heirloom tomato Archives » The Farm In My Yard

Updated 10/22/2024

‘Cherokee Purple’ tomatoes from my garden.

The Last of the ‘Cherokee Purple’

One of the most popular tomatoes offered at farmers’ markets is an heirloom called ‘Cherokee Purple’. We rarely see them in grocery stores because they don’t travel well over long distances. At the markets where I sell several varieties of heirloom tomato transplants, customers request this one most often.

In 1990, Craig LeHoullier, chemist and grower of hundreds of heirloom tomatoes near Raleigh NC, received unnamed tomato seeds and a note in the mail. John D. Green, of Sevierville TN, sent the material. Green received seeds that had been saved and passed among a few generations of local gardeners. His note said Cherokee Indians in the area had been growing this lobed variety since the late 1800’s.

LeHoullier planted the seeds in 1991. Confident in this tomato’s marketable qualities—and naming it—he distributed seeds saved from the trial to Jeff McCormack of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange and to Rob Johnston of Johnny’s Selected Seeds. Beginning in 1993, these seed suppliers included the ‘Cherokee Purple’ tomato in their catalogs.

LeHoullier continued selecting variants of this variety, coming up with ‘Cherokee Green’ in 1997. This tomato is striped green and yellow, and has some orange tints at the blossom end of fully ripe fruits. After trialing a batch of seeds sent from another grower, Lehoullier named this one ‘Cherokee Chocolate’ in 1995. This variety is mahogany brown.

Attributes of the ‘Cherokee Purple’ Tomato

Often called “ugly” by some (no, not me), their flavor, nevertheless, is outstanding! The 8-12-ounce tomatoes might appear lumpy due to asymmetrical ribbing, but they’re often shaped like regular tomatoes.

The skin color is uniquely brick red to maroon, perhaps brownish, and often with green shoulders. The interior is also variably red to purple, sometimes with green.

When exposed to dappled sunlight, the fruits darken. The deeper “black” color indicates higher levels of the beneficial antioxidants called anthocyanins. I prefer these super-nutrient fruits and vegetables, from red lettuces to blueberries to black tomatoes. A diet rich in antioxidants can help protect us from many kinds of cancer, inflammation, and cardiovascular illnesses.

‘Cherokee Purple’ is shorter than most indeterminate tomatoes, staying around 5′ in height when staked. For tomato lovers without gardens, try growing it in a large container. It doesn’t bear as many fruits as some, such as ‘Black Prince’, but yields—and flavor—are sufficient to merit including it in your garden.

Because this variety developed in a naturally humid region of eastern United States, it probably has some disease resistance built into its genetics. In my experience, it’s less susceptible to disease than many other heirlooms.

As an heirloom tomato and not a hybrid, ‘Cherokee Purple’ is open-pollinated. So, you can save seeds from ripe fruits for next year’s garden. The offspring will be identical—or nearly so—to the parent plant.

Foodlander: Cherokee Purple Heirloom Tomatoes

“Mmmm… BLT”

There is no sandwich, burger, or salad that isn’t enhanced by adding this richly flavored tomato. Some call it smoky, while others consider it sweet, complex, or balanced. Try a “sloppy BLT” on lightly toasted rye with a fair amount of Duke’s mayonnaise on both slices. Then add bacon, lettuce, and this tomato, with white American cheese and ripe avocado.

‘Cherokee Purple’ is juicier than many other tomatoes and, therefore, is not usually recommended for sauce. But, if I have some ripe fruits, I’ll add them to the stock pot when making sauce, which simmers on very low heat for 2-4 hours. Juicy tomatoes take longer to cook down.

Regardless how it’s described, the ‘Cherokee Purple’ tomato always has a place in my garden. In fact, when cool weather arrives in autumn, I place large pieces of clear plastic raised over the plants to protect them from frost. For a little extra warmth, add a hot water bottle or a string of miniature incandescent Christmas lights to extend the season for a few more ripe fruits.

When a freeze threatens, pick all remaining full-sized or nearly full-sized tomatoes and let them ripen on the kitchen counter. Be careful not to bruise them.

A few other varieties also get covered in the garden to give the fruits additional time to ripen, but it’s these last ‘Cherokee Purple’ tomatoes that wrap up the season.

