Sweet Millions are an improved variety of Sweet 100's. This is the variety that I planted for the last few years, along with 10 other varieties. I grew 56 cherry tomatoes and sold them at farmers markets, I know a few things about them.

I am looking for a red one too. I don't want real large cherries, but I want to trial a new red variety next year.

Jay

Gardener's Delight yields great and has a wonderful sweet taste. Black Cherry is a handsome tomato, and sweet, but surpassed by Gardener's Delight in flavor and sweetness. Those are the ones I grow.

thanks all, however i have sungold and they constantly split. i also heard Gardeners Delight are VERY prone to splitting.

I am looking for a red cherry tomato with the least splitting.

I maybe got 50% that didn't split...so...can someone recommend a good red cherry tomato that is similar to Sweet 100 but without the proneness to splitting?

I maybe got 50% that didn't split...so...can someone recommend a good red cherry tomato that is similar to Sweet 100 but without the proneness to splitting?

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Several of us have tried to answer your initial question, which you just posed again, but I've been growing tomatoes for a very long time and lots of cherries as well and I don't know of ONE variety that is more or less likely to split b'c it depends so much on the local conditions that individual growers experience from year to year.

With regard to Gardner's Delight, I think you're the first person to mention that it splits a lot but that hasn't been my experience at all.

Again, different varieties as grown by different folks in different geographic areas and with their own local conditions are bound to see difference in the persformance of ALL varieties, including cherries.

Well, we've tried to help, haven't we? ( smile)

Carolyn

I have 2 suggestions for non-splitters. For an orange - try Sunsugar instead of Sungold. It rarely splits for me. And for a red - try Tomatoberry. This was my first year with them, and I think I lost maybe 5-6 fruits all season long to splitting out of 11 loaded plants. Produce a ton of tomatoes, hold well on the plants, and taste great too!

I have the ability to grow tomatoes in hoophouses, and that is the only place I grow some varieties due to splitting. The above 2 do just about as well under cover as planted out in the field.

As far as all of the tomatoes on a single truss ripening at the same time - I have never found a tomato that does that. As Carolyn said, they ripen on trusses, with the ripest near the main stem. When you have large clusters it is nearly impossible to harvest an entire ripe truss at one time, as they are at varying degrees of ripeness. You just need to harvest individual ripe fruits from the truss vs. trying to harvest the whole thing ripe. I try to harvest my cherries every other day.

Hope this helps!

I also grow in a hoophouse which leads to full control over watering. That said, could outdoor growers utilize a plastic mulch to keep soil moisture under their full control? Its more work but all the fruit will be harvestable.

Try Husky Cherry Red.
Sweet, good production, manageable plant size of 4-5 ft., 3/4" - 1" cherries, and not prone to splitting. Great for salads or snacking. I've grown this quite a few times -- I stray to others, but always come back.
-WC2K8

Sakata's 'Sweet Treats'
you can find it at Territorial Seed Company

It's Sweet Quartz with more crack resistance

It is difficult to find long truss types that will be uniformly ripe at one time. Usually the terminal ones are behind or if ripe the most mature ones are likely over-ripe.

If splitting is your primary concern over other issues then just pick them earlier and let them finish ripening inside. That is the easy and commonly used solution to eliminate splitting.

It won't eliminate all of it - splitting is the nature of the beast - but will eliminate most of it.

Dave

PS: another vote for Gardener's Delight

I agree with EK, Tomatoberry is a great red, strawberry shaped tomato. I am very happy with them. The seed is a little high, but not out of control. I have never had alot of luck with Suncherry or Sunsugar. I prefer the Sungold.

I also grow in high tunnels. I pick every ripe tomato off the vines each time I harvest. That way I know that every tomato is at about the same maturity and I have few problems with cracking or them going bad. I also pick a little early and let them ripen up.

What about a grape shaped one? I really liked Red Pearl from Johnny's The Golden Sweet was really good to. It was yellow.

Jay

Jay

I like sweet million over sweet 100. however I agree with the person who said pick them slightly early and this will almost eliminate splitting regardless of the variety . one of my favorite small but not cherry is the 4 th of July.it is ping pong ball size.

amish salad is a larger grape shaped tomato that won't split no matter what the weather does. It's pinky red, sweet, firm, produces tomatoes about 1.5" long by 1" wide. It's a very large plant that will take over the planet, and it produces in clusters of 6-10. You can pick them off by the handful.

One cause of splitting is rain when the tomatoes are just about ripe. So, watching the weather and not overwatering is usually quite helpful. Picking just before peak ripeness is a good practice as well.

I grew a variety of cherries including Sungold and had few problems with splitting using the above practices.

I love Coyote Yellow, and it did not have any issues with splitting for me, even under the most adverse conditions (our summers are very hot, with a LOT of rain). I understand it to be a real love or hate flavor, but have found no one that didn't absolutely love it. Brown Berry also did well, and I am planning on trying both the black cherry and a currant-type next year.

So far I haven't tasted or grown a better tasting variety than Sweet 100 which I think tastes better than Supersweet or the other common off the rack red cherries. I keep trying new cherry varieties every year in the hopes of beating Sweet 100 also, if I find a better one I'll let you know.

I've been growing Sweet 100s for a decade, and have never had a single one split. So splitting isn't a varietal characteristic. It may be that lots of water will do it, though.

Will have to disagree Dan since I've repeatedly seen huge variety differences in splitting. Sungold is one of the worst followed closely by Black Cherry. Unfortunately, varieties that seldom split are usually tough skinned. Sweet Treats was one mentioned and Toronjino or Pareso (grape) are also almost as tough. Since some people mentioned larger fruited varieties like Mountain Magic and Tomatoberry Garden I'll also throw Juliet into the list that everyone complains is so tough skinned.

In another thread on this subject I suggested pinching the stem when harvesting so as to leave the stem attached. I don't submit to harvesting unripe fruit so although it may lessen splitting it produces a tomato of similar quality to imported supermarket selections.

Agree with Barrie above...I love the taste of sungold's...but they simply split too often for me. My Black Cherry's seldom split (grown alongside sungold). I am growing Sunsugar this year...so my jury is still out...haha.

I appreciate the supporting comment Fireduck. I'll add that I grow far more Sunsugar plants every year than Sungold and still experience some cracking with those, just not as bad. The point is that we all can tolerate a small level of cracking since it allows us to taste those varieties on the spot.

There are a few things I do to minimize the problem of cracking. I pick cleanly twice a week but that is because I have farmers' markets on those days. I also layer only 4" deep in stackable totes so that they don't weigh heavily on fruits below and never wet them after picking. I'm picking mine in High Tunnels so if it is damp I run circulation fans and if it is raining outside I cover all totes to transport.