You’ll understand why cherry tomatoes are one of the most popular garden crops if you’ve ever eaten one fresh off the vine while it’s still warm from the sun. Cherry tomatoes are tasty, bite-sized treats. Even if you are new to gardening, cherry tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme) are quite quick and simple to grow. Compared to conventional tomatoes, they mature in less days. This is a significant benefit if you reside in a region with a short growing season due to cold climates or if summertime temperatures in your area rise too quickly for fruit to ripen.
In the spring, once the risk of frost has gone, they should be planted. The leaves of tomato plants is poisonous to both people and animals. 2 However, the ripe fruit is not poisonous.
When to Plant and How to Plant Cherry Tomatoes
When there is no longer any danger of frost, plant cherry tomatoes in the spring. When seedlings are at least 6 inches tall and four weeks out from the anticipated first frost date in your area, seeds can also be started indoors.
choosing a planting location
For your tomatoes, choose a sunny area with good soil drainage. When the plants grow and leaf out in the spring, make sure that no surrounding plants will shade the tomatoes too much. Another choice is container growing. Additionally, rotate your crops to prevent diseases from spreading and soil from being overly depleted of nutrients. Never grow tomatoes where other nightshade family plants, such as potatoes, eggplants, and peppers, were planted the year before.
Support, Depth, and Spacing
To accommodate their propensity for spreading and to provide adequate air circulation, place cherry tomatoes at least a few feet apart. Place nursery plants at the same depth as they were growing in their previous container and cover seeds with roughly 1/4 inch of dirt. The majority of cherry tomato cultivars are indeterminate, meaning they keep growing their vines and bearing fruit all season long. You need to give the vines a support structure, like a tomato cage, to keep them under control.
Cherry Tomato Plant Care
Light
Cherry tomatoes need a lot of sunlight to grow healthily. They require at least six to eight hours per day of full, direct sunlight.
Soil
Tomatoes require somewhat acidic, well-drained, rich, loamy soil. To find out the pH and quantity of nutrients in your soil, conduct a soil test. You should plant tomatoes in raised beds or containers if your garden soil is heavy and has poor drainage.
Water
Deep and frequent watering is necessary for tomatoes. You must never allow the soil to dry out. Keeping the soil equally moist during fruit development aids in preventing blossom end rot. On the other hand, excessive watering may result in split tomatoes. It is better to use drip irrigation because overhead watering might promote the spread of tomato diseases like blight.
Temperature and Humidity
Tomatoes are quite susceptible to cold. Planting should be delayed until the soil temperature has reached at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit. And before planting seedlings in the garden, be sure to progressively acclimate indoor seedlings to outside circumstances to harden them off.
Tomatoes often don’t have a problem with humidity. But one thing to consider is that humid weather can make the foliage stay wetter for a longer period of time. If there isn’t enough airflow around the plants, this could foster the growth of fungus and other diseases.
Fertilizer
Use a fertiliser with a tomato label while planting tomatoes. Compost can also help the tomatoes grow faster by being added to the planting hole. After that, keep fertilising throughout the season as directed on the label.
Pollination
In addition to self-pollinating, tomato plants are effective in luring bees and other pollinators to the garden.
Cherry tomato varieties
There are several cultivars of cherry tomatoes. They are available in a variety of sizes, patterns, and hues, such as reddish-purple, yellow, orange, and blackish-yellow. Here are some well-known examples:
Purple-black “Black Cherry” is an heirloom cultivar.
Fantastico is resistant to late blight and cracking.
A yellow variant called “Golden Sweet” is immune to fusarium wilt and leaf mould.
An heirloom variety called “Isis Candy” has delicate red and golden streaks on both sides.
The orange cherry tomato variety “Sun Gold” is resistant to tobacco mosaic virus and fusarium wilt.
Cherry tomato harvest
50 to 65 days after planting, cherry tomatoes are usually available for harvest. When they easily separate from their stem and change from green to red, orange, purple, or yellow (depending on the type), you’ll know they’re ready. Check your plant for harvestable tomatoes as soon as some of them begin to ripen, at least every other day. They will break or fall off the stem if left on the plant for an extended period of time.
Pick any ripe tomatoes before it starts to rain because heavy rain might encourage cracking in cherry tomatoes on the vine. Or, if that’s not possible, pluck them as soon as it stops raining because tomatoes that are cracked will spoil quickly.
You can consume the tomatoes raw or cooked. They should be consumed within a few days and stored at room temperature. As tomato paste or sauce, they can also be canned, dried in the oven, or frozen.
Cherry Tomato Plant from seeds
Cherry tomatoes are relatively simple to raise from seed. The most convenient option, however, might be to purchase healthy tomato seedlings from your neighbourhood garden centre unless you intend to produce a large number of cherry tomatoes of the same kind or if you wish to grow more unique varieties that are only offered by seed businesses.
In a container containing seed-starting mix, sow seeds 1/4 inch deep. Put the container in a cosy area that has strong, indirect light. and maintain a regular moisture level for the growing medium—not wet. In most cases, germination takes five to ten days. When nighttime temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees Fahrenheit, the seedlings can be hardened off and moved outside.
Cherry tomato repotting and potting
For potted cherry tomatoes, use a high-quality, well-draining potting soil. Some blends are designated exclusively for the development of tomatoes. It’s preferable to start with a container that is big enough to hold your tomato plant once it has grown. As tomatoes don’t like their roots disturbed, you won’t need to repot them if you do it that way.
Overwintering
Cherry tomatoes are annuals, therefore there is no need to overwinter them since they go through their entire life cycle in one growing season. Harvesting must be completed before the fall frost otherwise the remainder of your crop may be destroyed.
Typical Pests and Plant Illnesses
The cherry tomato is prone to a number of illnesses and pests, just as other varieties of larger tomatoes. These include tomato hornworms, verticillium wilt, leaf spot, mosaic viruses, and blight. Good gardening techniques can either prevent or mitigate the majority of these problems. Make sure the tomatoes have enough room to grow, elevate them off the ground using a support structure, and avoid watering from above. Additionally, disease-resistant varieties can be purchased.