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Updated 5/22/2026

A Tomato Plant For Your Garden

Anyone who has grown a tomato plant and experienced sublime sun-ripened perfection understands the joy that awaits those new to this endeavor. But it takes a little skill. Starting with light, I’ll explain the basics here. And be sure to read related posts to get the full picture.

How Much Sun For a Tomato Plant?

‘Cherokee Purple’ tomato.

A tomato plant requires at least 7 hours of direct sun. Sure, many sources of information recommend 6 hours, and you’ll certainly have some success. But, for best performance, give it 7 or 8 hours or more.

Tomatoes produce more flowers in a sunnier location. And their leaves make more “food” (carbohydrates resulting from photosynthesis) that keeps plants growing and producing. More hours of sun maintains drier foliage for a longer period of time. And drier foliage means fewer problems with disease.

Now, if you don’t have a spot that gets 7 hours of sun, but it gets 4-5 hours, you might be able to get fruits from a cherry tomato plant. Instead of being disappointed with the lower-yielding but yummy heirlooms or the big beefsteaks, try ‘Sun Gold’ or the other cherry tomatoes. ‘San Marzano’ and ‘Juliet’ are worth considering for five or six hours of sun. Because they’re high-yielding, you’ll probably harvest something.

But, in full sun, cherry tomatoes produce so many fruits that you’ll be giving them away by the bowlful. Really…they’ll have produced hundreds of fruits on a tall vine by the end of summer.

A “hand” of cherry tomatoes.

Options

If you have the space, some experimentation might yield promising results. Try growing tomatoes in large pots on the sunny patio, and plant greens where there isn’t enough sun for tomatoes. Or perhaps a corner of the sunny rose garden can be given over to edibles that need full sun, if the soil hasn’t been treated with chemicals.

I don’t often recommend cutting down trees. Removing a silver maple that seeded near the vegetable garden, however, will make the garden more productive, and, if permitted, that’s the way to go. When selecting trees for an average size property, choose small-growing trees and locate them far from gardens requiring full sun. Consider their mature size and where the shade will fall from one season to the next.

More Light For a Tomato Plant

Here are some tricks to coax more production out of your edible plants if the sun exposure is less than ideal:

Plant in as sunny a spot as you have, perhaps near a white or light-colored wall, which reflects more light toward the tomatoes. Or, using a little resourcefulness, create a reflective wall with tall stakes and white fabric. I don’t recommend mirrors, though, which can burn foliage.
Lay repurposed light-colored empty mulch or potting soil bags on the soil around the plants. Anchor them with stones or bricks. Punch lots of holes in the plastic so the plants will get enough water from rain or irrigation. To prevent trouble with mosquitoes, don’t allow water to collect for more than 2 days. They can complete their life cycle in just 1 tsp. of water!
Porous synthetic or woven mulches are available from garden supply companies. White mulch helps reflect the light and also keeps soil cooler. Additionally, a source of light from below the plant confuses insect pests and might cause them to take up residence elsewhere. With proper care, these products might give years of service.
Use a few stakes instead of one, or a wide trellis, for a tomato plant, tying main stems farther out from the core of the plant. This will get more light onto leaves that otherwise would have been heavily shaded.

Crop Rotation

Zucchini.

If space allows, locate your tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and eggplants (all members of the nightshade family) where none of them have been grown in the last 3 or 4 years. This crop rotation lessens the likelihood of heavy insect and disease outbreaks from one year to the next. It prevents disease spores and insect larvae from building up in the soil and infecting new foliage.

Tomatoes and other members of the nightshade family (Solanaceae) are affected by certain insects and diseases that generally do not bother other families of vegetables. Cucurbits (zucchini, cucumber, squash) and brassicas (broccoli, kale, cauliflower) have their own problems, as do other plant families.

Disease Resistance

You’ll notice on seed packets, labels, and in catalog descriptions, a series of capital letters after the cultivar’s name. Those letters are initials for the diseases to which that cultivar is partially or fully resistant.

