Black Tomato F1 5 Seeds

Black Tomato F1 stands out from ordinary red tomatoes thanks to its dramatic dark colouring: the fruit ripens to a deep purple-brown, almost black shade with dusky shoulders, giving any plate or salad a gourmet, eye-catching look. The flavour matches the appearance, rich and full with a smoky-sweet depth and noticeably low acidity, so the fruit eats sweet and mellow rather than sharp. This makes it a favourite for fresh slicing, colourful salads, and showy serving boards where its unusual hue is part of the appeal, and as a vigorous F1 hybrid it brings reliable uniformity to the home garden.

Planting

Tomato is a warm-season, frost-tender crop, so start the seed indoors about 5 to 8 weeks before your last spring frost and only move plants outside once the danger of frost has passed and the soil has warmed. Sow about 0.6 cm deep in a sterile, soilless seed-starting mix. Kept warm at roughly 24-29 C, the seed usually germinates in about 7 to 10 days, and a heat mat helps hold that temperature until the seedlings emerge. When true leaves appear, thin or prick out the seedlings to about 5 cm apart. Harden the young plants off over about a week, then set them out in full sun, choosing a warm, sheltered site that gets at least 6 hours of direct sun a day and ideally 8 to 10. Plant deep so only the top 2-3 sets of true leaves sit above the soil, since the buried stem grows extra roots. Space the plants about 45-90 cm apart in the row with roughly 90-150 cm between rows, allowing the wider spacing for tall, vining growth and the closer end for more compact, bushy plants.

Fertilizing

At transplanting, use a starter fertilizer with an NPK ratio under 10 and avoid overdoing the nitrogen, because too much produces leafy plants that are slow to set fruit. Once the first fruits begin to enlarge, side-dress with nitrogen to support the developing crop; alternatively, you can feed about 3 to 4 weeks after planting using a nitrogen and calcium source such as calcium nitrate (15.5-0-0). For tomatoes grown in containers, switch to a high-potassium liquid feed every 10 to 14 days once the first fruits start to swell.

Care

Give the plants steady, even moisture, around 2.5 cm of water a week from rain plus irrigation, and avoid swinging between wet and dry, as those fluctuations cause the fruit to split and trigger blossom-end rot. Container plants can need watering every day in hot weather. Watch for common pests such as tomato hornworms, aphids, flea beetles, cutworms, Colorado potato beetles, and whitefly, along with diseases like early blight, late blight, Septoria leaf spot, bacterial spot, tomato viruses, and grey mould; remember that blossom-end rot and fruit splitting are physiological problems tied to calcium and uneven watering, so consistent moisture is your best defence. Harvest the fruit once it reaches full size and the colour begins to change to its mature dark shade, leaving the stalk attached for the best flavour; first ripe fruit usually comes about 52 to 90 days after transplanting depending on the conditions, and any green fruit can be finished off indoors at about 21 C.