Anne - This is quoted from Park Seed website about that cultivar:
"This just may be your next favorite cherry tomato. Kitchen Minis ™ Red Velvet produces deep red fruit that is exceptionally sweet and delicious. Most "pretty" tomatoes lack this explode-in-your-mouth flavor. In fact, these fruits are so tasty, the variety was crowned winner of the 2009 Tomato Tasting at SSE's Heritage Farm.

The 1-inch-diameter fruits are fuzzy, like peaches, but the fuzz will diminish and disappear when the fruit ripens. The unique blue-green foliage has a silvery hue, reminiscent of dusty miller. Both fruits and foliage are hardy and will continue to grow and produce even after a frost."

Sounds interesting, doesn't it?

beckygardener said: Anne - This is quoted from Park Seed website about that cultivar:
"This just may be your next favorite cherry tomato. Kitchen Minis ™ Red Velvet produces deep red fruit that is exceptionally sweet and delicious. Most "pretty" tomatoes lack this explode-in-your-mouth flavor. In fact, these fruits are so tasty, the variety was crowned winner of the 2009 Tomato Tasting at SSE's Heritage Farm.

The 1-inch-diameter fruits are fuzzy, like peaches, but the fuzz will diminish and disappear when the fruit ripens. The unique blue-green foliage has a silvery hue, reminiscent of dusty miller. Both fruits and foliage are hardy and will continue to grow and produce even after a frost."

Sounds interesting, doesn't it?

Ah. I was confusing it with the indeterminate variety Red Velvet. You're making me want some but I'm guessing it's a hybrid?

The database indicates that there's a micro-dwarf, 'Red Velvet' and an indeterminate, 'Velvet Red'. The term "kitchen minis" is trademarked, but I don't see any indication that 'Red Velvet' is a hybrid. However, I noticed Park Seeds wants $8 for 10 seeds.

critterologist said: However, I noticed Park Seeds wants $8 for 10 seeds.

Outrageous, isn't it? However, if it were a true heirloom I would probably pay that as I would simply save out seeds for the next time. It could be a hybrid and that's why they're so high. Seems to me some hybrids are more costly than heirlooms I guess because the person who stands there crossing blossoms needs to be paid.

Definitely true about the "why" of high priced hybrid seeds. But I think if these seeds were hybrids it would say "hybrid" or "F1" in the name or the description.

Park seeds doesn't have the reputation it used to. But I'm still tempted...

If we do a seed swap this fall/winter, I'm willing to chip in an extra dollar for whoever wants to try growing out this variety! If it's successful, please save seeds, and if it flops, no great loss if we share the cost around.

I recently purchased those seeds from Park because I had such good luck growing their "Siam" in my aerogarden. So I will be trying "Red Velvet" next. I have a bunch of Siam starter plants growing in my aerogarden right now that need to be separated out and transplanted outside. Those seedlings came from the seeds of the tomatoes I harvested from the Park "Siam" seeds. I think every seed I used sprouted.

The Siam plants growing outside are doing quite well. The plants are very compact and short, but the growth isn't as compact outside as it was under the aerogarden lights. Still very short though. They are cute little tomato plants and they have already formed a second round of cherry-sized tomatoes that are growing and ripening. They are the smallest tomato plants I have ever grown, so I find them quite fascinating and fun to grow. Mine are growing in a pot with other plants. So far, I have not even had to stake them.

I haven't started the Red Velvet seeds yet. Will be doing that sometime next week. We shall see how they do in my aerogarden. (I don't mind trading seeds, but would prefer to keep it to the members currently here on this thread who are interested. I don't want to get bombarded with requests by anyone just skimming this thread.)

I think there's a way to use the seed swap tool to limit participation to "invitation only," which we can keep to active members of this thread, either strictly or possibly allowing some guest invites.

OK, I just created a tomato seed swap and chose the "invite only" option. It does not show up on the list of swaps in the swap tool, so people won't find it and feel chuffed that they can't join. It's not yet clear to me how to invite people to find/join the swap, but I have months to figure that out.

