📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Cascade Lava
- 🌍 Origin: A stunning novelty variety bred by Brad Gates at Wild Boar Farms (USA). Highly sought after by heirloom collectors for its unique appearance.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). The plant has a rather compact, wispy foliage structure but grows very vigorously, easily reaching 2 meters (6.5 feet) in a greenhouse and 1.7 meters (5.5 feet) outdoors.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Gorgeous round-to-plum-shaped fruits that ripen to a bright red/crimson with striking golden-yellow speckles and stripes. Weights typically range from 50-120 g (1.8-4.2 oz), though occasionally larger fruits up to 400 g (14 oz) can appear.
- 👅 Flavor & Use: Sweet, juicy, and perfectly balanced with a hint of tanginess. Extremely versatile—great for fresh salads, and fantastic for whole-jar canning as the thin skin is surprisingly resilient and doesn’t crack in jars.
- ⏳ Maturity: Early to mid-season with massive, crazy yields.
It grew in the greenhouse, and I pruned it to 3 stems. The bush is compact and not densely foliated. It is a heavy yielder. The tomatoes are sweet, tasty, and versatile, weighing 50-70 g (1.8-2.5 oz). They are great for both canning in jars and fresh salads. The skin is thin, not tough, but it didn’t crack when canned.
I am growing it this year. A gorgeous tomato. Juicy, with a nice hint of acidity. The fruit sizes vary in weight. I actually had one that weighed 400 g (14 oz)! But mostly, they are 80-120 g (2.8-4.2 oz). High yield, and it didn’t suffer from any diseases. It is also very beautiful. When it ripens, it has a bright red color with yellow speckles and stripes.
I absolutely loved this variety 👍 Crazy yield and very tasty 😋
The bush grew in the greenhouse, height about 2 m (6.5 ft). The fruits are sweet, juicy, and the skin is not tough. You could say it is an early-season variety 🙂
Here are two already heavily harvested trusses.
In this photograph, the bush has already been picked quite heavily.
These are two already heavily harvested trusses.
And this is the remainder of one truss right before the final harvest.
Somewhere I came across a description of Cascade Lava as a yellow-fruited variety… 🤔
Olga, how tall did it get outdoors in open ground?
Elena 62 wrote:
Olga, how tall did it get outdoors in open ground?
1.7 m (5.5 ft). And it wasn’t planning on stopping! But I came along and pulled it out in September.
