Unfortunately, I didn't keep track of the numbers of tomatoes. Now I wish I had! Even when the plants were smaller, they seemed to be able to support a lot of fruit. I did tie them to the trellis is many places. The picture I had of the first harvest from my Cherokee Purple (in August), shows 22 tomatoes at one time from three plants. They just keep on producing until blight (most likely Verticillium Wilt) started to get the plants in mid September. I had my last Cherokee Purple in early October. Sadly, I can't tell you the exact number, but it seemed like a lot! And very tasty, too. Hope yours were tasty, too, Bellatrix

breasley - that's what I suspected, too. What I don't understand is why one plant in a row of 12, all sitting in the same hand-prepared raised bed media should be deficient while those around it are not. Charlie

Good information. Growing tomatoes here in florida during the winter does has it's drawbacks. The days are short which results in slower ripening. Plus so little rain. But I'm glad I'm not having to can in August and September like folks up north. Every place has it's good and bad points. Its probably best that there isn't one state that is total perfection for tomato growing,as there might be a population imbalance with too many people like us on this forum wanting to move there! Rex

I've still yet to get the Cherokee Purple that others have managed to get. Last year, I got a few fairly bland tasting tomatoes from the two I planted. This year I tried Cherokee Chocolate and it was killed by grey mold before it even ripened one tomato - Other plants are pumping out great tasting tomatoes and are over 6 ft. tall. I'll try growing them again next year, but I'm beginning to feel that for whatever reason, black / purple tomatoes just don't flavor up or grow well in my area. I have consistently good success rates with the large pink beefsteaks (sudduths, marianna's peace, etc.), red plum-types, red and pink hearts, and last year I did well with yellow and green-when-ripes, but for whatever reason the black / purples just tend to stagnate. So far I've grown, black cherry (near flavorless), Black from Tula (on the bland side - wasn't impressed), Cherokee Purple (better than Black Cherry and BFT, but still very mild), Indian Stripe (same as CP), and this year Cherokee Chocolate (died before fruiting). The only thing I can guess is that they like it on the dry side - most of our springs and summers are wet and or very humid for the past few years.