Yeah, I guess I just volunteered to host, if we choose to do this as a "regular" seed swap where everybody sends the seeds to me & I send them back out to the recipients. There's a period for doing the trading (via the seed swap tool, and if you have not used it Dave has an excellent tutorial, just look under the "useful tools" tab at the top of the page and click "seed swaps"), so when seeds come to me they will be earmarked for particular members.

The "round robin" option I mentioned earlier stretches out the time table and has a greater chance of crash & burn, but it's fun. That's where somebody with a lot of varieties offers to start off the swap and sends a bubble mailer out to make its way from one recipient to the next. You select seeds you want and put in at least one pack for every one you take out (no more than, say, 3 packs of a given variety), then send it to the next person on the list.

Although it's months away, we could get the ball rolling on figuring out some of the details....

When do people here start seeds? For me, that's mid-February. Who is earlier than that? We want to be sure to have seeds out to people before then, but I know this is complicated by Florida and Texas growing seasons. If you start seeds in fall, you may have to wait for fall 2024 to start your seeds from this swap.

The other important date is when people finish fermenting and drying seeds. For me, that's generally around the end of October, because I dry seeds for several weeks to be sure they are completely dry before I put them into little plastic baggies.

My initial thought if we do a "traditional" swap was to set up this swap to take place in January, after the rush of holiday activity. If we started Jan 1, did trading until the 12th, allowed up to 2 weeks for all the seeds to arrive, then gave me a few days to get them sorted and sent back out, that would put seeds in your mailbox the first week in February. If that's too late for seed starting, we may need a November/December timeframe.

Thoughts?

@beckygardener , how would you feel about participating in a group swap with people on this thread and also on the main tomato discussion thread? Or were you just interested in doing individual trades?

I staet mmy tomato seeds March 15th. I used to stat March 1st but the plants get too big bafore I get them out. March 15th is good.

This year I got my dwarf tomato project plants started late but it did not matter. They grew quickly once ou in the garden.

My thought in this zone would be these small tomatoes would be suitable for indoor or greenhouse growing and in this zone I would/will start the GH tomatoes by the end of July or early August.

I was thinking of hosting a seed swap (by invitation) for tomato enthusiasts on this thread and on the other tomato discussion thread. Certainly we can have another swap for just dwarf tomato seeds, but I think most of the people on this thread grow other types of tomatoes and probably post on both threads.

I'm only growing 3 dwarf varieties, and I'm not growing any of them 25 feet from another dwarf variety, although my dwarfs are about 100 feet from my non-dwarf tomato plants. So I'll offer to host a general tomato seed swap, but if anybody is interested in a dwarf-varieties-only swap, we'd need another host for that.

I saved a bunch of seed this year but not enough to join two extra swaps. (I put my name in D&D's swap this year)

I have a greenhouse so I can start my seeds December if I want. But I only start microdwarfs then, and do the indeterminate types mid to late February.

ok, I'll admit to being a "scroller" but it was only to catch up and so I could post! (Forgive me?? )

My avatar (<<<<<) is actually a dwarf, but not from The Dwarf Project. It's from the collaboration of a private individual (in Quebec Ontario) and a University in Canada introduced in 1991 - hence its name: Quebec 309. Although described by Tatiana as an OP 5' determinate, it has rugose leaves (fairly supple) and the steady production until a killing frost of 4-6 oz very tasty, juicy red globes. My production notes (2020-2022) states "highly productive, very tasty juicy fruit on a problem-free plant".

My other diminutive favorite (only grown one year, as I've been trying to find a VERY small support system for it........pssssttt @NewYorkRita would you share that Amazon link to those 12" square cages?) is a native dwarf called Mountain Princess. It grows wild in the Monongahela mountains in West Virginia. it is a heirloom, 18-21" tall plant with regular leaves and produces round, red fruit averaging 5 oz. My production notes for 2020 state "lacy, highly branched plant; profuse flowering but when fruit grew it collapsed like an umbrella and diseases set in, ruining very tasty, juicy fruit". I DID stake it when transplanting it to my garden. . . and again after it started to collapse under its fruit weight, but it was futile.

