Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners - Variety Details

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'Matt's Wild Cherry' Tomatoes

Sub-Category:	Cherry Early-Season Heirloom

Sub-Category 2:
Description:	Open pollinated. Early season cherry/grape type. Indeterminate plants produce round, 5/8 to 3/4 inch, deep red, fruits. Disease resistant variety. Resistance to late blight and early blight. About 60 days to maturity. Matt's Wild Cherry is genetically linked to wild Mexican tomatoes from the eastern state of Hidago.
Days To Maturity:	55-60
Seed Sources:	High Mowing Seed - updated in 2015 Johnny's Selected Seeds - updated in 2015

Rating Summary

Overall: (3.7 Stars) Taste: (3.8 Stars) Yield: (4.5 Stars) Ease/Reliability: (4.2 Stars)

Reviews

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Number of Reviews: 18

KEY: O=Overall Rating, T=Taste, Y=Yield, E=Ease

Reviewed on 04/17/2017 by lizmom - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Franklin, Ohio, United States Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Medium - 400 square feet to 1,600 square feet Sun Exposure: 6 to 8 hours per day
Taste not very good. Therefore, I\'ll never grow again.

Reviewed on 01/03/2015 by klossoke - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Howard, Maryland, United States Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Medium - 400 square feet to 1,600 square feet Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
High production, best suited to clip clusters for a garnish. Fruit in the tiny category and often tear when picked. Volunteers readily from season to season. And fruits over long season.

Reviewed on 09/08/2012 by Ferdzy - An intermediate gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Ontario, Canada Frost Free Season: 143 - 163 days Soil Texture: Sand Garden Size: Large - More than 1,600 square feet (40' x 40') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
These really do behave more like a wild plant than a garden cultivar. Which means that they are tough, adaptive and prolific; very nearly a weed (and in some places I suspect they would actually be a weed). The tomatoes are tiny, but the plant is enormous - easily the largest tomato plant we grow. I find the flavour good, but a bit odd - it definitely seems to have a front half and a back half. However, they are sweet and extremely popular with children - we have managed to convert a child or two to tomato eating with these. In fact, their best use is probably to plant them where kids can graze on them They do tend to tear coming off the vine, and so do not keep well once picked, unless you pick the whole cluster. The little clusters do make charming garnishes, though. They also dry extremely well, although they are small enough to make processing them quite tedious.

1 of 1 gardener found this review helpful.

Reviewed on 07/19/2012 by Panzarella - An intermediate gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days Soil Texture: Not Sure Garden Size: Small - Less than 400 square feet (20' x 20') Sun Exposure: 6 to 8 hours per day
A variety that I plant every year. Very vigorous vine growth. Requires heavy pruning to keep contained. If ignore it for too long, it will be out of control. Taste is excellent (very sweet) when grown somewhere warm and sunny. I found that if grown in the shade or with a lot of rain, the taste tends to be a little more bland. As far as all the complaints about not keeping well, my advice is to pick the fruit with the stem still attached. This prevents splitting, which would lead to any problems with shelf life. Hopefully this helps some people complaining about some probelms with this variety.

1 of 1 gardener found this review helpful.

Reviewed on 05/30/2012 by plainolebill - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Benton, Oregon, United States Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Small - Less than 400 square feet (20' x 20') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
We like it. The plant is huge as others have pointed out - for Northwest gardeners it produces fruit a little later than the hybrid varieties so keep that in mind. We harvest the fruit by cutting clusters off and leave them on the counter for days using them in salads or just picking them off and eating them. I\'m not sure what people are talking about as far as keeping qualities? Overall a pretty good cherry with good flavor. My wife starts them in the window of our sunroom every year from seed she saves from the previous crop.

1 of 1 gardener found this review helpful.

Reviewed on 06/05/2011 by sadie - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	All Counties, Ontario, Canada Frost Free Season: 123 - 143 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Large - More than 1,600 square feet (40' x 40') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
Smaller than most cherry tomatoes. My plant spread 8 feet across and produced massive amounts of tomatoes. Skins sometimes peel when picked, so they do not store well. They have a nice taste and they dried very well in the solar dehydrater.

2 of 2 gardeners found this review helpful.

Reviewed on 01/02/2011 by Henbogle - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Sagadahoc, Maine, United States Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Medium - 400 square feet to 1,600 square feet Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
These will always have a place in my garden, they earned it in the dreadful summer of '09 when late blight decimated tomatoes and potatoes across the state, but not the Matt's Wild. Planted in the midst of the carnage, they showed no signs of blight and produced until frost. The tomatoes are small, thin skinned, and prone to tear when picked, and do not ripen evenly in the cluster. Not to worry, they are so prolific it won't matter. The vines are HUGE so give them room to sprawl and don't be afraid to prune. I'm going to try drying these next year for salads. Prolific volunteers.

2 of 2 gardeners found this review helpful.

Reviewed on 02/04/2010 by PQBaggs - An intermediate gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Windsor, Vermont, United States Frost Free Season: 103 - 123 days Soil Texture: Loam Garden Size: Small - Less than 400 square feet (20' x 20') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
Good tasting, small cherry tomato on a tall plant. This cherry tomato has tender skin (unlike some cherry tomatoes I've grown). Successfully resisted early blight in the summer of 2009 when all my other tomatoes succumbed. I gave a seedling to a friend who plants in a large community garden and he had the same experience--only tomato plant in the garden surviving at the end of the summer (2009).

