Waiting for the Purple

Growing the first-ever GMO purple tomato for home gardeners has been an exercise in patience.

Not-yet-purple tomatoes

Back in February when I saw that seeds for a new, genetically modified tomato were available for home gardeners, I was quick to get my order in. For $20 I received a tiny packet containing 10 seeds for Norfolk Healthy Produce’s Purple Tomato, a GMO cherry tomato that is high in anthocyanins, the same antioxidant found in blueberries. The fruits are said to have a deep tomato flavor and a longer shelf life.

I started the seeds in April and found them a little slow to germinate. I don’t use a heat mat to start seeds and the weather was still a little cool, so that may have been a factor. NHP says they have a 98% germination rate in their greenhouses and I have to assume they do use heat. My germination rate was 50%.

I ended up with five seedlings, one of which failed to thrive. I handed two of the plants off to friends and kept two to grow. My knee surgery and recovery kept me from planting on my seedlings until late June. That’s usually not a problem here in the Bay Area because our hotter weather tends to not come on until July or later. As it happens, it just hasn’t been a particularly hot summer, so even once I got them planted in an EarthBox planter, they didn’t take off right away.

And then they really did take off. In the past month the plants have grown like crazy and are now heavy with cherry tomatoes, with more blossoms still coming. The plants seem healthy and I expect we still have enough warm weather to come to ripen those tomatoes, but I have not seen a single flush of purple. Not even a blush.

Until today.

I see purple!

It’s still not fully ripe so I’ll have to give it a bit more time, but at least I know those anthocyanins are in there. In two or three more weeks, if the weather stays warm, I should have a fully ripe harvest. Purple is happening.