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Sweet Million Tomato - Cherry Tomato Plant

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Sweet Million Tomato - Cherry Tomato Plant

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Looking for a reliable , delicious cherry red Lycopersicon esculentum for your garden ? Try the Sweet Million tomato !

The Sweet Million tomato is a crimson cherry tomato variety known for prolific plants and a very perfumed penchant . This forward-looking intercrossed variety produces long trusses of sinister red cherry tomatoes with a politic , crack - immune Robert Peel . Each cherry tomato plant is about 1″ to 1 ½ ” widely , making it perfect for brisk salads and summer formula . The high - return plants are large and indeterminate , producing too soon in tomato season all the way through to frost in the dusk .

sweet million tomato seeds

Read on to acquire all about the Sweet Million love apple !

The Sweet Million tomato

The Sweet Million Tomato is a popular red cherry red tomatovarietyfor the garden . These plants are know for their recollective clump of sweet , low - acid tomatoes . XII of tomatoes grow in each clustering on these heavily - loaded plant life . The industrial plant are also consummate for beginners as they naturally withstand many vulgar tomato plant disease . The Sweet Million Tomato received the prestigiousRoyal Horticultural Society ( RHS ) Award of Garden Meritin 1998 .

Sweet Million Cherry Tomato is a hybrid variety , not an open - pollenate heirloom . Sweet Million is an improved interlingual rendition of the traditionalSweet 100 Tomatowith meliorate diseased resistance and slightly larger tomatoes . The parentage of this hybrid is a trade secret , although some gardener distrust it was bred from the popular Gardener ’s Delight heirloom cherry red Lycopersicon esculentum . Sweet Million is one of thesweetest tomato varieties(and sometimes named atop - sample sort overall ) .

Sweet Million is anindeterminate tomato salmagundi . This have in mind the vines get longer and longer throughout the growing season , producing more clump of tomato as they grow . This leads to a prospicient harvesting time of year . The vines commonly develop to 6′-10′ long and must be support by some sort of treillage . The best option is a propertomato cage , but these plant can also be substantiate with atomato stake .

Sweet Million Tomato Seedling Plant

Sweet Million Tomatoes mature early on in tomato season , with the first tomatoes ripening about 65 day after the seedlings aretransplanted into the outside garden . Harvest time of year for Sweet Million works broadly speaking hold out about 12 - 14 weeks , with well - supported plants sometimes producing hundreds of tomato each !

“ Sweet Million : Inflationary melioration on the classic Sweet 100 ; early and hugely generative with larger fruit . observe to be resistant to specific diseases and/or plants . ”

What do Sweet Million tomatoes taste like?

Sweet MillionTomatoes have a dead sweet tomato taste that ’s low in acid . The flavor of these small tomatoes is not too rich or complex but is certainly among the higher - quality of available red hybrid cherry love apple . Perfect for a light snack , they make an splendid pairing with one of the best tasting tomato plant , theSunGoldtomato .

Sweet Million Tomatoes typically weigh about 1 to 1.5 ounces each . There are usually about 12 - 16 Sweet Million Tomatoes in a pound . Each tomato is about 1 to 1.5 inches panoptic . A cluster of these cherry tree love apple can contain 50 individual tomatoes on healthy plants .

How to grow Sweet Million tomatoes from seed

Sweet Million Tomatoes are easy to acquire from source . That read , it does call for quite a bit of place and appurtenance , so many gardeners opt to purchase Sweet Million seedling tomato plants from the garden snapper . If you ’re starting with seedling , skip to the next part .

Seeds are normally planted indoors 6 - 8 weeks before the local last frost date in your arena . This timing generally translates to seeds being sown indoors in February - April , depending on the climate .

Supplies for planting Sweet Million tomato seeds

1. Plant tomato seeds

meet the seedling tray up with potting soil so the premix goes into all the cell . Then irrigate the whole tray to serve the potting mix settle . add together a little more soil if necessary . The seeded player originate soil mix should be about a half column inch from the top of each cell .

Using a seeded player dibble or your fingertip , carefully sow the come about a ¼ inch deep in the seed starting mix . Most gardeners put 2 - 3 seeds in each cell , but if you do n’t have many seeds , just set one per cell . Once the seeds are in the ground , brush a little bit of potting mix over them . Give the seedling tray one more gentle watering and reserve all the excess H2O to debilitate out of the seedling tray . rain cats and dogs out any water that has pick up in the bottom pan tray .

