Cherokee Purple Heirloom Tomato Seeds- 75+ Seeds by Ohio Heirloom Seeds

I tried to glow 10 of the seeds and got all 10 to germinate, but 3 died off once I transferred them all to soil. This may have been my fault though because they did germinate. I almost always use the paper towel zip lock bag method to at least get them to come from the seed. Then transfer to soil. They were indeed Cherokee Purple. However the harvest was small, and they aren't doing too well in my zone during mid June, which is zone 8b. I can't blame the seller for this, because it's an heirloom plant and they tend to be more disease prone, and don't tend to produce as much as hybrids. For some reason this season the bumble bees that normally visit didn't come. Most of my tomatoes did fine without me hand pollinating, but the Cherokee Purple didn't set a single fruit without me hand pollinating the flower. The back side of an electric toothbrush method worked well for the flowers I did pollinate. Basically, it was fun to grow such a weird looking and different tasting tomato, but I don't think I'll grow these in bulk anymore. Maybe 1 or 2 plants a year for something different. Cherokee Purple is too problematic for my zone, and it just doesn't produce the way I want. I can't fault the seller for this. My research showed that everything was as expected for this tomato type. So if you want to try something different, go for it. But if you're looking for a high producing disease resistant tomato, then do some research on good hybrids for your zone.

They have a more rich flavor than most common modern tomatoes. Some people may not like the acidity, but we found them excellent. We planted them late like in mid June, they germinated quickly, we had seedlings in 4 days!! We ended up only using 4 plants, but we harvested fairly large tomatoes all the way into late October, and the plants seemed to increase productivity after a mild frost!!!! I actually made 4 quarts of tomato juice with the last harvest after eating tomatoes for more than 2 months. Definitely the BEST BLT tomato I've had. The seed chambers are small, there is lots of "meat" to this tomato. Definitely have our attention. These will be the only tomatoes in our garden next year!!!

These germinated at almost if not 100% rate. Sowed on 5/22 and at 6" or taller at less than a month. I picked the first fruit about 4-6 oz on 8/19. So- less than 3 months. Lots of flowers but it's extremely hot and humid the last month, so fruit is not setting. The fact that the plant survived (in a grow bag) through the harsh conditions here to actually bare a decent sized fruit warrants 5 stars! Update 3/2019 These had a second set of fruit much better than the first. If overnight temps are too high, fruit will not set. But otherwise the seeds performed as advertised, I'd say. So its the end of October and only now there is a second fruit! So for 3 plants, 2 fruits after 5 months is not ideal! I'm going to keep the rating at 5 stars because I think it's my tropical weather at fault (temps only now going below 75 at night and only barely).

At this time the seeds had low germination. Waiting to see how well the plants do.

Good tomatoes

Some of the seeds that germinated were not Cherokee purple tomatoes but something else. The tomatoes were red and smaller.

I purchased these for planting in 2025. I would say that only a quarter of the plants I started actually had dark skin. I think these are probably a dirty seeds that are crossed to something else.

I bought these seeds last year, and had an excellent germination of almost all the seeds. I planted 50 into soil when they reached about 4"+. I was giving tomatoes away. They grow in stages and I kept them trimmed off the soil. I staked then as needed up to over 4' feet. They mostly grew as expected, but when multiple tomatoes grow close together on the same cluster, they can join together; so, I remove some to keep separated. They tasted amazing and make a great caprese salads.