If you are looking to step up your cherry tomato plant growing to a whole new level – then you need to try planting Black Cherry tomatoes this year!
Unlike many of the traditional red cherry tomato varieties that are often lacking when it comes to overall taste, the Black Cherry heirloom tomato oozes with rich, intense flavor. The deep, blackish red color of its ripe fruit are beautiful to behold. And if all of that wasn’t enough, the plant is incredibly productive to boot!
But what really makes this cherry tomato plant so special is just how easy it is to grow. Not only is it a fast grower and producer, it also can grow in all types of garden settings. The plant is right at home in a tradition garden, but grows incredibly well in raised beds and patio containers as well.
History Of The Black Cherry – Growing Black Cherry Tomatoes
Unlike so many other heirloom varieties that can trace their roots back to specific regions, there is a bit of uncertainly of just where the Black Cherry tomato type hails from.
Many believe it has roots back from far Eastern-European areas, descending from some of the larger reddish-black tomato varieties (such as Black Krim) that are so popular there. Still others contend that it its origins are from Italy, United States or Germany.
One thing is for sure, wherever the Black Cherry tomato plant came from, it is amazing to grow! And as an heirloom, once you have a few seeds to start your own plants, you can continue to grow it year after year by simply saving the seeds! Affiliate Seed Link: Sow Right Black Cherry Tomato Seeds Non-GMO Heirloom
Growing Black Cherry Tomatoes!
Starting Seeds & Transplants
Black Cherry tomatoes have grown by leaps and bounds in popularity over the last few years. Because of that, you can now often find transplants for sale in late spring at many local nurseries and greenhouses. If not – no worries, the plants are easy to start from seed.
When planting from seed, it’s best to start plants indoors about 8 weeks before your areas last average frost date. This will give transplants plenty of time to grow large enough for an easy transition outdoors.
Although you can plant seeds directly outdoors, the plants take about 75 to 85 days from seed to harvest, so starting with transplants will help to get a much earlier and more prolific overall harvest. For more on growing tomato transplants from seed indoors, see our article: What You Need To Start Tomato Plants Indoors
Planting – Growing Black Cherry Tomatoes
Once all threat of a late frost has passed, it’s time to plant! As with all tomato plants, bury the plants deep into the soil. This helps to develop strong roots that can anchor the plant – all while absorbing more nutrients from the soil. As with all tomatoes, locate your plants in a sunny location.
Black Cherry tomato plants thrive in fertile, loose, well draining soil. If planting in a garden or raised bed setting, amend the soil with compost prior to planting. In addition, placing additional compost, ground egg shells, worm castings and coffee grounds in the planting hole will help get plants off to a great start.
Black Cherry tomato plants will usually grow to around two to three feet in height. Because of this, staking is a must to keep the plant under control. Place your stake or tomato cage in the ground when planting. This will give early support and help prevent the plant’s roots from being damaged if you stake later.
Listen In Below To Our Podcast On How To Fertilize Tomato Plants For A Big Harvest!
Finish planting by lightly tamping the soil around the plant to set it in place. Water well and then add three to four inches of natural mulch on top. Straw, shredded leaves or a layer of compost mulch on top will help to conserve moisture, keep weeds out – and keep the soil temperature more constant.
Watering – Growing Black Cherry Tomatoes
When it comes to providing water for your Black Cherry heirloom tomato plant, the real key to success is keeping the moisture levels consistent. Without enough water for the roots, the plant will slow both new flower production and ripening of existing fruit. And with too much – it can lead to yellowing of it’s leaves and a loss of overall production as well.
When planting in a traditional garden, a mature Black Cherry tomato plants should be getting 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week. That equates to about 1 gallon of water twice a week for each plant.
When growing as a container plant, Black Cherry tomato plants will require more frequent watering. Plants growing in pots and containers tend to dry out a far quicker rate versus those growing in a traditional garden.
It will all, of course, depend on climate and humidity, but as a general rule of thumb, container tomatoes will need to be watered either daily or every other day in most cases.
The real key to success, no matter where you grow your Black Cherry tomato plants is to make sure the soil stays slightly moist but not saturated a few inches below the soil line down at the root level. This is where a moisture meter can help greatly. It can easily give you an instant and exact moisture reading down at the root level. Affiliate Link: XLUX Long Probe Deep Use Soil Moisture Meter
Fertilizing
Because tomato plants are heavy feeders from the soil, fertilizing is a must to keep production high. With Black Cherry tomatoes, fertilizing every few weeks with an organic liquid fertilizer is more than enough to do the trick.
Liquid fertilizing is best for the Black Cherry variety. This feeds both through the roots in the soil and through the leaves and stems of the plant. Worm casting tea, compost tea, or an all natural commercial liquid organic fertilizer all are great options.
If feeding with compost or worm casting tea, you can use the tea at full strength every fourteen days. The nutrients in these natural fertilizer teas will not burn or over power plants. If using a commercial organic liquid fertilizer, cut the recommended strength in half when feeding every two weeks. This will keep from overpowering the plants with too many nutrients.
Harvesting – Growing Black Cherry Tomatoes
As an indeterminate, the Black Cherry tomato variety will keep on producing right up until the first hard frost kills the plant. But to get the most from your plant, it’s important to continually harvest the fruit as it matures.
The Black Cherry plant, as with all indeterminate tomato varieties, will slow the production of new blooms if its branches becomes overloaded with too many ripening tomatoes. It does this in order to conserve resources it sends to the tomatoes already on the plant.
But by simply picking regularly, the plant will continue to put energy toward creating new blooms. The good news is that you can actually pick the tomatoes as soon as they start to slightly turn. This is because the fruit will actually ripen just as quickly off the plant as it does on it.
Here is to planting black cherry tomatoes in your garden or patio planters this year. And – to enjoying an amazing harvest of one of the juiciest and most flavorful cherry tomatoes around!
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