2. Keep soil warm and add lots of light

come out the seedling tray on a flat stable indoor surface on top of the seedling heating lusterlessness . Lycopersicon esculentum seeds spud considerably at filth temperatures in the range of 75 ° -90 ° F ( 24 ° -32 ° nose candy ) . In this dirt temperature range , the seeds should germinate in about 6 sidereal day ( reference : University of California ) .

The seedlings will also need supplemental Christ Within to thrive when grown indoors . Position a plant light over the seedling tray . If potential , add a pulley organization to call forth the LED lighting so you may keep them about 4″ above the seedlings as they produce ( or whatever distance your specific lighting system urge ) . Most nurseryman leave the plant brightness on for 16 hours during the day and then turn them off for 8 time of day overnight . Most plant lights have an automate timer built - in .

3. Water and thin out the tomato seedlings

Water the seedling tray regularly using a very gentle watering can or even a spray bottle full of white water . Once the seedlings have issue and are an in or two tall , you could start bottom watering the seedlings by fill up the bottom pan tray with a spot of water and allowing it to passively wick up through the potting mix to reach the beginning of the seedling flora .

Choose the strong seedling in each cell and remove the others . If you seeded 2 - 3 cum per cell , most cells will have 2 seedlings in them . hold off until the seedlings have their first brace of serrated “ straight ” leaves prior to make up one’s mind which one is the strongest . bet for the seedling with the thick , straightest prow . This is the one to keep . Using neat floral clip , trim the other ( weak ) seedling off at its groundwork , as close to the soil telephone line as potential . Take precaution not to damage the seedling you ’re keeping .

4. Pot the seedlings up in larger containers

Once the seedlings become about 3x taller than the seedling tray and have about 3 duet of right serrated “ reliable ” leaf , it ’s time to think about transplanting them into larger containers . you may practice a seedling tray with larger cells or set each seedling into its own single 4″ broad pot . Most tomato seedlings have to be up - potted at least once prior to going outside as it ’s still too cold in most clime for the tomato plant to go outdoors .

How to plant Sweet Million tomato seedlings outdoors

Sweet MillionTomato plant seedlings can be planted outdoors in the undercoat or they can be grown in raised garden beds orlarge container plantation owner pots . If planting in a container , use a 10 - Imperial gallon container at lower limit . enceinte grow traveling bag or half whisky barrels are fantabulous . The proficient natural dirt for these plant life is a sandy loam that drains out supererogatory water well . In containers , use a lightweight admixture with a alkali of coco coir and/or peat moss plus some perlite to total air travel into the soil intercellular substance .

Sweet Million Tomato plants require a full Sunday planting emplacement with plenty of space . This means at least 6 - 8 hours of direct sun should hit the leaves of the industrial plant each day . You ’ll also need room for a heavy - duty Lycopersicon esculentum cage and penny-pinching access to a water system source or automated drip irrigation .

Tomato plants are generally kept indoors until nighttime temperature David Low are above 50 ° F ( 10 ° C).These supply ship plants can be permanently damage at temperatures below 43 ° F ( 6 ° C ) . dissent the urge to plant them outside too early in coolheaded soil , as it can stunt the works and bottle up the growth of the roots . The result of this is often plants that grow slowly , do not buckle under well , and are susceptible to common Lycopersicon esculentum disease and conditions like Blossom End Rot due to their underdeveloped root .

Sweet Million Tomato

Supplies for planting Sweet Million tomato seedlings

1. Harden off the seedlings

Tomato seedlings are “ indurate off ” in the spring to thin transplantation shock . This is done by easy exposing them to outdoor conditions over a period of about a week . Once temperatures are above 50 ° F ( 10 ° C ) , begin take the seedlings outside for a few 60 minutes a day . range the seedlings in a sheltered field protected from wind and verbatim sunshine and be indisputable to impart them in at dark . As the week progresses , leave them outdoors for longer periods each daylight and start to premise them to direct sun and a bit of wind .

2. Prepare The Garden Bed

Prepare the garden bed prior to planting the seedling . bulge out by remove any dead flora detritus from previous seasons . Next , work a slow - release granular fertilizer into the top 6″ of the dirt . Then rake the surface flavorless with a handheld grower . Lastly , water the entire bed thoroughly and deeply to saturate the soil .

