Black Cherry - is it a hybrid?

[Barmaley]

I was about to start saving seeds from black cherry plant which I was very happy with but I found in a sticker from Bonnie "Hybrid". At the same time Eden Brothers and some other seeds sellers claim them to to be heirloom. Is it the same black cherry and can I save the seeds?

[MissS]

Go right ahead and save seeds it is open pollinated. Many vendors claim plants to be hybrids when in fact they are not. A good sales pitch to prompt you to purchase plants each year.

[Volvo]

Agree with above , go ahead and save seed . I squeezed a couple of fuit straight into a pot and ended up with heaps of seedlings which i gave away and yes they came out true to form..

[WoodSprite]

Black Cherry was bred from two heirlooms tomatoes then grown out to stabilize it. It's now open-pollinated.

[Barmaley]

Thank you all! I got a good success with it. Was it just me or it is a good variety?

[JRinPA]

I have had the same thoughts as MissS regarding hybrid claims. I've seen a few that made me wonder. My current butternut was bought at a farm supply, and is marked "Waltham Butternut - F1 Hybrid". Not that I would save squash seed anyway due to crossing with other squash, but it does seem a little suspect. But technically, if they took a male flower from one plant to pollinate a female flower on another plant and to grow for seed to sell, I guess that IS a hybrid right? Just a cross by two nearly identical parents?

I liked black cherry one year. Didn't seem to like it much the next. Ron's Carbon Copy, same. Reisentraube turned me off to red ones! Been a while since I've grown anything but Sungold and Sunsugar. And this year, they have hardly been picked, so I guess I need to back off the numbers there. Every year cherry tomatoes seem like more work to pick. I love them dehydrated but haven't got to it.

[pepperhead212]

Way back when Black Cherry first came on the market, I tried it, and didn't have great luck with it, but when I got some seeds about 10 years later, it was different - in a good way, as it was one of the most heat resistant tomatoes that year. Years later, someone gave me some seeds, and I grew some, just because I didn't have enough new varieties that season, and it wasn't heat resistant that season. Each season I had the same problem of the tomatoes going bad faster than other cherry tomatoes, once picked - I had to leave them on the plant until totally ripe, and use them within a day, otherwise, soft spots showed up. Good flavor, but this was not something I wanted, esp. in a cherry tomato.

[Cole_Robbie]

I like black cherry. Sun chocola f1 is what I would equate to it on the hybrid side. Purple bumblebee is pretty good. I also like de barao chorny and bola Maciza as dark cherries.

[worth1]

Black cherry was stabilized and put on the market by Vince Sapp of Tomato Growers Supply.
Vince passed away several years ago, Linda Sapp continued the company for several more years until she retired and sold it to new owners just awhile back.

[WoodSprite]

I'm growing Black Cherry for the first time this year (with seeds from Renee's Garden) because it got so many good reviews about its good flavor. It's growing like crazy for me. If had to cut it back 3 times because it's so tall (at least 8-ft.) and just grows tall again after I cut it. It's producing OK. Not tons of cherry tomatoes like Sungold and other cherries that I've grown but more than enough for my use (partly because I cut it back probably). I actually prefer this amount of tomato production to tons of cherry tomatoes that I can't eat fast enough.

However, flavor-wise, I don't see why Black Cherry got such great reviews. I think it's OK but it doesn't have the flavor that I prefer in a tomato. I'll eat what I have this year but won't be growing it again.

[Volvo]

I'm growing Black Cherry for the first time this year (with seeds from Renee's Garden) because it got so many good reviews about its good flavor. It's growing like crazy for me. If had to cut it back 3 times because it's so tall (at least 8-ft.) and just grows tall again after I cut it. It's producing OK. Not tons of cherry tomatoes like Sungold and other cherries that I've grown but more than enough for my use (partly because I cut it back probably). I actually prefer this amount of tomato production to tons of cherry tomatoes that I can't eat fast enough.

However, flavor-wise, I don't see why Black Cherry got such great reviews. I think it's OK but it doesn't have the flavor that I prefer in a tomato. I'll eat what I have this year but won't be growing it again.

I let mine ripen to its full extent and the taste is is up there for me , Clusters of fruit which i fear sometimes it will break the branch they are hanging off and i nipped the tops of my plants and they just branched out with more clusters .
Was going to pull most of them out but the Daughter is semi drying them see how they pan out for taste that way ??.. So leave them in a tad longer ..

[WoodSprite]

[mention]Volvo[/mention] - Yes, I noticed that the taste improved when left on the plant until they softened, not just colored. They're OK but not as good as I was expecting. I much prefer the flavor of Sungold and Sun Select. I also had to cut the plant back (three times!) and it recovered quickly every time and just grew longer. I'm eating some right now in a chick pea salad. It's not a bad variety just not what I was expecting or wanting.