Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 4-6 Experience)
Didn’t see a thread for this in the catalog, feel free to merge if there is one.
Really liked this variety. Grew it in the greenhouse. The vine is tall and beautiful with a really unusual foliage color. Pruned the suckers, though they didn’t really grow out of control anyway. The fruits look gorgeous on the plant. These little tomatoes taste sweet, but lacked a little tang for my taste. Heavy yielder and super low-maintenance. The fruits get practically black, with just a small red spot at the bottom end. Very long fruiting window.
Edited February 2, 2015 by Drosera
My little Smurfs 😊! I liked the flavor, but I didn’t love that they ripen really unevenly 😞!
Hey ladies, have y’all tried canning these? Do they keep their color or crack a lot in the jar?
Mine cracked, their skin is pretty thin.
Down here in the south with an irrigated garden, they actually came out a bit tart. The Black Cherry growing right next to them totally beat them on sweetness.
Hey ladies, have y’all tried canning these? Do they keep their color or crack a lot in the jar?
If you use vinegar, they turn a muddy brown. Didn’t crack too much, and the ones that did crack didn’t leak their juices.
I actually loved them fermented with mustard, tasty and kept their color. Honestly, they did much better for me outdoors in the dirt.
My Smurfs didn’t make the cut for greenhouse space. Growing outside among the flowers. Not in any rush to get tall. By July 18, it still hadn’t hit 3.3 ft (1 m). Set 5 trusses and 3 more are blooming. Planted it super late, mid-April, just to make sure I didn’t lose my only seed. We ate a few already. Taste has a pleasant tartness to it. Never watered it once. The vine isn’t massive, but it’s really sturdy. The first tomato weighed 1.1 oz (32 g).
I loved this variety, loaded with fruit, hanging like big sweet cherries, so beautiful… Maybe the fruits run a little smaller down south? Good, sweet flavor. Very long harvest window, I started it out as multi-stem and then just gave up on pruning the suckers.
Grew outdoors…
Just to add.
Never sprayed for late blight, and it stayed totally disease-free until the frost finally took it out at the end of the season.
Olga, so glad to hear it does well without water, because my little smurfs from your seeds set fruit too, they’re so pretty, but haven’t plumped up yet — still waiting))) 😯
Grew this one in the greenhouse with some light shade. Reached about 5 feet (1.5 m) tall, mid-season ripening. Cherry tomatoes, reddish-purple, round and juicy.
Could somebody tell me how to know when these Smurfs are actually ripe? I’ve got these black balls the size of a good sweet cherry hanging there, they don’t seem to be getting any bigger, and they’re slightly soft to the touch now. Are they supposed to turn a little red or do they stay completely pitch black?
Why don’t you take a risk!!! Pick a little smurf!!! And taste it!!! 😄 🌸 🌸 🌸
Could somebody tell me how to know when these Smurfs are actually ripe? I’ve got these black balls the size of a good sweet cherry hanging there, they don’t seem to be getting any bigger, and they’re slightly soft to the touch now. Are they supposed to turn a little red or do they stay completely pitch black?
They should turn red.
Full Summary: Plant, Yield, Taste and Storage
- 🌿 Plant: Indeterminate cherry tomato, growing about 3.3 to 5 ft (1-1.5 m) tall. Growers note the vines are sturdy, require little maintenance, and do very well outdoors. Highly resistant to late blight.
- 📈 Yield: Exceptionally productive with a long fruiting window.
- 👅 Taste: Opinions vary: some find them sweet, while others note a pleasant tartness or feel they lose in sweetness to varieties like Black Cherry.
- 📦 Storage: Skin is thin and prone to cracking. Pickling with vinegar turns the fruits muddy brown, but lacto-fermenting with mustard preserves their color. Ripening can be uneven.
- 🌎 Who Reviewed It: 12 growers shared their experience in this excerpt, covering USDA Zones 4 through 6.
