Reinhard Kraft's Purple Sugar
 

Has anyone grown this yet?

I started seed for this on February 12, and my plants are HUGE already. They're at least 20% bigger than any of the other varieties I started at the same time. They're blooming all over, as well. I'm excited to try these, and they seem to be off to a great start.

Lee

I have not, but I’ve read GREAT things about it. It’s now on my short list.

I have grown it and do love it! Germination for me took a minute but the plants themselves have lovely foliage, and are hardy as you say, and wait until you taste the fruit. It's Black Cherry with an extra zing. One of my top favorite cherries out of more than 20 last year, I started one entire flat just for my this year's sale customers because it performed so well in my heat. An A+ rating :)

I started two flats of various tomatoes on Easter Sunday, just 2 seeds each for most varieties. By Wednesday about half had germinated and I took the humidity dome off. Reinhard Kraft's Purple Sugar is one of the varieties and they've germinated. Pretty excited to try this one!

I grew two RKPSC plants last year. One was between a Rosella (cherry) and a Black Cherry. I pruned it to 4 or 5 branches, and it produced about 320 fruit over the season. The plant, blossoms, and fruit looked almost identical to Rosella, but it grew to a larger size and produced more and somewhat larger fruit especially late in the season. It's summer fruit size was similar to Sungold's, and they got smaller later in the season. The second was planted in a sort of bonus row where plant spacing was only 18", and I kept it pruned to just the main vine. It's fruit were probably about 50% larger (about half way between Sungold and Black Cherry), and they stayed good sized later in the season. While it only produced about half as many as the first plant, when I grow it in the future I plan to grow a couple plants pruned to one vine to get the larger fruit. I thought the flavor was very good - definitely in the top couple of the 13 cherry varieties I grew. The only negatives were the small late season fruit on the first plant and the fact that when the temperatures cooled late in the season here in Upstate NY, the fruit tended to split when picked or even just sitting on the counter. Overall I don't think you'll be disappointed.

My Experience with Purple Sugar this year
 

I grew Purple Sugar during both of my seasons here in Tulsa this year. Back when I started this thread, I mentioned my plant was larger than all my others early in the season. That continued through the season. My plant grew in a 20 gallon Smart Pot and got to about 8' tall. I ended up with about 350 fruit by mid-June. Most were about 3/4 size of a typical Black Cherry. The taste was excellent......better than Black Cherry, sweeter and richer/tangier. The only issue I had is my plant got Gray Mold, and it spread pretty quickly.

I decided to grow Purple Sugar again for my late-summer/fall season, starting seed on June 21. This plant grew in a 15 gallon Smart Pot, and the plant was under shade cloth for part of the day during July and August. It was very hot in July and much of August in Tulsa, and very dry. By Aug 15, my new Purple Sugar was 8' tall and completely covered in blooms. We had a nice, less-humid spell during mid-August, and I began to see fruit. Those fruit began ripening by early-September, and I've been getting several every day since then. The plant is up to about 10'. I've picked 250 fruit so far, and there are more than that still on the plant. But the fruit size is much smaller, like a small currant. They taste pretty good, but they are too small. The good thing about growing it during my second season, is it stood up to the gray mold much better. The Black Cherry right next to it has been overtaken by gray mold, while the Purple Sugar only has a little.

The thing to take away from my first year experience with Purple Sugar is.....I'm going to try it again in my raised bed. That doesn't happen with many new ones, since I have limited space. I think I'll try ClarkB's tip of limiting the offshoots to try to get larger fruit. I'd rather get 150 good, larger fruit over 300+ smaller ones.

I highly recommend you trying Purple Sugar, if you get a chance. If I can get my process dialed in, Purple Sugar will go on my "every year" list.

Lee

If your Purple Sugar large Cherry Tomato taste better than Black Cherry Cherry Tomatoes "I must Grow the next year.

I Miss how every Heirloom Tomato or Cherry Plants Overproduced making some available for my Customers. It has been a sad year "Not" to See all Those Tomatoes heavily loaded on every plant. This is very Strange to get little Tomatoes and Cherry. But you Missioned Shade Cloth, Amen!!

I am investing in the Best Shade Cloth as I Research studies from Universities and Department Leaders in the USDA. Also learning about Grants. But, The Shade Cloth would have helped us all for many reasons. I will continues my research on Shade Cloth and it's benefits and list it here as we go through this Climate Changes.

I must Try Purple Sugar if it taste better than the Black Cherry Heirloom Tomatoes, Amen!!