Zone 9-10 (for year-around growth)

We were visiting Hopkins Nursery in western Broward County and enjoying a personal golf cart tour of their plants.  Several interesting events occurred on our way to find Stevia.

At the edge of a large shade house, I spotted what looked like a tomato plant.  But it was a hot July afternoon in South Florida and tomatoes do not grow in the summer in zone 10.  Our normal season is to plant continuously from August through March and harvest as ready.  Never are there tomatoes in July.

But Mrs. Hopkins explained this was no ordinary (hybrid) tomato.  This was the native wild Florida Everglades tomato.   Having never heard of such a plant, I was skeptical.

Mrs. Hopkins encouraged me to taste a few and they were outstanding.  Sweet with a delightful true tomato taste.  She also said I could take a few more of these cherry tomatoes and plant the seeds.  We did just that and we were astounded by the bounty both in the ground and from plants in pots.

Months later we were speaking with Mr. Lamar Bishop of the Broward County Agricultural Extension Service and he confirmed this was a native Florida fruit.  He had been planting them for many years.

Here's how to grow them in pots.

Get a 5-gallon or 7-gallon pot and fill about 1/3 up with rich organic soil mixed with coarse sand.  Plant the seeds just at the depth of the seed.  They will come up in about 7-10 days.  As they sprout, thin to 3-5 per pot.

As your sprouts get taller, add more soil right up to their necks - just below the level of the top new leaves.  Fill so only the top leaves are uncovered with soil.  As your plants grow, continue to repeat these soil additions until you have reached 1-2 inches from the top edge of your pot.

What you are doing is creating more soil for the stems to create roots.  Along the entire depth of your pot your tomatoes are growing roots making this an incredibly well rooted plant able to draw nutrition from 6-8 inches of soil.

Feed with fish emulsion fertilizer and composted cow manure.  In fact, you can mix in composted manure as part of your mix as you fill the pot.  Dehydrated cow or sheep manure is also excellent to use.

In about 50-60 days you will have zillions of unbelievably tasty cherry tomatoes.  Well cared for, these indeterminate vines will grow as much as 15 feet tall so expect to stake or trellis them for maximum fruit production.

They will grow, flower and fruit continuously for several months.  If you live in South Florida, you can plant these native tomatoes continuously all year around and enjoy the fruit 12 months a year

You can cut the vines off and plant them and they will re-root so you can get many starts from the one plant

Thank you Jeannie from Florida

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