Imported Cherry Black Tomato Seeds (5 Seeds)

Black Cherry is one of the most loved dark cherry tomatoes, prized for its dusky purple-brown skin and round, bite-size fruit borne in long trusses on tall, vigorous indeterminate vines. The flavour is what sets it apart from ordinary red cherries: deeply sweet, full and slightly smoky, with the rich complexity typical of "black" tomatoes. The striking colour and small size make it perfect for snacking straight off the vine, brightening salads, threading onto skewers, or finishing a plate as an ornamental garnish.

Planting

Tomato is a warm-season, frost-tender crop, so start seed indoors about 5 to 8 weeks before transplanting out, and move plants outside only after frost danger has passed and the soil has warmed. Sow seed about 0.6 cm deep in a sterile, soilless seed-starting mix. Kept warm at around 24 to 29 C, seeds usually germinate in roughly 7 to 10 days; a minimum of about 18 C is needed for germination, and a heat mat helps hold the temperature until seedlings emerge. Choose a warm, sheltered site in full sun with at least 6 hours of direct light a day, ideally 8 to 10 hours. Because this is a tall vining type, space transplants toward the wider end of the range, about 45 to 90 cm apart in the row with roughly 90 to 150 cm between rows. Once true leaves appear, thin or transplant seedlings to about 5 cm apart, and at planting set them deep so only the top 2 to 3 sets of true leaves sit above the soil, since the buried stem forms extra roots. Harden plants off over about a week before planting out.

Fertilizing

At transplanting, use a starter fertilizer with an NPK ratio under 10 and avoid excess nitrogen, which produces leafy plants that are slow to fruit. Side-dress with nitrogen when the first fruits begin to enlarge, or about 3 to 4 weeks after planting, using a nitrogen and calcium source such as calcium nitrate (15.5-0-0). For plants grown in containers, feed every 10 to 14 days with a high-potassium liquid feed once the first fruits start to swell.

Care

Give steady, even moisture, about 2.5 cm of water per week from rain plus irrigation, and avoid swinging between wet and dry, which causes fruit splitting and blossom-end rot; container plants may need daily watering in hot weather. Watch for common pests such as tomato hornworms, aphids, flea beetles and cutworms, and for diseases including early blight, late blight, Septoria leaf spot, bacterial spot and grey mould, alongside the physiological disorders of blossom-end rot and fruit splitting. Harvest when the fruit reaches full size and the colour begins to deepen for the variety, leaving the stalk attached for the best flavour; first ripe fruit usually comes about 52 to 90 days after transplanting depending on the cultivar, and any green fruit can be ripened indoors at about 21 C. In Egypt this variety suits the main summer crop: in the cooler Nile Delta and around Cairo, transplant in February to March once frost risk passes, with a secondary planting in September to October. In warmer Upper Egypt, shift toward autumn (October to November) and late-winter (January to February) plantings to dodge extreme summer heat, and avoid mid-summer transplanting, which suffers from high-temperature injury and poor fruit set.