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Red cherry tomato !?

mrsb224mrsb224 Posts: 4
in Fruit & veg
Did anyone else sow the free GW Red Cherry tomato seeds - these are what I've had come up, not looking very red cherry like, any ideas??
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  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    Those resemble some variety of Beefsteak ( there are plenty ) - certainly not "cherry".
    There have been several instances  of tom seeds not being as described on the packet.  They look healthy enough tho - hopefully they will start to ripen soon and you will get something worth while  :)
  • mrsb224mrsb224 Posts: 4
    philippasmith2 said:
    Those resemble some variety of Beefsteak ( there are plenty ) - certainly not "cherry".
    There have been several instances  of tom seeds not being as described on the packet.  They look healthy enough tho - hopefully they will start to ripen soon and you will get something worth while  :)
    Thank you.  Bit disappointed as we wanted cherry toms but hopefully these will (eventually) ripen into something delicious (ironically i purposely didn't grow beefsteak this year 🤣).  Do you know if the misguided seeds are just from one manufacturer??
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Were. they Thompson & Morgan? 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • mrsb224mrsb224 Posts: 4
    Yes, free with GW magazine
  • Simone_in_WiltshireSimone_in_Wiltshire Posts: 1,073
    @mrsb224 I can’t recommend Mr Fothergill. I had asked here what others use. Plenty of useful tips. 

    I’m experimenting with plants grown from a squeezed heritage variety. 
    I will try to find a nice Cherry tomato next year and will squeeze it out in February. It’s better than what we get to buy. 

    I ♥ my garden.

  • diggersjodiggersjo Posts: 172
    Well they were free... If you insist on cherry then a well known supermarket do a tom they call "Cheriplum" and I have to admit they are (most of the time) wonderful.  Personally I would grow datterini (small plum variety).
    Yorkshire, ex Italy and North East coast. Growing too old for it!
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I don’t suppose the OP insisted on Cherry,  but when you get a free packet of seeds on the cover of a very expensive magazine,  then you would expect them to be good.
    This has happened before though, not only with tomato seeds,  hate to say it but do they get rejects to put in the magazine for next to nothing price.
    I've never liked T&M seeds,  my parents who grew everything from seeds many years ago wouldn’t touch T&M. 

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Simone_in_WiltshireSimone_in_Wiltshire Posts: 1,073
    @Lyn, I had twice Mr F tomato seeds, the Cherry for free from the GW magazine last year, they behaved strange and tasted awful. This year, I bought Mr F Gardeners Delight. They were absolutely rubbish. I never had such slow growing tomatoes, and it was clear why others have no problem to keep tomatoes tidy. My ones simply didn't grow.
    Never again. Somebody in my discussion said that there would be in fact only 5 tomato seeds producers and they have obviously ruined what used to be a nice Cherry tomato in 2016, when I had bought the last Mr F Cherry seeds. They were gorgeous and 5 years of happiness with them. I didn't expect such drop in quality.

    @mrsb224 I squeezed my heritage tomato out when it was heavily overripe at the beginning of July. Just 1 week later I had all the seedlings, and decided for 2 to continue the experiment. I only want to see how they grow. I will then look for a nice tasty cherry in January, let it rest until the end of February, and then start from there.

    I ♥ my garden.

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Gardeners Delight, ironically, has been consistently described as poor, or highly variable, for a very long time. Not a tomato I'd ever bother with when there are so many better ones. The problem with free seeds is - they might be free, but you still have to spend the time and money sowing and growing them, so if they turn out to be rubbish, you've got no crop of any worth. 
    Better to browse the reliable sellers of veg/flower seeds [there are plenty] and choose from there. It's easy enough to sow seed from supermarket toms, but they won't necessarily come true.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    My dad didn’t like G Delight,  only grew them once many years ago.
    I’ve never bought Mr.F’ seeds,,  I think my parents liked Dobies,  I remember they had a catalogue,  one of the very old companies though.
    Looks like everything else and every service,   all gone a bit shoddy. 
    I will stick to Premier seeds.

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

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