Black Cherry Tomato

What is a Black Cherry tomato?

Black Cherry is an open-pollinated, indeterminate cherry tomato variety that produces clusters of 1–1.5-inch deep mahogany-red fruits with a complex sweet-smoky flavor significantly different from standard red cherry tomatoes.

The name is misleading. Black Cherry tomatoes don’t turn black. At full ripeness, the fruit is a deep maroon-brown — sometimes described as dusty purple-red, sometimes as the color of dark cherries. Unripe fruits are green, shifting to olive-green, then purple, then the full deep mahogany color that signals peak ripeness.

The flavor is the reason gardeners grow Black Cherry specifically. It has more complexity than most cherry tomatoes — a sweetness layered with savory, earthy, and slightly smoky notes that make it stand out at the table and at farmers markets. It’s a variety worth growing for flavor rather than yield or appearance.

This guide covers everything US gardeners need to grow Black Cherry tomatoes from transplant through harvest.

Plant characteristics

Black Cherry is indeterminate, which means:

• It keeps growing taller all season rather than stopping at a set height
• It keeps producing fruit continuously from first ripening through frost
• It requires staking or caging from day one — it will not support itself

Without support, Black Cherry plants sprawl along the ground, break stems under their own weight, and become unproductive. With a 5–6-foot stake or a large wire tomato cage, they produce continuously from July to October across most of the US.

Plant characteristics:

• Plant height: 6–8 feet when staked (unpruned)
• Fruit size: 1–1.5 inches diameter
• Fruit color: Deep mahogany-red at full ripeness
• Days to maturity: 64–65 days from transplant
• Fruit per cluster: 6–12 fruits in each truss
• Season: Continuous production until first frost

How Black Cherry compares to similar varieties

Black Cherry sits in a category of dark-fruited cherry tomatoes that has expanded significantly over the past decade. Several similar varieties exist, each with slight differences.

Black Cherry occupies the middle ground between the sweetness of Sungold and the fuller complexity of Cherokee Purple Cherry. It’s more productive than larger heirloom cherry types and has better disease resistance than some older open-pollinated varieties.

For an overview of how Black Cherry fits in the broader cherry tomato category, see our cherry tomato plant guide. For contrast with heirloom variety flavor profiles, see our heirloom tomatoes guide.

Planting Black Cherry tomatoes: timing by zone

Start Black Cherry seeds indoors 6–8 weeks before your last expected frost date. Transplant outside after soil temperature reaches 60°F and overnight lows stay consistently above 50°F.

Black Cherry transplants available at nurseries in spring are an equally good option. Look for stocky, dark-green seedlings 6–8 inches tall with thick stems. Avoid tall, pale, leggy transplants — these were grown under insufficient light and establish poorly.

Planting steps:

1. Dig a hole deep enough to bury the transplant up to its lowest set of leaves
2. Remove all leaves that would be underground
3. Place the stake or cage at planting time — doing it later damages roots
4. Backfill, firm gently, and water deeply
5. Mulch 3–4 inches around the base, keeping mulch away from the stem

Burying the stem deep encourages roots to form along the buried stem, creating a stronger, more drought-tolerant root system.

Growing Black Cherry tomatoes: care through the season

Watering

Water consistently and deeply — 1–2 inches per week split across several sessions. Inconsistent watering causes blossom end rot and fruit splitting, the two most common problems with Black Cherry tomatoes.

Black Cherry fruits develop thin skin that splits readily when watering is uneven. If plants receive very little water for several days and then a heavy rain, the interior swells faster than the skin can expand. The solution is consistency, not reduction.

Mulch 3–4 inches of wood chips, straw, or pine bark around the base of the plant. Mulch moderates soil moisture between waterings and reduces splitting risk.

Water in the morning, at soil level, not overhead. Wet foliage invites fungal disease.

Fertilizing

Heavy production requires regular feeding. Black Cherry tomatoes producing continuously from July to frost deplete container and garden soil nutrients faster than plants growing for a fixed season.