2 of 2 gardeners found this review helpful.

Reviewed on 12/16/2009 by jpatti - An intermediate gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Cumberland, Pennsylvania, United States Frost Free Season: Soil Texture: Loam Garden Size: Small - Less than 400 square feet (20' x 20') Sun Exposure: 6 to 8 hours per day
I grew several of these in hanging baskets on my porch. They're not only early, but late too! As of mid-December, I have a potted one still producing fruit in my window! I pruned it back sharply before bringing it inside several months ago, and it's still going like crazy. What I particularly like about these is they taste like real tomatoes, not like cherry tomatoes. I've never liked cherry tomatoes much, so these are nice. If you're looking for a cherry tomato taste, you might not like them as much as I do.

2 of 2 gardeners found this review helpful.

Reviewed on 09/20/2009 by hhibben - An intermediate gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Cobb, Georgia, United States Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days Soil Texture: Loam Garden Size: Medium - 400 square feet to 1,600 square feet Sun Exposure: 6 to 8 hours per day
Each itty bitty fruit packs the bunch of a full-sized homegrown tomato. They grow in clusters and make a beautiful and edible garnish.

1 of 1 gardener found this review helpful.

Reviewed on 04/13/2008 by SewingDiva - An intermediate gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days Soil Texture: Loam Garden Size: Small - Less than 400 square feet (20' x 20') Sun Exposure: 6 to 8 hours per day
Pest free in our garden. Freakishly huge vine (6 feet easily) is an interesting contrast to the tiny fruits (1/2 to 3/4 inch.) Very soft, very sweet, tears easily, best eaten out of hand. This one never even makes it into the house because the kids eat them right off the vine(which is why we grow it.)

2 of 2 gardeners found this review helpful.

Reviewed on 05/29/2007 by tetrazygia - An intermediate gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Dade, Florida, United States Frost Free Season: More than 203 days Soil Texture: Sand Garden Size: Large - More than 1,600 square feet (40' x 40') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
My plants are all very large, fast-growing, and resistant to environmental stress and disease. The yield is very high and the fruits surprisingly tasty for cherries--but the fruits are small and tear easily when picked. Mine all have lots of seeds and thick skins that are hard to chew and detract from the fruit quality. I wouldn't want to use them raw in salads for this reason, despite the nice taste.

2 of 2 gardeners found this review helpful.

Reviewed on 01/13/2007 by Best Chance - An intermediate gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Oakland, Michigan, United States Frost Free Season: 143 - 163 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Small - Less than 400 square feet (20' x 20') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
These little bitty tomatoes are ok in the taste department. I thought that they were so tiny that it was not worth the effort to grow and pick them, let alone the fact that they don't store well at all. It would be so much less work to get a larger cherry which tastes better.

1 of 1 gardener found this review helpful.

Reviewed on 05/12/2006 by yemm - An intermediate gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Saratoga, New York, United States Frost Free Season: 143 - 163 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Medium - 400 square feet to 1,600 square feet Sun Exposure: 6 to 8 hours per day
I have had this tomato in my garden for sevarel years now. It is the sweetesr best tasteing red cherry that I have found. A little small, but bears in clusters. Volunteers every year althought I start in flats. I suggest a try.

2 of 2 gardeners found this review helpful.

Reviewed on 04/24/2006 by danceswithferrets - A novice gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Greenville, South Carolina, United States Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Small - Less than 400 square feet (20' x 20') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
It's very hardy and productive. Flavor is good, but not exceptional. Early in the season, I thought it had somewhat of a funky aftertaste, but either I got used to it or it improved. Later in the season, I thought it was good, but I still picked over them and ate all the SunGolds first.

1 of 1 gardener found this review helpful.

Reviewed on 12/02/2005 by Joachim - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Fairfield, Connecticut, United States Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days Soil Texture: Loam Garden Size: Large - More than 1,600 square feet (40' x 40') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
Bland taste, hard skin that stays in your mouth and tends to split after rains. There are far better cherry tomatoes like Sun Gold.

Reviewed on 12/04/2004 by Lenore - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Massachusetts, United States Frost Free Season: 123 - 143 days Soil Texture: Loam Garden Size: Large - More than 1,600 square feet (40' x 40') Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
Matt's Wild is a very small cherry, extremely tasty, but so small that it is hard to pick, especially when ripe. It is an easy-to-grow plant and spreads all over the tomatoes.

Reviewed on 11/01/2004 by Daisy's Mom - An experienced gardener
Overall Taste Yield Ease	Monroe, New York, United States Frost Free Season: 163 - 183 days Soil Texture: Clay Garden Size: Medium - 400 square feet to 1,600 square feet Sun Exposure: More than 8 hours per day
Wonderfully sweet, grape size fruit. Very productive, vigorous vines that need lots of room and support. Easy to start from seed; readily self-seeds and comes true to type. I pick them with the stem still attached, as they have a tendency to crack; once the stems dry thy're easily removed.

2 of 2 gardeners found this review helpful.

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