I’m a newbie gardener. This is my first time growing Cherokee Purple tomatoes. I’m in zone 10a and they were on the recommended list for this part of Florida. I’ve got some really nice fruit on there but they just don’t seem to be changing color. We had some cold snaps a few weeks ago and I saw that could slow down things but it’s been fairly warm most days recently. They’re in large grow bags and I’ve been fertilizing every 3 weeks or so with a 10-10-10 liquid. They look healthy but just getting impatient.
by GC_Woodworking
7 Comments
The one in the middle here is showing some color – harvest it when you see a bit of pink flush at the blossom end.
IME CP’s are a bit tricky – if you wait for them to look fully ripe on the plant you’ll probably lose them to a critter and if you don’t you better eat them ASAP after harvesting.
They took the longest time to ripen of all tomatoes I have ever grown. I had to cut off all the small ones, trim back the greenery, and cover and winterize them to get the mature fruit to start to ripen just a tiny bit two summers ago before our first hard freeze. I have not tried to grow them again. In previous years, I just ended up ripping them out.
They aren’t ready yet. The middle one looks like it could be starting to blush but that’s for your eye to see and not a photograph.
In cooler weather it takes longer. Also the bigger the tomato the longer it takes. Patience. It’s worth it. This thing will go nuts in the spring.
I just had my first Cherokee Purple ripen last week and it was incredible.
be patient, they are still growing, keep up with feedings and you will be smothered in tomato soon
I’ve had them take nearly a full month to ripen once they reached full size on the vine. Just be patient.
Hey im growing the same and in the same zone in FL. I would go easy on the fertilizer and possible switch to a low burn one weekly, like fish emussilsions. But I don’t suspect that’s the issue here necessarily. They take a long time to ripen. The days are shorter now so unless your garden gets full sun growth may be a bit slow. Because of this i would also suggest not pruning them unless youre cutting off blight so you can maximize energy absorption. They dont look bad though!