Fertilizer schedule:

• At planting: Work slow-release granular tomato fertilizer into the planting hole
• At first flower bud: Begin liquid tomato fertilizer (low nitrogen, high potassium and phosphorus)
• During fruit production: Continue liquid feed every 7–10 days

Switch to a bloom-booster or tomato fertilizer (look for ratios like 5-10-10 or 8-32-16) when flowering begins. High-nitrogen fertilizers push leaf growth at the expense of fruit production. For a full comparison of tomato fertilizer types and timing, see our tomato fertilizer guide.

Pruning

Black Cherry, like all indeterminate tomatoes, produces suckers — new shoots that emerge at the junction between the main stem and each lateral branch. Left unpruned, every sucker becomes a new branch, and the plant becomes a tangled, difficult-to-support mass by midsummer.

For a single-stem or two-stem plant:

• Identify suckers growing in the “V” between the main stem and a branch
• Pinch them out when small (under 2 inches) — snap off with your fingers
• Remove any suckers below the first flower cluster entirely
• Tie the main stem to the stake every 8–12 inches as it grows

Pruning improves airflow, reduces disease, and directs plant energy into the existing fruit load rather than new vegetative growth.

For detailed technique, see our how to prune tomatoes guide.

Staking and support

Black Cherry plants grown to 6–8 feet need serious support. Options:

Standard 3-foot tomato cages sold at garden centers are too small for Black Cherry. They may support early growth but buckle by midsummer when the plant is fully loaded with fruit.

For building a Florida weave trellis system, see our Florida weave tomatoes guide.

Harvesting Black Cherry tomatoes

Pick Black Cherry tomatoes when they reach full deep mahogany-red color and give slightly to gentle pressure. Don’t harvest by color alone — let the fruit soften slightly before picking.

The biggest harvest mistake with Black Cherry: picking too early because the color is unfamiliar. A fully ripe Black Cherry is significantly darker than an underripe one. Underripe fruits taste like ordinary sweet cherry tomatoes. Fully ripe fruits have the complex, wine-like depth the variety is known for.

Harvest indicators:

• Color: deep maroon-brown with a slight dusty bloom
• Texture: gives slightly to gentle thumb pressure (not hard)
• Ease of removal: ripe fruits detach easily with a slight twist; unripe fruits resist

Check plants daily once fruit clusters start ripening. Individual tomatoes in a cluster ripen over 3–7 days. Harvest ripe fruits promptly — overripe fruits drop, attract wasps and fruit flies, and signal the plant to slow production.

Production continues until the first hard frost (below 28°F). In Zones 7 and warmer, plants may survive light frosts under row cover and continue producing into November.

Common problems with Black Cherry tomatoes

Splitting is the most frequent complaint. Caused by inconsistent watering. Fix: mulch deeply and water on a consistent schedule.

Blossom end rot appears as a sunken dark patch on the bottom of fruits. Caused by calcium deficiency linked to inconsistent watering, not soil calcium levels. Fix: consistent watering, not calcium supplements.

Fungal disease (early blight, Septoria leaf spot) affects lower leaves by midsummer. Symptoms: brown spots with yellow halos, starting on oldest leaves. Fix: remove affected leaves promptly, avoid overhead watering, apply copper fungicide if infection spreads upward.

Poor fruit set in heat occurs when daytime temperatures stay above 90°F for extended periods. Pollen becomes nonviable in extreme heat and flowers drop without setting fruit. Fix: provide afternoon shade cloth at 30% density during heat waves; production resumes when temperatures moderate.

Growing Black Cherry tomatoes in pots

Black Cherry’s vigorous indeterminate growth makes it a large commitment in a container, but it’s workable with the right setup.

Container minimums:

• 10-gallon pot (14 inches wide, 16 inches deep)
• 6-foot stake placed at planting time and secured through the drain holes if possible
• Prune to a single main stem to keep height manageable

Container plants need daily watering in summer — sometimes twice daily in temperatures above 90°F. Container soil dries much faster than garden beds, and drought stress triggers both splitting and blossom end rot.

Feed container plants with liquid tomato fertilizer every 5–7 days during fruit production — containers leach nutrients faster than in-ground planting.

For complete container tomato technique, see our how to grow tomatoes in pots guide.