Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zone 3 Experience)
SGT. PEPPER’S RASPBERRY POINTS.
Gotta start by calling out the crazy yield on this new addition to the massive Sgt. Pepper family. The breeding work on this strain gave us a huge variety of wild, unusual shapes and colors. You don’t even need to put a plant tag on these, they completely stand out from the rest of the garden.
The “Points” threw an absolute solid wall of tomatoes. The shapes are pretty wild and all over the place. You get ribbed flattened hearts with or without a point, and sometimes even plum shapes. Size averages around 3.5-5.3 oz (100-150 g).
Bright raspberry color with very noticeable antho splashing.
The meat is dense and juicy, but it doesn’t leak everywhere when you slice it. Fully ripe fruits can easily sit on the counter for over a month. Flavor is that signature Sgt. Pepper taste with a really noticeable sweetness.
Tall vine, average build. Sets every single truss without missing a beat, so you definitely want to run two or three stems to get the absolute max yield out of the plant. Mid-season, pumps out fruits gradually over a long window.
So far, this is easily one of the best Sgt. Pepper selections out there.
Full Summary: Plant, Yield, Taste and Storage
- 🌿 Plant: Indeterminate, mid-season. A tall vine with an average, slightly slender build typical of the Sgt. Pepper lineage. Highly recommended to be trained to 2 or 3 leaders (stems) to maximize the harvest.
- 🍅 Fruit: Extremely variable but beautiful shapes, throwing everything from ribbed, flattened hearts with pointy tips to smooth plums. They weigh around 3.5-5.3 oz (100-150 g) and ripen to a bright raspberry pink with heavy dark anthocyanin (antho) splashing on the shoulders.
- 📈 Yield: Exceptional. The plant sets a literal wall of tomatoes and doesn’t skip trusses. Provides a steady, gradual harvest over a long period.
- 👅 Taste & Use: Very sweet with the complex, rich flavor that made the original Sgt. Pepper famous. The flesh is dense and meaty, making it a great slicer that won’t turn your sandwich soggy.
- 📦 Storage: One of its best traits. Fully ripe fruits boast a phenomenal shelf life, easily lasting over a month indoors without rotting or turning to mush.
The original “Sgt. Pepper” was bred by Jason Haynes in the US by crossing German Red Strawberry with OSU Blue. Because it is an open-pollinated heirloom, growers all over the world have saved seeds and selected for specific mutations over the years. Russian breeders have been especially active in stabilizing new lines from it, resulting in offshoots like “Sgt. Pepper’s Bronze,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Pink,” and this highly productive “Raspberry Points” variant!
