Rosella Purple Tomato

After growing just about every available variety of tomato for 37 years I would reduce all of my tomato growing to just this one if I had to pick only one variety to grow. Even my wife's finicky taste buds gave it rave reviews! One thing I have learned with tomato taste ratings is that people have different taste buds and that it's useless to rely on anyone else's taste tests in order to shop for tomato seeds. Some of my friends & relatives actually gag on sun gold hybrid cherry tomatoes! But this one has been universally rated a thumbs up by everyone that I shared these with! What more can we ask for from a tomato that is open pollinated, produces early, needs no pruning, stays about 3.5-4 feet tall, and cranks out the most flavorful tomatoes imaginable? This summer (2024) for comparisons, I grew 8 different dwarf tomatoes outside side by side under a rain shelter (basically a greenhouse with just the roof) in dutch bucket hydroponics using tap water and very inexpensive masterblend hydroponic nutrients which I increased from 2,000 EC to 3,500 EC when they started producing blossoms and fruiting. Rosella Purple stole the show and was also one of the 3 that lived the longest (along with Mallee Rose and New big Dwarf which were coincidentally also the second best tasting only to Rosella Purple) Anyways Rosella Purple never cracked and never got rained upon and had very few diseases and pest issues.

First time growing any dwarf plants but I'm very experienced in growing tomatoes. I love rosella cherry tomatoes so these seeds were right up my alley. Plant grew well although at the beginning of season food get early blight. I clipped all bad leaves and sprayed with organic disease killer and it worked my plant came right back. I didn't get alot of tomatoes from it but they were big... like a 2 handed one! And then about 9 or 10 regular sized delicious tomatoes. I will grow a few of these plants next year

This was my first time growing a dwarf variety. First, what I liked. The seed germinated well and formed stocky little plants. The produced heavy yields and kept up with my heirloom indeterminates. The flavor was excellent maybe my favorite this year. Downside the plants stems and foliage were so heavy that it need a lot of support. I did not give it the support it needed and this caused several stems to break. The plant also had a wired growth pattern making it tough to support. Also my tomato's were kind of ugly, reminding me of a black krim in color and shape. Mine had reddish pink bottoms and green shoulders. Last, I grew two one did great and the other was disappointing, so wonder how reliable they will be. Overall would grow again if I could figure appropriate support and pruning.

These seeds all geminated and grew fine for the first couple weeks, but then would just shrivel up and die. I had the exact same issue with the Dwarf Eagle Smiley seeds. I grew 12 other types of dwarf tomatoes and they all grew wonderfully under the exact same conditions. Seems like there's something wrong with the seeds.

2years ago I purchased this plant after hearing rave reviews But I had a problem germinating it and when it would get about 4 inches high, it would just die. I tried two different times and the same thing happened both times.
This year I am going to purchase new seeds and hopefully they will be better. I love Cherokee purple tomatoes.

If anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them before I start this year’s tomatoes

This is my new favorite tomato. Best tasting I have ever grown. Perfect for slicing and I got around 30 about half the size of my fist from my one plant. Will be growing more than one next year!

I grew one of these Rosella Purple dwarf tomatoes in an Earthbox alongside a Dwarf Purple Heart dwarf tomato. The Rosella Purple plant was a good size for the Earthbox (~ 2.5 - 3 ft tall) and had a good taste. I probably won't plant the Dwarf Rosella Purple tomato again because it is very prone to cracking and has a fairly short shelf life. None of the Dwarf Purple Heart tomatoes cracked and they were grown in the same Earthbox.

The Master Gardeners of San Juan County just had a tomato tasting, and Rosella Purple was the hands down winner. Rosella Purple has a unique, complex, intriguing, almost lemony tang. So many different flavors in one tomato it's really hard to describe them all, but this was an amazing flavor. Everyone loved this tomato. So delicious. Can't wait to grow way more plants next year!

Rosella Purple gets a lot of attention for a dwarf variety, but it truly deserves all the praise it receives. It has a nice depth of flavor with a sweet overall profile.

The plant is around four feet tall and, like all the dwarf indeterminates, benefits from some type of support.

Fruit average between 5-8 ounces in weight, though a few approach 12 ounces. The interior flesh is balanced between meaty and juicy... this works well for sandwiches (but I like to just eat them sliced up by themselves).

The production is above average, and the fruit are oblate. The color is a very pretty deep purple/brick red.

I purchased this tomato along with the New Big Dwarf tomato and while both were very good tomatoes, I love this one the best. The fruits are big, meaty and super delicious! A beautiful color inside too! Other reviewers stated that it produced late in the season and that is true. It is Oct. 11 and it only just now set a ton of fruit. All are growing well. Next year I will start the seeds earlier and restrict the nitrogen in hopes of getting an earlier crop. Stayed disease free with weekly spraying. I shaded when temps went to 85 or above. Now I have to cover in plastic at night cause temps are dipping below 55. I just hope I can keep the plant happy long enough for the fruit to ripen! Been a long season!

Flesh is a bit too dense and mushy but excellent sweet yet complex flavor. Might make a good, yet unusual, tomato for canning. It was very late to produce fruit.

Survived hot 90F and above temps in a fourteen-inch planter. Flowers would not set during the heat nor did the spring flowers. The first tomatoes were very small and misshapen. Toward the end of the season I was getting plenty of larger tomatoes. I had many not ripen on time before frost. Most flowers were dropped.

The plant will need staking due to the weight of the tomatoes. Most flowers if not all of them were megablooms. Almost all my tomatoes were oddly shaped. Sizes varied between five and nine ounces. I will try it again in 2017 in a larger planter and see if I can get it to start producing earlier.

All five never made it out of their solo cup. Was grown indoors, under 300 watt LEDs. Growing at least ten other varieties, including dwarf and heirlooms. This was the only tomato that didn't make it. All seeds germinated fine but oddly dropped leaves frequently. Developed thick stalks, but foliage would just die, stunting growth. Every other tomato was fine, in the same soil, nutes, etc. The ones that were still alive developed weird growth at the nodes. As the majority of leaves died, I uprooted them to check and found none were root bound, and the roots looked fine. If I can grow Black Krim and German Johnson indoors, this should have been a breeze. Seriously disappointed.

I absolutely love the flavor of these Rosella's. I have five plants and all required staking. I grew two plants each in seven gallon fabric grow bags and I couldn't be happier. Next year I'll be trying many more Dwarf tomato plants from Victory Seeds.

What a tomato! This created heirloom dwarf is better tasting than both my Cherokee Purple and Paul Robeson varieties are this year. The taste is sweet,intense and complex. It was one of the earliest tomatoes to ripen in my garden. Also, Rosella Purple is the most productive of the six of my dwarf tomato varieties I'm growing out this year.

These tomatoes are unbelievably sweet. The fruits are huge--nearly twice the size of my fist. The plant would be very productive if it was not dropping all of the flowers in the last month or so. I'm not sure why it is dropping so many, since we have had highs in the 80s. Be sure to have support for it. Although the plant is small and compact, without support it has a tendency to fall over and have all of the tomatoes against the ground.

I'm in total agreement with Craig's review. I just had the wonderful experience of tasting this variety last Friday (May 4th). Just over fifty days to maturity of first fruit. Harvested three in under 60 days. This is one of the best tasting tomatoes I've sampled.

I just love this dwarf project tomato. The quality of the fruit - just wonderful, intense flavor reminiscent of Cherokee Purple - on such a short, compact plant is amazing. To everyone who is trying this one out - what do you think? To me, it is one of the best dwarf project releases so far!