Scientific Name: Solanum lycopersicum

Common Names: Tomato 'Tommy Toe Yellow', Tomato 'Yellow Tommy Toe', Yellow Cherry Tomato

Family: Solanaceae

Origin:

Tommy Toe Yellow is most likely a family heirloom, with seed saved and passed down through the generations, and originally from Tennessee, USA.

Culinary Uses:

Tommy Toe Yellow is a heirloom yellow cherry tomato variety that produces sweet fruit up to the size of a small apricot.  Yellow cherry tomato varieties can add colour to salads and salsas or be eaten out of hand as a snack straight from the garden.  Pick tomatoes that are fully vine ripened for maximum flavour and sweetness.

Growing Tips:

For optimum fruit production and quick ripening tomatoes should be planted in full sun.  Growers in warmer climates may instead choose to plant tomatoes in light shade to help reduce heat stress on plants during the hottest part of the day.  For healthy growth plant tomatoes in well-drained soil rich in organic matter.  If your soil is sandy or lacking in organic matter place down plenty of well-rotted cow manure or compost prior to planting.  Top dress around cherry tomato plants with a complete organic fertiliser if growth is slow or at the first sign of a nutrient deficiency.  Tommy Tow Yellow is an indeterminate climbing variety and should be grown on a sturdy trellis to support the weight of the vines and keep the fruit off the ground.  Avoid wetting the leaves when watering to reduce the spread of fungal disease spores such as tomato leaf blight.  Prune away lower leaves and suckers as your tomato vines grow to reduce splash-back of fungal spores from the soil onto the leaves during watering.  Mulching around plants can also help to reduce splash-back of fungal spores from the soil and retain soil moisture.  Fruit set may be poor if insect pollinators are absent.  Tomato flowers are self-fertile and can easily be hand-pollinated by vigorously tapping any open flowers about once a week to knock the pollen from the male anthers onto the female stigma.  Water tomatoes consistently as fruit are developing and ripening to prevent their skins splitting.  Possums are particularly fond of tomatoes and will nibble on seedlings, leaves, ripe and unripe fruit, if they are a problem in your area cover trellises with netting to keep them out.  Cherry tomatoes are more resistant to fruit fly than larger-fruited varieties, however fruits should still be sliced in half before eating if harvested over the warmer months of the year as the occasional tomato may contain fruit fly maggots.  Tommy Toe Yellow has good disease resistance.

When to Sow:

In temperate regions of Australia sow Tommy Toe Yellow tomato seeds during Spring, as soon as any chance of frost has past.  In frost-free subtropical regions of Australia sow tomato seeds from early Autumn to early Spring for best results.  In tropical regions of Australia sow Tommy Toe Yellow tomato seeds during the dry season, from late Autumn to mid Winter is ideal.  Heirloom cherry tomatoes are unlikely to grow well in cold and mountainous regions of Australia

How to Sow:

Tomato seeds should be sown 6mm deep, sow several seeds into each planting hole and thin to the strongest seedlings after a couple of weeks growth to ensure seedling vigour.  When planting out cherry tomatoes, space them 60cm apart to give their root systems room to expand and facilitate good airflow between plants which will help to reduce fungal diseases.

Germination Time:

Tommy Toe Yellow tomato seedlings will emerge 7 to 13 days after sowing the seeds, depending on soil temperature.

Time to Harvest:

Tommy Toe Yellow generally fruits slightly later than the red Tommy Toe variety, expect to harvest your first cherry tomatoes 10 to 12 weeks after sowing the seeds.  Tommy Toe Yellow will continue to produce tomatoes throughout the growing season.