Barry's Crazy Cherry Tomato - Seeds

Barry's Crazy Cherry Tomato - Seeds

$5.80
$5.80
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Barry's Crazy Cherry Tomato - Seeds
  • Barry's Crazy Cherry Tomato - Seeds
  • Barry's Crazy Cherry Tomato - Seeds
  • Barry's Crazy Cherry Tomato - Seeds
  • Barry's Crazy Cherry Tomato - Seeds
Barry's Crazy Cherry Tomato - Seeds

Barry's Crazy Cherry Tomato - Seeds

$5.80
$5.80

Minimum 35 seeds per packet.

Postage included. Bundle to save. Raised from heirloom seed at Turtledove Farm.

Can't be posted to Western Australia.

Solanum lycopersicum


A cherry tomato known for the size of its trusses. The branched clusters can each carry 20 to 40 or more fruit. The tomatoes are oval with a tiny pointed tip, creamy pale yellow, and around 15–25g. The flesh is crisp and juicy, sweet with a slight tang, and the fruit keeps well after picking. A plant in full crop, hung with long sprays of pale yellow fruit, is a real showpiece in the garden and makes a striking bunch on a market table. The vines are tall and vigorous and keep cropping from mid-season until the cold arrives. Indeterminate (climbing) variety — requires sturdy staking or caging.

Days to harvest70-80 Days
Fruit sizeOval cherry fruit with a pointed tip, 15–25g
Sowing depth5mm
Germination5–14 days at soil temperature 20–30°C
Spacing50–60cm apart, rows 90cm–1.2m
AspectOpen, sunny position; well-drained soil rich in organic matter
Frost toleranceSensitive to frost. Plant out only once frosts have finished.
LifecycleTender perennial — almost always grown as an annual in Australia
Container suitableYes

Growing notes

A warm, sheltered position in the garden or tunnel suits it best. This is a big, heavy-cropping plant, so give it more support than you'd give a typical cherry tomato.

Soil preparation: Dig in well-rotted compost before planting, with a balanced feed high in phosphorus.

Support: Vines reach 1.6–1.8m or more. Stake, cage, or train up a string trellis from planting out. Tie the big trusses to the support as they fill out, because a loaded truss can snap its own stem.

Containers: A large pot of 50L or more with sturdy support works. Keep water and feed consistent, as pots dry out faster than beds.

Watering & feeding: Water deeply and consistently at the base. Overhead watering invites disease. Side-dress with a potassium-rich feed once flowering starts to help set the heavy trusses.

Harvest: Pick fruit when it has turned from pale green to creamy yellow and gives slightly to gentle pressure. Trusses ripen from the stem end outward, so pick along each spray every few days. A truss of mostly ripe fruit can also be cut whole, which looks lovely in a harvest basket or on a market stall.

Timing: First ripe fruit around 70–80 days from transplant.

Short season tips


Sow 6–8 weeks before your last frost. Grow on under cover until night temperatures stay above 12–14°C. In Coonabarabran and similar inland zones, plant out from mid-October; a hoop tunnel or cloche lets you plant earlier. The plant keeps cropping until frost, so the earlier it goes in, the longer the harvest.

Origin


A modern open-pollinated cherry tomato bred by Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms in California. Gates is known for colourful and unusual tomatoes. He selected this one for its enormous branched trusses and creamy yellow fruit, and it travelled quickly through seed-saver networks once released. It's much younger than a traditional heirloom, but it grows true from saved seed, so each season's best plants can supply the seed for the next.

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