For example, ‘Big Beef Plus’ tomato has the letters AS, F (1, 2), FOR, GLS, N, ToMV, TSWV, and V after its name. They represent the diseases Alternaria stem canker, Fusarium wilt (races 1 and 2), Fusarium crown and root rot, Grey leaf spot, Nematodes (not a disease but a tiny worm), Tomato mosaic virus, Tomato spotted wilt virus, and Verticillium wilt, respectively. Sometimes, the seed supplier notes both “high resistance” and “intermediate resistance” to those diseases.

Most hybrids have been bred to withstand some disease pressure. Heirlooms are more susceptible to disease, but the flavor of their fruits is superior to that of many varieties commonly found at garden centers. If you have the space, try growing one or two heirlooms in addition to disease resistant varieties.

(***Update***: In 2019, I grew 2 heirloom tomato plants in large pots, and both succumbed to disease well before the end of the summer. We had an especially wet and humid season, but I knew the odds when I bought them. Still, each one produced several dozen fruits before removal.)

Susceptibility to disease varies from one area of the country to another, so you might never see some of the diseases that pop up elsewhere.

Weather plays an important role, too, and there’s nothing we can do about that. Choosing at least one disease resistant tomato plant and planting where air circulates freely is wise.

To a certain degree, we can manage the environment and our gardening practices in ways that discourage insects and diseases. I always include a few heirloom tomato plants in my garden, knowing that they are more vulnerable to disease. But it’s worth the effort.

Disease Prevention For a Tomato Plant

For gardeners with limited garden space, crop rotation is not an option.

Consider mulching your plants with coarse, chunky material, such as partially decomposed wood chips. Having a dry surface under the plants, as opposed to a moist surface that can harbor disease organisms, is an effective line of defense. An airy mulch dries faster than the surface of clay soil or shredded hardwood mulch. Several inches of seed-free straw or dry oak leaves also work. Straw and leaves can be turned into the soil at the end of the season to decompose in place.

Porous landscape fabric is another barrier you can use. This product is available in both biodegradable and synthetic materials.

Using pine fines, wood chips, or fabric helps keep dormant spores of soil-borne diseases, deposited from previous crops, from splashing up onto the low-growing foliage, infecting new plants. Always remove diseased foliage to the trash. Spores, of course, can blow in from elsewhere, but it’s always best to exercise that ounce of prevention when we can.

Yes, problems can crop up. But usually there’s enough fresh produce harvested from your own back yard to consider the garden a worthwhile project.

Air Circulation and Suckers

Air circulation around each plant is a primary factor in disease prevention. I plant tomatoes 3-4′ apart in the garden and permit only 3 or 4 main stems to develop on each one. Some growers limit the number of stems to just 2 and space the plants closer together.

Tomato sucker removed.

A tomato plant is a weedy thing, and, left to its own devices, will create a tangled twiggy mess of stems and leaves. That doesn’t mean it won’t produce fruit. However, controlling the growth improves air circulation, which keeps the foliage healthier.

Starting early in the tomato’s life, suckers grow from axillary buds in the angle between the leaf and the stem. Those suckers will grow into more main stems if not limited. If you wish, you can root those suckers.

Tie stems to tall, sturdy stakes to lift tall plants off the ground. Removing suckers and staking a tomato plant increases the air circulation around and through the foliage, prolonging the plant’s life. Raising it off the ground limits damage from slugs, snails, and other critters.

When the plants have been established for a few weeks, remove the bottom leaves to get more air circulating underneath the plants. I keep about 12″ of the stem leaf-free. Keep the foliage as dry as possible and avoid handling wet plants.

When Disease Strikes a Tomato Plant

‘Rutgers’ tomato showing early infection.

Diseased plants start losing foliage, generally from the bottom up. Leaves become yellow, spotted, puckered, or crispy brown. Widespread disease requires removal of the plants.

If a disease has just been noticed, though, remove to the trash all spotty, blighted leaves with clippers that have been dipped in a 10% bleach solution before going to the next plant. Disease can spread from plant to plant on infected tools and hands.

Spraying the plants with an appropriate remedy might save the plants. Several copper-, bicarbonate-, and microbe-based fungicides are available for organic growers. Try the aspirin solution, described in the next section, below.

