Tomato Growers Supply has a red grape tomato listed along with several "grape" types, as does Victory seeds, Tomato Fest, and many others. Simply Google the term red grape tomato seeds and you will get a lot of choices.

Also if you post that you are looking for them in the Exchanges page of this forum (link at the top of the page where it says On-Topic Discussions) you may find someone that has extra seeds they would trade for some of your extras or even send to you for a SASE.

Bets

Here is a link that might be useful: Google result for

I don't really know what THE true grape variety is but the variety that caused the grape kinda craze was Santa F1. And it turns out that 99/100 seeds saved come true, the off one being round, not grape shaped, and also has a lower Brix ( sugar) level.

That information from Andrew Chu who marketed Santa F1 initially.

Lots of folks are on the F6 and beyond and it's been perferctly stable. So Santa F1, from the Known-You Seed Co in Taiwan ( they don't sell seeds), is the best you're going to get to the original commercial grape tomato.

There's a couple of things you can do.

You can ask in the tomato exchange for an OP Santa, or you can go to your friendly grocery store and look for Santa Sweets, which is what the Procacci Bros named them when they put Andrew Chu out of business. Sigh. And then save your own seeds.

But since hundreds of folks have been growing the OP version if it were me I'd just post in the EXchange or look around there for it.

Carolyn

I have saved seeds from four different grocery store grape tomatoes only to get big round cherry-type tomatoes. This year I'll be trying Burpee's "Napa Hybrid Grape Tomato". :::keeping my fingers crossed:::

I have saved seeds from four different grocery store grape tomatoes only to get big round cherry-type tomatoes. This year I'll be trying Burpee's "Napa Hybrid Grape Tomato". :::keeping my fingers crossed:::

*****

Kim, what you've gotten from saved seeds from those hybrids doesn't surprise me at all.

The Santa F1 situation is known by Andrew Chu in great detail b/c he grew thousands upon thousands of plants for his commercial operation, and as I said above, he knows that 99/100 saved seeds will come true, and thank heavens he shared that information.

He also said that the off type had round fruits as you reported above.

All the other so called grape tomatoes are knock offs of the original Santa F1 which made a BIG splash and the appearance of them started just a couple of years after Santa F1 became available in the stores. And I mean both F1 and OP knock offs.

Carolyn

The grocery stores in our area had grape tomatoes that I saved seed from: "DiMare", "Sunripe", "Cherry Berries", and "Santa Sweet". But no "Santa F1". I'll check the seed exchange, thanks!

You can ask in the tomato exchange for an OP Santa, or you can go to your friendly grocery store and look for Santa Sweets, which is what the Procacci Bros named them when they put Andrew Chu out of business. Sigh. And then save your own seeds.

*****

So your grocery store does have Santa Sweets which is what I said in my post above they're called. ( smile)

Carolyn

Yes, I caught that you said Santa Sweet and I wrote back about that but couldn't post it, same subject line or something, then got side-tracked. Santa Sweet is one of the four I saved seeds from that grew like cherry tomatoes. I checked seed exchange, no luck. I may post, but will definitely see how Burpee's grapes grow. Thanks!

Kim, if you have the F2 saved seeds from Santa Sweets and they gave you cherry tomatoes what is it that you're still looking for?

I must have missed something somewhere.( smile)

Carolyn

I want true grape tomatoes, not cherries.

I just read that bars in Asia may offer bowls of grape tomatoes instead of peanuts to their customers!

I have ordered "red grape" from Johnnies. We shall see.

I want true grape tomatoes, not cherries.

*****

I think maybe there's a word problem here, at least at my end. I refer to grape tomatoes as cherries most of the time b'c they are of that size.

Santa Sweets IS the original grape tomato and I know many who have then saved those seeds and gotten the typical grape tomato shape that they should, and as I said 99/100 saved seeds will give you grape shaped fruits with the off type being round.

How many plants of the saved F2 seeds did you grow? If one, maybe you got the offtype, but more than one you should gave gotten the grape shaped ones.

I guess I'm extending this chat b'c you asked for true grape tomato seed online and Santa IS the original grape tomato that was sold and marketed and remains the favorite of many as grown out to even the F6 and beyond.

Carolyn

palmandan, do let us know next year!

Carolyn, grape tomatoes are elongated and smaller than the round cherry tomatoes. Last year I grew two plants from each of the four types of saved grape tomato seeds. I had them well marked and compared the fruits--there was very little difference in them. I also grew four different slicing tomato plants and they were very similar. After much more research, I think growing conditions play a bigger part in the outcome than I ever thought...meaning several different varieties of the same type of tomatoes grown in the same soil with the same weather, will produce very similar tomatoes. Does that sound logical?

grape tomatoes are elongated and smaller than the round cherry tomatoes.

It is just semantics. ;) Grape tomatoes are just a type of "cherry tomatoes" - meaning "small fruited".

