pull a few frozen tomato nuggets out of the bag and toss into any dish cooking on the stove or in the oven. They do develop a better taste when fully ripe.

Pre freeze the skinless tomatoes on a cookie sheet before bagging them. It's like having a bag of tomato flavored ice cubes in the freezer.

Ted

[FarmerShawn]

Juliets are one of our favorite varieties for a fresh salsa or a pico de gallo, because they tend to be solid and almost crisp. My wife loves them for canning whole, because they peel nicely, and fit into the canning jar easily. And I agree that they just keep pumping out fruits when others have given up.

Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie

What do you think killed the plants that died? There has to be a specific cause of death.

I have no idea! In what seemed like a two day period, my Black Cherry plants changed from lush and green with heavy foliage to naked stems covered with green tomatoes. I didn't notice any color change in the leaves or anything else indicating stress. No other plants in my garden were affected in the same way. The Sweet Quartz and Isis Candy vines do exhibit some leaf yellowing on the lower half of the plants but continue to bloom near the top.

Ted

[Cole_Robbie]

hmmmm. We need to be able to do tomato plant autopsies.

Did you look at the roots? I've lost plants to root rot very quickly, although usually in times of too much rain.

95 degrees should not kill tomato plants. They won't set fruit, but as long as they don't run out of water, they shouldn't die.

[chalstonsc]

Austin's Black Cherry is way more resistant in my garden than the regular Black Cherry. Mine are aging but still setting and ripening fruit after planting out April 1st. Regular Black Cherry would have been long gone by now.

I may try Austins Black Cherry next year. The way regular Black Cherry has died this year really isn't unusual. It dies the same way every year at about the same time depending on the onset of high heat. I noticed this morning "Sweet Quartz" is producing new growth at the bottom. When the new growth reaches a certain height, I will trim the old vine back. The new growth will produce my fall cherry tomatoes. The first year I grew Black Cherry, it also produced a lot of new growth at ground level but it hasn't since the first year. I will check the plant for root rot or cork root when I pull it.

Ted