'Honey Bee' and 'Queen Bee' Organic Cherry Tomatoes With Late Blight Resistance From Johnny's

Fresh from the Johnny’s field tomato trial here in Albion, Maine, I've got two new cherry tomatoes that I wanted to talk about. These are both striped cherries. These are a long time collaboration between the late Fred Hempel and Emily Haga here at Johnny's Selected Seeds. The goal of this project was to build on the Artisan™ tomato concept, but to bring in some more professional traits to the lineup.

The first thing we wanted to address was the disease resistance. So both of these varieties feature resistance to late blight, and both were bred under very strict selection processes here in Maine and also in California, so they've been exposed to a pretty wide range of disease pressure and other climate stresses. So they're very adaptable varieties.

Second, we wanted to have more manageable plant habit on these varieties. The artisans were known to be very bushy and dense and grow quite vigorously. That can be a good thing or a bad thing, but we wanted to have something that was a little easier to maintain. So these have much more well-behaved plant habits than the original Artisans.

Third, we wanted to solve what we call the “pick and split” issue. That's when you harvested the Artisan™ tomatoes, some of the varieties, when you pull the calyx off the top like this, the fruit would split open and become unmarketable, so, we wanted to do away with that issue. But overall, we wanted to maintain the Johnny's high standard of flavor and high performance, and I think we've nailed it with these varieties.

So without further ado, I'll show you the two. On your left here is Honey Bee, and on your right is Queen Bee. Honey Bee is a red cherry with gold stripes that runs 15 to 20 grams – a pretty standard cherry size. I would call it a single bite snacking cherry. The main trait of this is outside of its wonderful looks is the flavor. This is a very sweet, kind of candy-like eating experience. So, definitely the flavor choice of the two.

Queen Bee, also a nice tasting variety. Not quite as sweet as Honey Bee. The advantages of this variety are mostly grower-friendly traits, so has larger fruit. These will run up to 25 grams. You get some big plump ones occasionally that are almost running up to cocktail size, but, generally just a little bit on the plump side. These also just look wonderful in a display. The pink and gold really jumps out. Also, this variety tends to be a little more vigorous and more productive over a longer season. Both are very heavy yielders in the peak of the season. But the Queen Bee has a little bit more longevity, a little more power to get through the season.

Overall, I would say your flavor choice would be the Honey Bee. Your more grower-friendly choice would be the Queen Bee. But both of these are outstanding varieties all around. So, happy to introduce them.

Learn more about Honey Bee
Learn more about Queen Bee

Top ˆ