Growers’ Notes and Photos
Indet, mid-season. Tastes sweet and gives solid yields. (Scored the seeds from Popenko).
Edited December 15, 2016 by Drosera
Those early purple spots were barely noticeable, but by fall they really darkened up and spread out.
I honestly wasn’t a fan of the taste at all!
Hey y’all, Redko’s seed catalog has these exact same tomatoes listed under a completely different name. Take a look at this quote:
Sun Blue (USA) – fruits are bright orange tangerines. They have a bright, fruity flavor and a stunning appearance. When air temperatures drop, purple spots appear on the fruits. Weight up to 5.3 oz (150 g). High yielding. Rare!!! 5 seeds per pack.
What do y’all think, is this the exact same variety? If so, what’s the right name for it? 📝
Yeah, honestly, sure looks like the exact same variety to me. 🙂
Grew this one in the greenhouse. The vine clocked in at about 4-4.5 ft (1.2-1.4 m). Yields were below average for me. Flavor had a bit of a tang to it, and the fruits turned out pretty small.
One quirk about this variety that really stressed me out at first: the foliage gets the exact same purple edging as the fruits, making the plant look sick. 🙂 That really annoyed me early on.
The more sun the fruit gets, the darker that purple smudge gets at the stem end. One of my vines ended up shaded out by an Eagle’s Beak and a Matina, both of those shot up to 5 ft (1.5 m), so the Orange Smudge fruits on that shaded plant had almost no dark spots. The sun definitely paints this tomato. Started ripening early for me and it’s still pumping out fruit.
Such a smudgy little guy 😄 Not a massive yielder, but it just kept slowly pumping out fruit right up until I cleared out the greenhouse, and the tomatoes kept really well sitting on the counter. I’d call the flavor rich, really liked it. The vine is pretty skinny and wispy, and my foliage didn’t look perfect either.
Full Summary: Plant, Yield, Taste, and Looks
- 🌿 Plant & Looks: A mid-season indeterminate with a relatively lanky, wispy habit. It tends to stay around 4 to 5 feet (1.2-1.5 m) in a greenhouse setting. The standout features are the bright tangerine-orange skin topped with dark anthocyanin (purple) splashes on the shoulders. Note: The dark pigmentation heavily depends on direct sunlight exposure and cooler fall temperatures.
- 📈 Yield & Storage: Production is generally rated as average to slightly below average, though it’s a steady producer that keeps setting fruit late into the season. A major plus is its excellent post-harvest storage life on the counter.
- 👅 Taste: Highly subjective. Some growers find the flavor rich, sweet, and excellent, while others describe it as tangy, acidic, or completely unimpressive.
- ⚠️ Grower Quirks: This variety frequently develops purple, bruised-looking edges on its foliage. Several growers initially mistook this for a disease or severe phosphorus deficiency, but it is entirely normal genetic expression for this specific antho-line.
Growers’ Notes and Photos
Indet, mid-season. Tastes sweet and gives solid yields. (Scored the seeds from Popenko).
Edited December 15, 2016 by Drosera
Those early purple spots were barely noticeable, but by fall they really darkened up and spread out.
I honestly wasn’t a fan of the taste at all!
Hey y’all, Redko’s seed catalog has these exact same tomatoes listed under a completely different name. Take a look at this quote:
Sun Blue (USA) – fruits are bright orange tangerines. They have a bright, fruity flavor and a stunning appearance. When air temperatures drop, purple spots appear on the fruits. Weight up to 5.3 oz (150 g). High yielding. Rare!!! 5 seeds per pack.
What do y’all think, is this the exact same variety? If so, what’s the right name for it? 📝
Yeah, honestly, sure looks like the exact same variety to me. 🙂
Grew this one in the greenhouse. The vine clocked in at about 4-4.5 ft (1.2-1.4 m). Yields were below average for me. Flavor had a bit of a tang to it, and the fruits turned out pretty small.
One quirk about this variety that really stressed me out at first: the foliage gets the exact same purple edging as the fruits, making the plant look sick. 🙂 That really annoyed me early on.
The more sun the fruit gets, the darker that purple smudge gets at the stem end. One of my vines ended up shaded out by an Eagle’s Beak and a Matina, both of those shot up to 5 ft (1.5 m), so the Orange Smudge fruits on that shaded plant had almost no dark spots. The sun definitely paints this tomato. Started ripening early for me and it’s still pumping out fruit.
Such a smudgy little guy 😄 Not a massive yielder, but it just kept slowly pumping out fruit right up until I cleared out the greenhouse, and the tomatoes kept really well sitting on the counter. I’d call the flavor rich, really liked it. The vine is pretty skinny and wispy, and my foliage didn’t look perfect either.
Full Summary: Plant, Yield, Taste, and Looks
- 🌿 Plant & Looks: A mid-season indeterminate with a relatively lanky, wispy habit. It tends to stay around 4 to 5 feet (1.2-1.5 m) in a greenhouse setting. The standout features are the bright tangerine-orange skin topped with dark anthocyanin (purple) splashes on the shoulders. Note: The dark pigmentation heavily depends on direct sunlight exposure and cooler fall temperatures.
- 📈 Yield & Storage: Production is generally rated as average to slightly below average, though it’s a steady producer that keeps setting fruit late into the season. A major plus is its excellent post-harvest storage life on the counter.
- 👅 Taste: Highly subjective. Some growers find the flavor rich, sweet, and excellent, while others describe it as tangy, acidic, or completely unimpressive.
- ⚠️ Grower Quirks: This variety frequently develops purple, bruised-looking edges on its foliage. Several growers initially mistook this for a disease or severe phosphorus deficiency, but it is entirely normal genetic expression for this specific antho-line.
The confusion over catalog names like “Sun Blue” versus “Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge” is incredibly common. Many seed vendors globally will re-name an heirloom to make it sound exclusive or “rare” to boost sales. “Orange Fleshed Purple Smudge” is the original, accepted name for this variety. Additionally, regarding the purple-edged leaves: anthocyanin varieties frequently express purple pigmentation in their stems and leaf margins, especially when exposed to cold drafts or intense UV light. Don’t pull your plants thinking they have blight or a deficiency, it’s just their genetics!
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