Homegrown Tomatoes

Posts Tagged ‘Supersweet 100’

SuperSweet 100 cherry tomatoes are fun to grow. And what’s really nice is that the cherry tomatoes they produce are nice and true to their name – sweet!

A Little About SuperSweet 100

This particular tomato is an improved variety over Sweet 100.  And supposedly a relative of Sweet Million.  It’s a hybrid tomato, so plants grown from the seeds won’t necessarily breed true.  Although I do believe I will try it anyway!  I’m curious to see what I’ll get next season.

The plant in the photo (and you can click the photo for a larger picture) has the cherry tomatoes just starting to turn red.  It will be interesting to look at when more of the fruits start ripening.

This particular plant is a survivor!  It’s made it through nights in the 30’s, being nibbled on by rabbits and being blown down in high winds.  It’s also not growing in the best part of the garden, so it’s got a lot going against it.  But it doesn’t seem to matter; it keeps putting out flowers, and nearly every blossom sets fruit.

SuperSweet 100 is an indeterminate plant with regular leaves.

Growing Cherry Tomatoes

One nice thing about the SuperSweet 100 is that it’s a cherry tomato of a perfect size for your mouth, at about 3/4″ to about 1″ in size.  I have mine growing in the ground, but I think they’d grow fine in a large container on the patio.  For a true bounty, I’d use a 10-gallon container.

You will need to stake this plant.  Mine is on a 5.5′ stake, which would probably also be OK for a container.  If it was in the good part of the garden, I’d rather use a 7′ stake.

SuperSweet 100 is a fantastic “garden candy” — great for popping in your mouth while working in the garden.  Actually, so far this season, none of the ripe fruits have made it to the table — I’ve munched them while out in the yard.  Soon enough, though, there will be plenty to eat outside and bring into the house for salads.

Hybrid tomatoes are deliberate crosses between two different tomato varieties.  Hybrid tomato plants are often thought of as being more productive or disease resistant – but not as great tasting as heirloom tomatoes.  Is that true? And how are these hybrid tomato plants doing in my garden?

Hybrid Tomato Varieties

Although I mostly grow heirloom or open-pollinated tomato varieties, I do grow some hybrids.  I especially like some of the cherry tomatoes.  Then of course I have to try something new every year — you never know when something will earn a continued spot in the garden.

This year, I am growing the following hybrid tomato plants:

• Celebrity Bush (determinate slicer)
• Fabulous (determinate slicer)
• Goliath Bush (determinate slicer)
• Juliet (cherry)
• Park’s Whopper (indeterminate slicer)
• Supersweet 100 (cherry)
• Tomatoberry (strawberry-shaped cherry)

So how have they been faring?

The Cherry Tomatoes Win for Productivity

That’s really no news, since cherry tomatoes are known for their prolific yields.  But one variety in particular is amazing — Tomatoberry.

I bought Tomatoberry because the description sounded intriguing — a cherry tomato the size and shape of a strawberry.  While I’m not sure that the fruits are really strawberry-shaped (although I do see a slight resemblance on some of the fruits), the plant is amazing!

I didn’t take a photo of the awesome flower sprays this plant has, and so far, pretty much each flower has set a fruit.  So “prolific” is a little bit of an understatement.  I’ll have to take a photo as the tomatoes start to turn red — that will be a sight!

Juliet bears some lovely fruit — it’s a grape cherry tomato.  While setting on nearly every blossom, it’s not quite in Tomatoberry’s league.  Then again, I am growing Juliet in 5-gallon containers!    I imagine that Juliet would do far better in a larger container, or in the ground.

Supersweet 100 was the first of the cherry tomatoes to set fruit.  Once again, pretty much every flower sets fruit.  I have it growing in the ground, but it’s not in the best location — it only gets about 6 hours of sun a day. 

It’s been nibbled by a bunny, blown down in a windstorm and I’ve not always been the best in watering that particular area.  Still, this plant continues to grow and set fruit with abandon.  I’d call it quite hardy in less-than-desireable conditions.  I’ll have to grow one of these plants in the main garden that gets full sun one of these days.  That should be a sight!

Well, this post is getting kind of long, so I’ll stop for now, and pick up later with the report on the slicer-sized hybrid tomato plants.