In trying to find a manageable cherry tomato plant (to replace my unruly indeterminate behemoth with many local fans/friends of its fruit) I tried Tiny Tim in 2021. It wasn't a suitable replacement. Its DESCRIPTION said it didn't need staking; it did. And the flavor of its fruit wasn't even close to my indeterminate: so my search continues.

Oh, I aalmost forgot! I've grown dwarfs, determinants and even indeterminants (once only!! I learned!) in 5 gallon shop buckets (readily available at: orange, Home Depot; white, Lowe's and blue, Walmart. . . ). I drill two quarter-sized drainage holes (one on the opposite side as t'other. . . and BOTH just above the INSIDE bottom of the bucket!!) When I didn't like its color, I swung by the paint department and got a can of spray paint meant for plastic/outdoors. And I used paint pens (from a local Arts & Crafts store) to draw designs and stick figures on them!

Homer buckets (my choice from Home Depot) has a 5 gallon/20 dry quarts andor 2/3 cubic feet capacity; its dimensions are 18" tall and 12" wide. Cost? Less thaan $2. . . . AAND (for an additional low cost) you could buy the matching lid!

My favorite mini/dwarf cherry tomato so far is Tumbling Tom. It's suitable for planting in a hanging basket or near the edge of a larger container. Taste is like a really good garden tomato, nice balance of sweetness & acidity. Tumbling Tom Yellow is equally good. I haven't grown it in quite some time, but I think I need some next year.

I did a post about the potential seed swap in the other tomato thread, with a list of participants that I pulled from the first and last page of that thread. I'm pretty sure everybody on this thread is also on that thread, but if I missed somebody, PLMK!

Jill - I would rather do a small seed swap with those on this thread (that are active participants). Thank you for asking me. I don't have the space in my yard to grow a lot of tomato plants unfortunately. So that really limits me against doing a large swap since I don't have tons of seeds and don't need a ton of seeds either. But I envy those of you that do have the space!

I think those cages will be perfect for my Dwarf Tomato Project plants. The plants I have them on all looking good.

You can get 2, 6 or 10 cages. I got the ten cage package.

MTB Green Square Folding Tomato Cage Plant Support Stake Tower 12 Inch (Square) by 46 height. $108.99 Including Shippimg but plus tax at Amazon.

Becky, you can host a swap for just dwarf tomato seeds for just people on this thread. I think if you haven't hosted a swap before you might need to contact Dave for a link to the host control panel for the seed swap tool.

You can also participate in the larger swap and just use your dibs for dwarf tomato varieties. The tool is set up so that everybody gets a certain number of dibs each day, increasing as the swap goes along, so at the beginning everybody has a good chance at getting anything particularly choice or rare. You also earn extra dibs by having people choose something you've offered. If you watch the video, I think you'll see that you could use the swap tool for lots of trades or just a few.

We use the seed swap tool to pre-arrange trades for our local plant swap. It seems to work out fine no matter how many plants somebody has to share or how many they want to take home. If we have a lot of people participating, I'll start with a multiplier of 1 -- 1 dib the first day, 2 more the second day, 3 more the third day etc. By the end of 7 days, everybody will have 28 dibs plus extra dibs if people are choosing their offerings. Then I'll increase the multiplier so any late-comers can catch up during the last few days of the trading period.

Jill and others - I will make it even easier. If any of our active members on this thread would like seeds from me, just tree-mail me. We can then do a private trade. I honestly don't need much as far as seeds go. My only real issue is getting more seeds from my tomatoes as they ripen. Therefore, it will be on a first come, first serve basis. I'll just make a list of members who want seeds. I truly don't have the time to run a swap as I work full time and have other obligations when I am not working. But thank you for all the information you shared about doing a swap.

Do any of you cover your tomato plants to prevent the wildlife from getting the tomatoes? If so, what do you use?

For those who are tired of hearing about Siam, just ignore below photos:
Here are 3 photos of the Siam plants that are growing in a pot outside. They are just a little bit taller, but sure produce flowers and tomatoes. So far, still no staking necessary. They are about 12-14" tall.