'Red Ruby' Tomato

Solanum lycopersicum

Origin: Cardondale, Colorado

Improvement status: Cultivar

Seeds per packet: ~20

Germination tested 08/2024: 96%

Life cycle: Annual

Casey Piscura is a talented organic vegetable breeder and production farmer in Carbondale, Colorado. We are very excited to be offering four of his tomatoes that he has put through an extensive and rigorous selection process. This one contains the "blue" genes introduced into the tomato genepool by the great public plant breeders of Oregon State University (by crossing tomatoes with a wild Galapagos tomato species).

From Casey: "These cherry tomatoes are beautiful and productive! Large, crack-free cherry tomatoes with the darkest anthocyanin pigmentation and amazing flavor. Heirloom quality flavor (or better) but with much better productivity. Wild Mountain Seeds in Carbondale, CO at 6400’ has been using selection pressures such as frost, drought and late blight to find superior heirloom plants with hybrid vigor. Through this intense selection they have drastically increased vigor, early fruiting, crack resistance and yield. You will love this cherry which stands out among the rest!"

An important note on the price of these seeds: there is a lot of talk in the organic seed world about how to properly compensate for the vital work that small-scale, organic, open-pollinated plant breeders are doing. Because, of course, once a variety is released, another seed company can get ahold of it, grow it out, and sell it themselves. This is a complicated debate, but one way to put more money in the hands of the breeder is by pricing unique seeds at a premium upon their initial release. Casey put years into the development of these seeds, and the reality is, once you buy them, you can save the seeds yourself and keep growing these varieties for years to come. We work with all of our seed growers and breeders to set prices that they believe will fairly compensate them — and we believe the price of these tomato seeds is fair for Casey, for us, and for you. Thanks.

GROWING TIPS: Start seeds indoors in March or early April, transplant outside after danger of last frost. Space plants 24-36 inches apart. They will benefit from a trellis or tomato cage. Full sun preferred.