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monashguy

How long does it takes from flower to fruit for cherry tomatoes?

monashguy
9 years ago

I live in a hot country which whole year round is hot and warm. Temperature is usually 77 Degrees Farrenheit at the coldest(average) and usually at the hottest of the day is about 90 degrees farrenheit whole year round. I planted a brand new hybrid which was only released this year which is the sweet aperitif cherry tomatoes, my only question now is the plant has flower buds, it hasn't bloomed yet but I believe it to be flower buds. How long does it takes to develop from flowers to fruit and I live in Malaysia which is around the equator.

Comments (14)

  • seysonn
    9 years ago

    Search "Tomato timeline" in this forum. There is a nice documented article about a beef steak. You can rough estimate cherry based on that. Your growing condition is almost ideal and I can guesstimate that an average cherry should take about 35-40 days from flower ( = pollination) to ripe fruit. In my cool PNW all tomato numbers (DTM, from flower to fruit, ripening, ..) take much longer , maybe 20% longer than say if it were somewhere down in Alabama.

  • Sandpaper Tongue
    9 years ago

    This is my first year for tomatoes, but I have been taking lots of notes. For my black cherries, I saw flower buds appear on June 20, and it was just yesterday that I saw a tiny fruit bud. (Though it was there the day before, I just wasn't positive it was going to turn into a tomato!)

    So, in my experience, around 10-12 days from flower bud -> flower -> fruit bud.

    As for my other cherry tomatoes, the earliest ones formed on May 30, and now, 30+ days later, are full sized but still green. Hopefully in the next few weeks there will start to be some color changes!

  • monashguy
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks everybody for the replies, I found your opinion and advice on this matter very helpful.

  • carolyn137
    9 years ago

    The problem I see is that there are cherries that are early, or midseason, and sometimes late season and it might be a good idea to know which cherry variety a person is growing in terms of time to ripe fruits.

    And growth of plants is also associated with lots of variables as to how the plants are grown, which amendments are used, if so which ones and when and how much and that's b/c all those variables are involved in time to ripeness as well.

    In Malaysia, and I know some who grow both in Malaysia and the Phillipines, which has weather similar to Malaysia, the variables also include the hot and humid weather, since sustained high temps destroy pollen and sustained high humidity clumps pollen making it less effective. And those folks have said there are only certain times of the year that they can plant tomatoes and get a good crop.

    But you probably know when those times are since I don't remember if they specified same.

    I know that timeline linked to very well, since it was done by Paul, who used to be at GW and uploaded all the FAQ's that we did here quite a few years ago, as a group project. And maybe it's only me, but I think I'd find it hard to compare a beefsteak variety with any given cherry, especially the early and midseason cherry varieties.

    Carolyn

  • monashguy
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I read in forums and online and did countless research, it seems in the tropics, cherry tomatoes can be grown all year round. hmmm.......... by the way, I am from Malaysia.

  • carolyn137
    9 years ago

    I know you are in Malaysia since you posted that in your first post. ( smile)

    Are there different areas, different climates, in your country that would account for the person in Malaysia that I know to say that only at certain time(s) of the year should tomato seeds be sown?

    Carolyn

  • monashguy
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I am currently growing sweet aperitif tomatoes. Thompson & morgan says it is the sweetest tomatoes around and I did my own research, it is definitely the sweetest, but when I read on the internet, it seems not many people is growing it. We have only one season in Malaysia which is hot, hot and hot. Well there is two seasons here, rainy season and dry season. But rainy and dry season temperature is almost the same, Just example if today is cloudy and raining, temperature will be cooler by around 5 celcius, but as soon as the next day you will be back to square one that is hot unless it rains again. I grew my tomatoes on 29 May 2014 and it took only 3 days to germinate and packet says 7 days. It says germination temperature is 15-21 celcius more a less, but the afternoon temperature was around 37-39 celcius at the peak and around 28 celcius at the coolest and still germinate than less than half the time, sometimes people give lots of advise, I always believe this, never try never know and too many good cooks spoils the dish. My tomato plants is now 1 month and 1 week old and it already has flower buds. One packet seed has 10 seeds in it, some say it is a hybrid some says heirloom, whatever it is, if I do have extra seeds in the future, would you be interested in having some? If I do send postage is on me :-)

  • carolyn137
    9 years ago

    I think you said that you bought the seeds from T and Morgan, and the link for this variety is at the bottom of this post, from theT and M website..

    Thanks so much for your kind offer of seeds, but I seldom grow any hybrids these days, just Sungold F1 every few years, ( smile)

    Carolyn

    Here is a link that might be useful: Sweet Aperitif hybrid

  • monashguy
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Yes I bought the seeds from Thompson and Morgan, Thompson and Morgan worldwide is a different web address from Thompson and Morgan website although they are the same company, I believe the Thompson and Morgan website is for buyers from UK only as they are a UK company, then there is a website called Thompson and Morgan worldwide for buyers outside UK, anyway thanks Carolyn for your contribution to this thread.

  • labradors_gw
    9 years ago

    Monashguy,

    May I suggest that you save some seeds and grow them to see if they turn out to breed "true".

    I checked out "Sweet Apperitif" on-line, and I too saw some sites that claimed that it's open pollinated......

    Linda

  • monashguy
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    hey Linda,
    It makes no sense for me to find out whether it will breed true or not though I don't mind offering you some tomato seeds, the weather here is same all year round as I live in a tropical country which is hot and humid, humidity is around 90% all year round. So my tomatoes plants won't die, a tomato plant can live at least 5 years, and if I need new plants, I can just cut off the suckers and plant it and it will be true to type as it is part of the old plant. And if I do grow and save seeds and with my original plants, assuming if it is not true or it is a f1 hybrid, there is no way to know because the flower or pollens will mix so I won't be able to tell the difference, assuming if indeed mine is a F1 hybrid and i give you the seed and you plant again over and over again, you will know the difference, so I won't mind sending you seeds if I have extra seeds and if I want to send that is for you to test it out. My one month old tomatoes plants now have around 10 flower buds each plant and i have six of them and they are growing real fast because tomatoes thrive in hot weather.

  • labradors_gw
    9 years ago

    http://www.gourmetgenetics.com/tomato/aperitif.html

    According to the above link, from the company who bred Sweet Aperitif, it's NOT a hybrid, but some seed vendors would have us think that it is - sigh.

    Thank you Monashguy for your very kind offer to send me some seeds, but I have quite a collection of tomato seeds that I'm keen to try next year, and enough room to grow them all.

    You are so lucky to live in the tropics where you can grow tomatoes year-round! I am very envious!

    Regards,
    Linda

  • gelina
    8 years ago

    Hi Monashguy, am wondering if I could get some of the tomato seeds from you? I am interested to grow my own tomatoes after tasting some sweet type while in Europe. Sure beats the sour tasting tomatoes we get in the supermarket. Bdw I am from Malaysia , staying in Subang Jaya. Cheers