3. Plant the seedlings

move out the bottom leaves off the seedling . tomato are one of the specific industrial plant that do best when planted deeply than their original soil logical argument . Depending upon the height of the seedling , remove 1 - 3 pairs of leaves from the bottom of the plant . Be sure to will a clump of leaves at the top ( do not take out all the leaves ) .

cut into a planting hole . The planting pickle should be thick than the seedling ’s plantation owner such that some of the divulge stem will be inhume . seek to make the planting gob deep enough to bury about half of the entire length of the shank while positioning the stay leafage far enough above the soil line that they do n’t reach out to the ground .

grade the seedling plant in the hole . If there are quite a few visible roots on the root orb and it appears tooth root - bound , gently loosen the base chunk up with your hand to release the roots . Once the plant life is in the hole , the leaves should be at least an column inch or two above the grunge to minimize ground moisture affecting the foliage in the first few weeks .

Sweet Million Tomato Plant

Backfill the planting hole . Use the soil that was poke out of the hole to satiate in the side between the ascendant musket ball and the hole and up along the portion of the root word that will be belowground . Gently tamp down the soil down with your hands . Take a bit to place a recording label beside the seedling so you know which variety it is throughout the growing season .

If plant multiple tomato plant , space them 24″-48″ ( 60 - 120 cm ) apart . These plants are quite heavy and need several straight feet of garden surface area . Also , check that to account for the size of the specific tomato batting cage you ’ll be using .

Water the seedlings after planting . Give the seedlings a thoroughgoing boozing after they have been institute . If your garden beds have drip irrigation , move the line so it is close to but not touching the base of the base .

Fresh Sweet Million Tomatoes

4. Mulch the soil around the base

overspread a thin constituent mulch over the territory airfoil . An excellent mulch for tomatoes is a ~1″ duncical layer of homemade or storage - bought compost . Rake it over the soil surface to provide a slow - release source of nutrient that will also soften soil temperatures and wet level as well as reduce the amount of hurriedness that may splash off the ground and up onto the leafage .

5. Install your tomato cages

The good time to set up tomato cages is as soon as the seedling are planted . The cages will look quite large ( and a bit laughable ) around the small-scale plants , but the vine will soon wind around the batting cage and reach the top .

After planting your seedlings , take a mo to tick off your calendar for the expect date of the first harvest . Sweet Million Tomatoes typicallytake an estimated 65 day after seedlings are plant outdoorsbefore the first tomatoes ripen on the vine .

How to grow & care for Sweet Million tomato plants

Sweet Million Tomato plants lead off as tiny seedlings but quickly farm to fill up in a surface area of 24″-36″ wide and 48″-60″ tall ( or more if the love apple cage is taller ) . The tomatoes may be small but the plants are quite big !

Watering Sweet Million tomato plants

While Sweet Million Tomato plants are drouth and heat energy large-minded , they should be water ofttimes and systematically so they can acquire large yields . The easy agency to irrigate them is with automated drip irrigation , but you could water them using any method that waters the dirt around the base of the flora . fend off set about water on the foliage of the plants .

Plants may only need lachrymation once or twice a week in the spring or during rainy atmospheric condition , but the plants will likely need watering every other twenty-four hour period or even daily in very spicy conditions ( especially if constitute in a small container ) . The best fourth dimension to water is betimes in the morning so that any moisture that gets on the plants has the opportunity to dry quickly during the heat of the sidereal day .

Sweet Million Tomatoes are crack resistant but do tend to crack if watering is temporary . Provide the industrial plant with an even provision of moisture . Avoid sudden influxes of urine such as expectant watering after missing watering for a few Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , as this sudden outburst of urine can cause the love apple to swell and the peels to crack . stress to water systematically .

Sweet Million Tomatoes on the Vine

Weeding garden beds

Mary Jane garden bed on a regular basis , typically once or twice per hebdomad . When gage seedling are little , they are easy to graze out with a handheld agriculturalist or plunk out and toss in the compost heap . If allowed to grow larger , they become more difficult and disruptive to the tomato plant to tear out . If left for quite a while they may even go to seed and lead to a whole raw generation of weeds in the garden .

Pruning tomato plants

with child Lycopersicon esculentum industrial plant like Sweet Million grow inside orotund , heavy - duty Lycopersicon esculentum cages typically do not need much pruning at all . If , however , your plant are growing up a love apple stake , they will likely require pruning of the suckers to keep the plants under command and prevent them from toppling over . When grown up a stakes , one vine should be designated as the main root and bind very lightly to the stake at 1′ increments .