Prevent the deadly tobacco mosaic virus from infecting tomatoes and peppers by never smoking near the vegetable garden, and by washing hands thoroughly before working there. Tobacco is related to tomatoes and peppers, and disease spores might be present in the product.

Occasionally we see tomato plants with leaves at the top all twisted and contorted. Sometimes they’re discolored as well. This can result from the application of herbicides, if not on your property, then from a few houses away. The chemical is carried on the breeze, and it takes only minute quantities to affect tomatoes. Either cut the plants back to healthy foliage or replace with new transplants. Also, check for leafhoppers and aphids inside curled leaves.

Black walnut trees develop juglone in its tissues. This substance is lethal to tomato plants, so don’t plant tomatoes anywhere near black walnuts.

Before Disease Strikes

This section added 6/23/2025.

Prolonged periods of high humidity and frequent rainfall in early summer are conditions that set the stage for diseased tomatoes. For the past few years, I’ve been experimenting with spraying dilute aspirin solutions on tomatoes and other vegetables, as seen in YouTube videos. While local tomato gardens were wiped out from mid to late summer diseases, most plants in my garden continued to yield harvests up to frost.

After dissolving 1 or 2 adult uncoated aspirin tablets in 1 gallon of water, spray the tomato foliage, tops of leaves and bottoms. Do this in the morning so the foliage can dry before nightfall. This works pretty well when applied before disease symptoms appear, but try it also when your tomatoes are showing early signs of disease. It might help.

Repeat the application every 2-3 weeks, and pour leftover solution over the roots. Make sure you’re following all the other tips that keep tomatoes and other crops healthy.

Aspirin mimics a hormone that the plant releases when confronted with fungal pathogens. The plant then revs up its immune system to fight off disease, thereby protecting itself from pathogens they’re exposed to in the near future. This is called the Systemic Acquired Resistance response, or the SAR response.

Sun Scald

Sun scald on sweet peppers.

On Peppers

Strong sun hitting the fruits on a very hot afternoon can cause sun scald. A thickly foliaged plant provides enough shade to protect the fruits. Patches of sun scald are the parts of the fruit that were perpendicular to the hottest rays of the sun.

Don’t thin pepper plants; they’re especially vulnerable to sun scald. These fruits (photo, above) from a young and sparsely-leaved ‘Lemon Dream’ pepper were not adequately shaded. But the good parts don’t have to go to waste. Simply remove the affected parts.

Tomatoes Exposed To Sun

ingredients for tomato basil salad, cherokee purple tomato

‘Cherokee Purple’ tomatoes and basil.

I prefer 3 or 4 stems on a tomato plant instead of 2; there are more leaves to lessen the sun’s intensity without entirely shading the fruits.

The flavor is more intense in some varieties (such as ‘Cherokee Purple’, ‘Black Krim’, and other “black” tomatoes) if the fruits are exposed to some direct sunlight. Morning sun or dappled sun is more gentle than hot afternoon sun. But on hot days, exposed tomatoes can get sun scald. Pick those tomatoes, remove the mushy parts affected by sun scald, and eat them right away, before they start rotting.

Sunlight gives fruits a richer color, increasing levels of anthocyanins. What are they? Anthocyanins, the blue and red pigments in fruits and vegetables, are powerful antioxidants, which help prevent inflammation and cardiovascular disease, and play an important part in cancer prevention.

When you consider how much effort is required to support large amounts of ripening fruit on a mature tomato plant, it seems rational that 3 or 4 leafy stems will be able to produce a lot more “food” (carbohydrates from photosynthesis) for the developing fruits. This will help the fruits achieve full size and, more importantly, full flavor.

Headings

Page 1: It’s Time To Plant Tomatoes!, How Much Sun For a Tomato Plant? (Options), More Light For a Tomato Plant, Crop Rotation, Disease Resistance, Disease Prevention For a Tomato Plant (Air Circulation and Suckers, When Disease Strikes a Tomato Plant, Before Disease Strikes), and Sun Scald (On Peppers, Tomatoes Exposed To Sun)

Page 2: Time to Plant!, Plant Tomatoes Deeper, Trichomes, Stake or Cage a Tomato Plant? (Dwarf and Miniature Tomatoes), Water and Fertilizer, and Deer