Cherry Tomato

Cherry tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme) are the most reliable producers in the tomato category and, pound for pound, the most profitable crop most home gardeners can grow. USDA ERS retail price data puts cherry and grape-type tomatoes at $3.00 to $4.50 per pound - roughly double what slicing types fetch. A healthy indeterminate plant running a full season can return 12 to 20 lb. Do the math before you plant slicers in a small bed.

The catch is that cherry tomatoes are still tomatoes. They need the same soil prep, staking infrastructure, and disease management as their larger relatives. What they offer in return is faster maturity (most varieties clock in 10 to 15 days earlier than standard slicers), more forgiving growing conditions, and a harvest window that starts earlier and runs longer.

Sungold vs. Sweet 100: what actually matters

Most gardeners eventually settle on one of two camps. ‘Sungold’ (Tokita Seed) is an F1 orange cherry tomato that matures in about 57 days and consistently tests at 9 to 10 Brix - measuring dissolved sugars, which correlates closely with perceived sweetness. The skin is thin, which means cracking during rain or irrigation inconsistency, but also means nobody complains about the skin being tough. It’s the variety most extension horticulturists and farmers market growers reach for when flavor is the priority.

‘Sweet 100’ is a red cherry that’s been around since the 1980s and sets fruit in long, dense trusses of 20 to 50 tomatoes per cluster. It’s not as sweet as Sungold but it’s more heat-tolerant and produces reliably through summer heat waves when Sungold may slow down. Indeterminate, like most cherry types - it will cover a 5-foot cage by August.

Other cultivars worth knowing: ‘Sun Sugar’ is an orange F1 similar to Sungold with better crack resistance. ‘Juliet’ is technically a grape type (slightly elongated, firmer flesh), matures in 60 days, and holds on the vine longer without splitting - useful if you can’t check plants every day. ‘Black Cherry’ and ‘Indigo Rose’ add purple pigmentation from anthocyanins and have more complex, less sweet flavor if that’s what you’re after.

The ROI case

At $3.50/lb and 12 lb per plant, one cherry tomato plant returns $42 in grocery value from a seed investment of roughly $0.25 (a $3.50 packet contains 25 to 50 seeds). That multiplier - seed cost to grocery value - is among the highest of any summer crop. The number goes higher if you compare against organic cherry tomatoes, which retail at $5.00 to $7.00 per pound at most grocery stores.

Two plants are enough for a household doing fresh eating. Three or more and you’ll be making sauce and freezing halves by August.

Growing requirements

The requirements here are almost identical to slicing tomatoes - see the tomato entry for the full breakdown. The key differences:

Cherry tomatoes are slightly more tolerant of heat stress during fruit set. Standard slicers often drop flowers when nighttime temperatures exceed 75°F; most cherry varieties continue setting fruit a few degrees higher than that.

Soil temperature at transplant time still needs to be above 60°F. Air temperature alone is a poor guide - a 72°F afternoon with 52°F soil is too cold. Get a $12 soil thermometer if you’re guessing.

Indeterminate cherry tomatoes need substantial support. A single 5-foot cage is usually not enough by midsummer. Plan for a 6-foot stake plus cage combination, or train the plant up a sturdy trellis. A Sungold vine that’s had a good season can exceed 8 feet and will lean a cage over if it’s not secured.

Soil pH of 6.2 to 6.8. Heavy feeders - amend with compost at planting and side-dress with balanced fertilizer every 3 to 4 weeks during vegetative growth. Back off nitrogen once fruit starts setting (Cornell Cooperative Extension, Tomato Production Guides, 2023).

What goes wrong

Cracking is the most common complaint with cherry tomatoes, particularly thin-skinned varieties like Sungold. It happens when fruit absorbs water rapidly after a dry period - either from rain or inconsistent irrigation. Mulch 2 to 3 inches deep around plants to buffer soil moisture, use drip or soaker hose rather than overhead watering, and harvest daily during fruit swells after rain. Crack-resistant varieties (Sun Sugar, Juliet) are worth planting if this is a recurring problem.

Late blight (Phytophthora infestans) is the same oomycete pathogen that devastated the Irish potato famine. In cool, wet summers it can collapse a cherry tomato plant in a week. There’s no cure. Resistant varieties like ‘Mountain Magic’ and ‘Defiant PhR’ are the practical answer in high-risk regions. Row spacing for airflow and drip irrigation reduce surface wetness that allows spore germination.

Hornworms (Manduca quinquemaculata, M. sexta) are 4-inch green caterpillars that blend into stems and can defoliate a plant quickly. Check twice a week and hand-pick. Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Bt-k) applied to foliage controls larvae on contact.

Tomato yellow leaf curl virus is transmitted by silverleaf whitefly (Bemisia tabaci). It causes upward leaf curling, stunting, and fruit set failure. There’s no treatment. Control whitefly populations with yellow sticky traps and reflective mulch, which disorients the insects. Certified virus-resistant seed varieties are available.

Harvest and storage

Cherry tomatoes are done when they release from the vine with gentle upward pressure - no pulling required. Color and slight softening at the blossom end are secondary cues. Harvest daily or every other day at peak season. Leaving ripe fruit on the plant reduces new set and invites disease and birds.

Do not refrigerate. Temperatures below 55°F break down volatile flavor compounds and the thin-skinned texture you grew them for (Maul et al., Postharvest Biology and Technology, 2000). Room temperature storage on the counter, out of direct sun, works for 3 to 5 days.

For preservation, freeze halves on a baking sheet then transfer to bags. Frozen cherry tomatoes hold well for 6 months and work directly in cooked applications without thawing. Dehydrating concentrates flavor further - a half tray of cherry tomatoes becomes a handful of intensely flavored dried tomatoes that store for months.

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Related crops: Tomato, Basil

Related reading: Companion Planting Basics - what the evidence actually says about the tomato-basil pairing and others