Cherry tomatoes: Sowing, planting and harvest calendar
How do you sow cherry tomatoes under cover?
Sow your cherry tomatoes under cover in spring, allowing enough time to produce sturdy plants before moving them to their final position. Adjust the start to greenhouse or outdoor growing and your usual last frosts. Very early sowing in a dark room often produces stretched plants that are difficult to keep in good condition.
Use a clean seed tray or module tray with drainage holes, filled with moistened seed compost. Space the seeds rather than crowding them and cover with a thin layer, around 5 mm deep depending on the packet. Water gently and maintain steady warmth, around 18 to 20 °C or as advised for the variety. Keep the compost moist without standing water.
As soon as seedlings emerge, remove any cover and place them close to good light, avoiding overheating behind glass. Once a few true leaves appear, move them into individual pots, gently holding a leaf rather than the stem. Support the roots with a small tool and water after transplanting. Space pots apart when leaves touch. Before final planting, gradually harden the plants off and wait for sufficiently mild conditions without frost risk.
How do you plant cherry tomatoes?
Plant your cherry tomatoes when they are well rooted and conditions stay reliably mild. Outdoors, wait until frosts have finished and the soil has warmed; an unheated greenhouse must also stay warm enough at night. Gradually harden off plants raised under cover to avoid sudden exposure to strong sun and wind.
Choose a warm, sunny, sheltered spot with fertile soil that drains well while retaining moisture. Prepare it with mature compost if needed. For pot growing, use a large container with drainage holes and suitable compost. Water the nursery pots before removing them and keep the root balls intact.
Set each plant into a sufficiently wide hole. An ungrafted tomato can be planted deeper to encourage roots along the buried stem, keeping leaves above ground. For a grafted plant, keep the graft union above the soil. Fill in, firm gently and water.
Follow the variety’s spacing and put supports in place at planting time. Tall, indeterminate types need strong stakes; bush varieties are managed differently and should not have their side shoots routinely removed. Mulch while leaving the stem base clear, then monitor moisture as the plants establish.
How to care for this plant
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Remove side shoots
Cherry tomatoes do not all need the same pruning. If you train an indeterminate variety on one or two stems, remove small shoots in the leaf axils that you do not want to keep. Retain flower trusses and your chosen stems. Do not routinely remove side shoots from a determinate bush cherry tomato or a plant you prefer to grow freely. Check the growth habit on the packet or label before pruning.
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Install plant supports
If your tomato variety needs support, fit a sturdy stake or string when planting. Tie the stem loosely and check ties as it grows. Bush varieties may not need staking.
How do you harvest cherry tomatoes?
Harvest your cherry tomatoes once they show their variety’s ripe colour and yield very slightly to gentle pressure while remaining firm. The colour may be red, yellow, orange, dark or even green, depending on the cultivar. Do not rely only on an even red colour or a fixed date: greenhouse conditions, weather and variety all affect when picking begins.
Check regularly and pick ready fruits even when the whole truss is not ripe. Support each tomato and detach it gently at the stalk, or use small clean scissors. Avoid pulling on the truss, which can break and take unripe fruits with it. Place tomatoes in a shallow container so the lower ones do not get crushed.
Sort your harvest and use split but sound fruits promptly. Discard soft, rotting ones. Keep tomatoes you will eat soon at room temperature, out of direct sun, and check them daily. Cold can affect texture and fragrance; reserve the fridge for briefly extending the life of already ripe fruits. At the end of the season, before frost, you can bring sound fruits that are beginning to change colour indoors to finish ripening.
Cherry tomatoes
- Type : Vegetables
- Subtype : Fruiting vegetables
- Botanical Family : Solanaceae
Characteristics
- Lifecycle : Annual
- Exposure : Full Sun
- Frost Hardiness : Frost Sensitive
- Cultivation Difficulty : Medium
- Mature height : 150 cm
Sowing & Planting
- Greenhouse crops : Unheated greenhouse
- Greenhouse Growing : Recommended
- Sowing Depth : 0.5 cm
- Plant Spacing : 60 cm
- Row Spacing : 80 cm
Maintenance
- Maintenance : Moderate
- Water Requirements : High
Other characteristics
- Soil Type : Humus-rich
- Soil pH Preference : Neutral
- Pest Sensitivity : Moderate
- Disease Sensitivity : Moderate
- Weed Sensitivity : Moderate
- Pollination : Insect-pollinated
- Propagation : Sowing