The Purple Tomato: My Review From Seed to Harvest
Gardening enthusiasts are buzzing with excitement over the latest addition to the world of horticulture: the all-purple GMO tomato simply called The Purple Tomato bred by Norfolk Healthy Produce. This unusual and controversial fruit has sparked curiosity and debate in the gardening community for being the first GMO seed openly available to the public to purchase. This is my review of growing The Purple Tomato from sowing the seeds, planting, and finally to harvesting and tasting this unique tomato cultivar. I will compare its growth and production to traditional tomatoes and discuss the implications of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) seed.
Check out the video version of my Purple Tomato review here:
From Seed to Seedling: Growing the Purple Tomato
The journey began with sowing seeds in solo cups, which were placed over heat mats (from Amazon) to speed up germination. Within five days, the seeds sprouted and were transferred under grow lights. I prefer to use Mars Hydro 3x3 grow lights (from Amazon), which greatly speed up the rate of growth of my tomato seedlings. I started fertilizing my tomato seedlings once the first true leaves appeared, with Fox Farms Grow Big Liquid Fertilizer (from Amazon).
Check out my YouTube video tutorial all about my process for sowing tomatoes from seed and growing them into healthy transplants HERE.
After eight weeks, the seedlings were ready to transplant. I choose a spot with full sun and planted the seedling in a 10-gallon grow bag, filled with compost and enriched with Espoma Tomato-Tone fertilizer, azomite rock dust, crab meal, and DynoMyco Mycorrhizal inoculant.
Check out my YouTube video tutorial that goes in depth on my method for transplanting tomatoes to get maximum production and why I use these ingredients HERE.
Challenges and Observations
Usually darker colored fruits and vegetables grow and produce better in high heat conditions as compared to other colors. I noticed that The Purple Tomato did handle the heat better and continued to flower as I approached my summer months when all my regular, heirloom tomatoes had stopped. However, The Purple Tomato flowers had trouble with pollination in high heat and dropped. This is typical for my Florida garden as the heat and rain make it nearly impossible for any tomato flowers to pollinate and produce fruit. As far as disease resistance, it appeared to have a slightly higher disease resistance but ultimately got the same diseases and my regular tomatoes.
Trellising and Pruning Techniques
I grew The Purple Tomato next to a cattle panel type of trellis and just tucked the vines into the spaces of the trellis as it grew. I do not prune cherry tomato plants since they ramble and grow vigorously anyways. Since The Purple Tomato is a large cherry type, I did not prune it.
The Purple Tomato started producing ready to harvest cherry tomatoes early in the season as compared to my regular heirloom tomatoes. The clusters of flowers pollinated well (before my environment got too well), and produced nice full clusters of fruit. Fruit was a very dark solid brown/purple color which was very unique and unlike any other tomato I have grown. The interior was a vibrant purple color as advertised. The purple coloration is due to an increased amount of anthocyanins which is the same antioxidant found in blueberries. Norfolk Healthy Produce genetically modified a tomato by inserting genes from a purple snapdragon flower which gave The Purple Tomato a purple coloration inside and out.
Taste Testing The Purple Tomato GMO
The purple tomato had a strikingly deep purple interior and an unexpectedly sweet, and savory flavor. Unlike other dark-colored vegetables that tend to have an earthier taste, the purple tomato was reminiscent of a typical sweet cherry tomato.
Environmental and Ethical Considerations
Most GMO's are created to survive being sprayed with heavy industrial pesticides and herbicides. Therefore, they are usually only grown in large commercial farms and regulated by the government. This practice harms ecosystems, depletes our soil of fertility, and pollutes waterways, which is why a lot of people are anti GMO.
I myself am anti-GMO and advocate for the preservation of heirloom varieties. I made an exception to grow this tomato because it was modified to have increased amounts of nutrition in the form of antioxidants. Nevertheless, the uncertainties surrounding GMOs and their long-term health impacts remain a point of concern.
The Patent Puzzle
Another controversial aspect of GMOs is the patenting of genetically modified seeds. Seeds and food should be freely shared and planted without regulation. However, understanding the financial investment involved with developing such seeds, I understand why a company would want to patent their product. In fact, patenting plants and seeds is nothing new in the plant industry. At the time of writing this review, one packet of The Purple Tomato seeds cost $20 and can be purchased from Norfolk Healthy Produce's website.
Future Plans and Final Thoughts
All in all, I did enjoy the taste of The Purple Tomato and thought it was a unique cultivar. I will probably continue to grow it (in isolation) until I run out of seeds. I am still very happy with the growth, production, and flavor of the thousands of heirloom tomato cultivars to choose from.
If you have grown The Purple Tomato, please share your experience in the comments.
7 comments
I purchased my seeds at the Seattle flower show this spring. I planted all the seeds, every single one of them germinated using a heat mat and grow lights because of my zone five growing area. I uppotted them two times before planting them in my raised bed garden. Currently on August 8, they are over 6 foot tall and have produced for approximately one month. They have turned out to be very prolific growers and producers, even though we have had quite a few over 90° days. I do not enjoy the taste of them quite as much as my sun gold but they do add a complementary taste when added into a salad or just eating them off the vine. I do intend to grow them again next year, by the way I grow a totally organic garden so I have not used any commercial fertilizer on my plants. I generally do not have any sort of disease on my tomato plants, which is again true this year so I cannot comment on whether they are bothered by any diseases.
I just bought & tasted these beautiful purple tomatoes. Are you also selling the seeds….I would love to buy some.
I have just ordered seeds for the purple tomato (on sale for $10.00 as I am ordering so late), which I plan to plant in 2026. I could probably still start a plant or two as the growing season lasts for a long time here in Southern California. My Sun Gold was still producing in December, 2024 (admittedly, not heavily), and I pruned it back to grow again this year. I just harvested my first 5 Sun Golds yesterday from this 2nd year plant! I sound like some kind of tomato-growing guru, but that is far from the case. I have had few successes like the Sun Gold. Thank you for your review; I found a lot of valuable information that I will put to use in growing my tomatoes. I have struggled, and many others in this region have also worked hard for a poor harvest. This year, all my tomatoes are in containers, and I will be able to move them if their location proves unsuitable. I will also be able to better control the watering and feeding, and protect them from our local, everlovin’ gophers. Wish me luck, and thank you again for your tips.
I grew these last year and appreciated the vigor of the plant through the heat of summer. They produced a good crop and I enjoyed the taste. Can’t wait to see if the plants grown from last year’s seeds will be as hardy and productive.
Although the purple tomatoes are patented, the seeds do breed true, so a gardener could use a few tomatoes from their first crop to obtain seeds for the next. SeedWorld points out, “It has been bred in a way that allows home gardeners to collect seed from this year’s crop to grow next year.”