One orbit that is generally cut back on most love apple plants is the bottom of the stem . Once the works has been in the priming for a calendar month or two , the bottom farewell can become yellow . Trim off the leaves from the groundwork of the plant up to about 8″-10″ from the dirt tier . keep the base area relatively clear-cut can help with airwave circulation and make the leafage less susceptible to foliar disease .

Fertilizing tomato plants

Lycopersicon esculentum plants are typically feed throughout the spring up season with either a slow - release granulose tomato plant fertilizer or a water - soluble tomato plant fertilizer . The granular fertilizers typically last for a month or two while liquid formulations last only a couple of weeks . Be sure to follow the diligence education and frequency guidelines listed on the fertilizer of your pick . Here are some options for both types of tomato fertilizer :

Additionally , avoid using fertilizers with high amounts of nitrogenlike lawn fertilizer , evergreen fertilizer , and even some all - design fertilizer mixes . gamy total of N can lead to expectant tomato plant plants with Lot of leafage but very few tomatoes . It can also occasionally aggravate Blossom End Rot .

Protecting tomatoes from pests

As tomatoes mature on the vine they become objective for pests and wildlife . This include everything from slugs , snails , and ant to dame , rabbits , and even cervid .

Slug and insect trade protection normally consists of either crushed eggshells or horticultural diatomaceous earth on the grime around the base of the flora , or beer traps if slugs are particularly unsound . For flying insects , a protective row book binding fabric works well . Row cover is easy to set up with garden layer hoop and insect clear fabric . If you see any tomato hornworms , remove them from the garden and ruin them .

If turgid wildlife is a job , there are more options . Both protective bird netting and deer fencing are easy to find in garden centers . you may also endeavor to entice birds away from the garden by placing a hoot feeder and birdbath away from the garden or even judge your hand at making your own scarecrow .

Sweet Million Tomatoes on the Vine

Harvesting ripe Sweet Million tomatoes

Sweet Million Tomatoes are comfortably left on the vine to ripen . It typically takes about 60 days after the seedling was plant outdoors for the first tomatoes to mature . wait to look anywhere from 55 - 70 days after planting the seedling before the first tomatoes are ready to pick . It may take longer if the seedling was planted out too early in the give or if midsummer conditions was extremely spicy .

Sweet Million Tomatoes are ripe when they have a ample calendered ruby-red peel color and have just hardly bug out to dampen up . The tomatoes should still be quite firmbut will have a bit of “ give ” when gently nip . Pick them in the daybreak and love them as soon as possible !

There are usually about 1 - 2 dozen tomatoes in a cluster . you’re able to reap the entire clustering by snipping it off at the base of the vine . Then use the right ones first and allow the stay light-green love apple to mature on the kitchen counter . If you need quite a few ripe tomato plant all at once , the tomatoes can also be individually nip off the top of multiple clusters to get a full harvest of grape tomatoes all at once .

Sweet Million Tomatoes are indeterminate and will go on to set tomatoes through early fall until frost . Keep an optic on the weather forecast , as Robert Lee Frost or freezing temperatures will kill the plant life . If hoarfrost is calculate , harvest all the green tomatoes on the plant . These green tomatoes will ripen indoors off the vine .

Storing Sweet Million tomatoes

Sweet MillionTomatoes can be store for up to a month or two in a cool juiceless storage area . Choose only whole , undamaged tomatoes for entrepot . Any less - than - perfect tomatoes can be store on the kitchen buffet at elbow room temperature out of lineal sunlight for 2 - 3 twenty-four hour period until quick for sassy use or processing into a cook sauce or another recipe .

The most important part of tomato entrepot is to find a positioning that is not too cold but not too red-hot . tomato store well between 55 ° -60 ° F ( 12 ° -16 ° C).Sometimes you could feel a adept post in a basement or garage that by nature stay in this temperature mountain chain . Resist the impulse to hive away the tomato plant in the fridge as the stale temperature make the flavor to deteriorate rapidly and the texture to become very mushy .

Storage tomatoes are generally wrapped in paper or place in paper bags to ripen . The paper keeps the love apple from contacting each other , as this can cause former rot . It also helps to ensnare some ethene gas that number off the tomatoes course and keeps it nearby to promote further mature . Check the ripening tomatoes regularly and dispatch any that have foretoken of bunk or mold .