Beefsteaks, plum, paste, and cherry are some the commonly used class labels. Few consider "grape" to be a class of its own since there are so few varieties - maybe some day. ;)

Shape of the fruit, like color, is genetically determined so if you grew seeds from small elongated tomatoes then you had a 99% chance of getting small elongated fruit. If the seeds you grew were from Santa Sweet's then 99% odds are Santa Sweets is what you got from the plants and those seeds will breed true.

Dave

PS: you can always post a quick follow-up by just making a minor change in the Subject of Posting box on the message - something like "more info".

This touches a little nerve for me. Those of us who ask for "GRAPE" tomatoes are looking for a particular shape that is not the same as a cherry, which is round. So it is no "just semantics" if you are the one looking for the football shaped little tomatoes and are sold a round cherry tomato. Twice I asked for grape tomatoes and ended up with round cherries and I will never buy my plants from those people again. While Cherry might refer to any small fruited tomato to you, there is a reason for using the term "grape" tomato. When I ask for a grape I WANT a grape, not what someone else thinks I should be happy with just because it is also small. I usually grow a Super Sweet 100, and a Grape, and this year like last year, I plan to grow a yellow pear, a red grape and a red cherry. Small fruited tomatoes are called cherries because of the size and shape. A grape is also a small fruited tomato but does not resemble a cherry at all and I bet the large majority of people who cared enough to ask for a grape would not be happy at all to find out down the road that they had been given a cherry because the person they asked decided without consulting them that they should just be happy with any small fruited tomato. Johnnys seeds separates them into different categories, Burpee does not but does say in description which are grapes, and Parks just lists them all alphabetically. I wish they all would catagorize them as small fruited and then sub catgorize them into cherry, grape, pear, etc. I HATE asking for a particular type and weeks later finding out all the time and work went into something I DIDN'T want.

I remember way-back-when and Santa Hybrid seeds were for sale so I got some from TGS. I missed them the last several years and bought a container of Santa Sweets from the local grocery store after reading a similar thread probably late 2007. It was my 1st attempt at saving seeds and I must've done alright because they have had a good germination rate since then and all have come up true. I guess the odds will catch up with me one day and all my plants that year will be from the "bad seed"!

Sue, perhaps it would be best if you look at the pictures of small fruited varieties being sold, at those places that do show pictures, so you know what you should expect.

And if a seed source has no pictures then look for the word grape in the variety description.

I'm one who does use the generic term cherry for small fruited varieties but you know me well enough by now to know that I do distinguish between grape and oval and mini-beef and round with respect to individual named varieties.

I think I mentioned in a post above that after Andrew Chu introduced Santa F1 there really was a grape tomato craze, that goes on yet today, and many hybridizers rushed to market many different ones, but in all cases that I know of where they're being sold either a picture is shown to indicate it's grape shaped, or the word grape is in the variety description. If it's not then I'd move on to one that does have a picture or the word grape is in the description.

Before Andrew Chu ever introduced Santa F1 from the Known-YOu seed Co in Taiwan there were grape shaped varieties that did exist, but folks didn't pay that much attention to them, seeing them as just another expression of a small fruited cherry type( generic). It took national marketing to introduce them to the wider public rather than just being known by the tomato obsessed individuals such as myself and others like me. ( smile)

Carolyn

Thanks Carolyn, I do that now. I had passed by some plants at the farmers market that had hand written tags with variety names but all were around a sign that said Cherries. The man had so many plants, I just asked if he had any grape tomatoes and he steered me to some plants in the "cherry" section, and said they were grape tomatoes, but of coarse they were not. I also tried some from Walmart several years ago labeled grape, that were cherry. I began to wonder if they started to get a lot of requests for the grapes and were tired of watching the cherries just sit there and not sell, so said they were grape just to get them to sell. If Walmart was getting a lot of requests, and asked for some grape tomatoes after you planted all your varities for the season, and you could suddenly move all your plants by calling them grape instead of cherry, maybe the line would blur in some peoples minds. I no longer believe farmers trying to sell huge numbers of plants marked cherries, and I won't buy them from big box stores where tags can get moved and where the people that work there wouldn't know a grape from a beefstake. I also now have internet on my phone, so if I see a variety without a photo I can find it online with a quick search and see a picture. I have NO doubt I could trust your recommendations and categorization when I ask for a grape tomato. :) Buy the way, do you have any variety recommendations for red grapes and yellow grapes or pears? Taste is number 1, but a variety of sizes, shapes and colors makes using them so much more fun. :) Much more appealing to the eye.

I've been growing one called Santa Lucia hybrid from Nichol's Garden Nursery for three years now, and it's been early, dependable and tasty...it's quite firm, and doesn't crack, but is still sweet and tender-skinned.

I noticed in an extension report someone posted rating grape varieties that there was a "Lucia" and of course Santa, but not "Santa Lucia", but the info looks promising.

Here is a link that might be useful: grape variety trial