Common pests affecting Sweet Million tomato plants

Sweet Million Tomatoes and other attractive ripen fruit in the garden can be very attractive to garden pests such as insects and larger wildlife . The protective gauze covers described earlier in this article will discourage most pestis that affect home cultivator , but now and then pests will sneak in to assail your tomato plants .

aphid are a coarse garden pest that feed on the plants as they lactate the liquid out . These petite colored microbe cluster on stem and under leaves . They also drop sticky “ honeydew ” residuum that attract ants . The emmet may even start raise the aphids for their honeydew melon . If you notice aphid , you’re able to start by consecrate some ladybugs and releasing them into the garden to act as natural vulture . They can also be surprisingly easy to spray off the plant with a sharp flow of water .

If there are quite a few aphids , regard using an constitutional insecticide . Most constituent sprays can be reapplied on a unconstipated basis to assure the eradication of pests .

Parasitic Nematodes are another common garden pest for tomatoes , especially in warm climates . These microscopic worms live in the soil and damage the roots , leading to limp or stunted plants . Start by avoiding planting Lycopersicon esculentum at all in septic soil . Use grow bags or big containers filled with fresh potting mix .

Common diseases affecting Sweet Million tomato plants

While love apple plant are quite prone to disease , Sweet Million has been multiply to be naturally resistant to many common garden disease like fusarium wilt , verticillium wilt , tobacco mosaic computer virus , and root - knot nematode . That sound out , no Lycopersicon esculentum flora is disease - proof . But fortunately , there are a change of expert organic gardening practice that course deoxidize the preponderance of disease .

Wilt disease are fungal or bacterial diseases that get the tomato plant to wilt with short warning . This is induce by harmful dirt - bear bacteria or fungi that attack the roots . Fusarium wilt and Verticillium wilt are of finical concern . Rotate plants , give plant lots of blank space , utilise copper fungicide , and move out / destruct infected plant debris directly .

Anthracnose is a fungal disease that causes small depressions on ripening tomatoes which get larger and sour black , make the fruit to be cover with rotten disastrous billet . This fungus is most prevalent when summer weather condition has been hot and humid , or when the plants have been irrigate from above rather than at the ground base . To diminish the growth of this fungus , revolve craw per year , give love apple plants plenty of blank for good gentle wind circulation , prune off the bottom leaves , add mulch on the soil control surface to come down splashing of H2O onto the leaves , and remove and discard any dead plant material from the garden as soon as it appears . lifelike copper fungicide can also be applied as a preventative mensuration .

Early Blight is a fungous disease that causes brownish anchor ring on the leaves of the Lycopersicon esculentum plant , especially near the base . The leaf eventually work brown and often pretermit off the works . This disease causes the Lycopersicon esculentum development to become stunt and the love apple wo n’t grow to their expected sizing . The tomatoes may even get dark spots and may molder on the works . This is especially usual in nerveless , cockeyed weather . keep off watering the plant overhead , give each plant lots of infinite , and trim any diseased leave off immediately .

Septoria Leaf Spot is a fungal disease that causes black blot on the foliage of the tomato plant . As with other fungal disease , it thrives in cool , squiffy weather and in gardens without adequate air circulation . It broadly appears on the bottom leaves first . discourse is the same as with other fungal diseases . Remove the infected leaf from the area , give plant lots of infinite , use copper fungicide before planting , and rotate the plants each twelvemonth .

Blossom End Rot is a condition where the bottom of each tomato turns brown / black and the fruit rot before it ripens . Blossom End Rot is caused when the plant can not absorb enough calcium . Once a fruit shows signs of prime end rotting , it wo n’t recuperate and must be discarded . To prevent end molder on future tomato , start by applying a liquid Lycopersicon esculentum fertilizer rich in calcium ( see above for recommendations ) or some garden lime . The end guff may also be due to damaged roots or stress on the plant , even if there is enough Ca in the soil . Be sure to water and fertilize plants on a regular basis throughout the time of year .

Are Sweet Million tomatoes heirloom tomatoes?

Sweet Million Tomatoes are not heirloom tomatoes because they are grown from hybrid seed , not from open - cross-pollinate seeded player . Additionally , they were grow after 1950 , and therefore are also not sure-enough enough to be considered heirlooms . Sweet Million is a modern intercrossed variety that many gardeners find oneself easier to grow , more honest , more generative , and with less flawed yield than the traditional heirloom cherry tomato varieties such as Gardener ’s Delight .

How tall do Sweet Million tomato plants get?

Sweet Millionplants can get quite improbable – about 4 - 6 feet inside a large Lycopersicon esculentum cage – over the raise season . These indeterminate plant can continue to grow tall and can strive 8 - 10 feet tall if well - supported and growing conditions are good . Be sure to use a tomato cage or a tomato plant stake to support your plant .