The Juliet is one of the most popular of small “cherry” style tomatoes grown. They are known as a “grape” tomato not only for their shape, but also for their high sugar content (the trait that sets most grapes apart from cherries). The small, 1-2 oz. fruits are tasty, robust, and abundant. The Juliet hybrid was a prestigious All-America Selections award winner in 1999 and this disease-resistant and generally worry-free small, indeterminate tomato has fast become a favorite amongst gardeners.
Best Soil for Growing Juliet Tomatoes
As with most tomatoes, Juliets should be grown in healthy, airy, nutrient-rich soil. Most growers begin them indoors from seed and transplant the starters once they’ve reached about six to eight inches in height and the final frost is well past.
If the Juliets are to be grown in containers or buckets, the soil should be extremely nutrient rich, preferably a high-grade potting soil or 50:50 compost to soil mixture. Juliets are fast growers and need good nutrition to get to optimum size and yields.
Proper Care of Juliet Tomatoes
Because Juliet tomatoes are generally disease-resistant and fairly crack-resistant as well, most of the effort in growing them is focused on the soil’s nutrition and making sure it gets enough water. Side fertilizing when the buds begin turning into tomatoes is often recommended when growing in the ground while compost tea or a similar liquid fertilizer should be added (in moderation) to potted plants.
Plants grow to a bushy 4 to 6 feet in height and need about 48 inches of space between them.
Most gardeners do not pinch off buds on their Juliets as these high producers can create and easily accommodate large bunches of up to 18 tomatoes per cluster. So long as nutrition and water are kept at good levels, these will all mature nicely.
When to Harvest Juliet Tomatoes
From transplant to harvest is 60-70 days in most climates if the soil is good and the water has been regular. Since they are indeterminate, Juliets will continue to grow and produce fruit throughout the season. Be prepared for the large number of tomatoes you’ll get from each plant.
Juliet Tomato Pests and Diseases
Few diseases plague the Juliet, but many pests can be persistent if not planned for in advance. Pests will be regional and include all of the usual suspects: grasshoppers, snails, slugs, birds, etc. The usual precautions (netting, traps, distraction plants, etc.) will work with Juliet tomatoes.
How to Prepare Juliet Tomatoes
Juliets are often considered the perfect size and thick-skinned enough to be sliced in quarters for salads. This makes them perfectly bite-sized. They are sweet, so they are popular raw. They are meaty, which makes them a good choice for pastes and sauces as well. In fact, putting them into jars whole (remove stem, clean, then can) is popular as they are great for soups and salads in the winter as a preserved variety. They can also be sliced into relatively thick strips and dried.
Tips for Growing Juliet Tomatoes
These are some of the easiest to grow of all the cherry tomato types. The only word of caution is to not underestimate yield. These plants PRODUCE small fruit, but lots of it. Be prepared to preserve the harvest.
More Tomato Growing Resources:
Growing Home Garden Tomatoes from University of Missouri
Growing Tomatoes from University of Illinois
The Juliete tomato is a great treasure to grow and enjoy! The crop is overwhelming and hardy beyond one’s belief. I’ve just pulled one new plant that started by itself from last year’s crop and made it through 20 F winter weather here in Santa Cruz CA. WITHOUT WATER! It is now sitting in my living room during the day and outside during the day and is LOADED WITH FLOWERS! The Juliete Tomato is a superb fruit, sweet, artistic with its “thorns on BOTH SIDES of the leaf and stem and PROLIFIC beyond belief! Try it, you’ll be back for more!!!
It’s August in Texas now and my Juliet is loaded with flowers but no fruit. It gets up to 98 F during the day. I’m feeding it and my water meter says moisture is good. What to do, please. It was producing lots of tomatoes a week or two ago. Thanks.
It may need a little stress. Pick off some of the larger leaves on branches that have no fruit. If that doesn’t help, maybe even give the stock a slight bend or twist just to stress it, not completed break it off. Also, tomatoes can be slowed down a lot by very hot weather. They often hardly develop at all in temps over 90 degrees.
Don’t use water straight from the hose fill 5 gallon buckets and let the water warm up a day or 2 in the sun. Cold water shocks the plant sending into hibernation.
To much sun need afternoon shade.Above 90 blossom drop.
Tomatoes have an upper limit of temperature at which they will grow fruit. I learned this when I moved from New Hampshire to Arizona. I thought those sunny long days of June would be great, but the flowers stopped making fruit and the fruit that was on the vine just stopped growing and ripening, but instead turned to wood inside. I understand that when the temp and humidity gets to a certain point, the plant has to revert its metabolism to “reverse photosynthesis”, meaning instead of using the sun’s energy to grow fruit, it must instead use energy to actively get rid of oxygen (which is as toxic to plants as too much CO2 is to animals) that builds up inside the plant when the temp is high. So maybe 98 degrees with high humidity just forces your tomatoes into reverse photosynthesis and there’s no energy left for growth of fruit. Solution: Plant earlier in the season.
I grew one in Santa Cruz county too but in 2019 and it produced through mid-December OUTSIDE. Longest biggest crop in nearly 30 years of tomato growing.
lol guess you dont know what hybrid means
Believe all of the comments you see about Juliet productivity! Also, they do taste great like the best grape tomatoes and stay juicy and tasty longer after picking than any variety I’ve ever raised. Save the masses of green ones you’ll have at the end of the growing season. Because of their thick skin, they are wonderful for a long time…I’ve eaten tasty Juliets well after Christmas (in Chicago).
Are Juliets ever sold in grocery stores or produce markets? Not the plants, I’m talking about the Juliet tomato itself.
Juliet tomato is a variety that will not disappoint you. I’v planted this plant and believe me, this is the best kitchen garden tomato variety. It grows well without any extra care and bears abundant fruit well till January in India (Shillong).
We planted Juliets for the first time last season. So glad we did! We grew both Juliets and Romas and mixed them to make the best sauce ever!!!!!!!! So easy to grow but they do need their room!
I have grown Juliet toms for some years. They are good sliced, of course, but I also cut them in half from stem to blossom end. Put on a foil lined baking sheet, lightly dust with pepper, if desired, and roast at 350 – 450 degrees to the stage you like – from just soft to caramelized. I always freeze a pint or so of well done ones to pull out in January. They are great on pizza. When you freeze them put wax paper between layers for easy removal.
Yes! Also wonderful on angel hair pasta with some fresh basil and grated parmesan cheese. I freeze roasted batches also. Am going to can some today for stews this winter!
Hi! I’m a new gardener. As well I’ve never grown Juliet tomato before. I’m container gardening in Walmart fabric bags. I am using a transplant and it’s doing well and starting to flower. How big will this plant grow and what’s the best way to support it. I have large tomato cages and bamboo, if need be I can buy a larger wooden stake. I am disabled with very limited mobility so I can’t do anything that takes a lot of work to create really nice cages. I am also on a provincial disability budget so I don’t have a lot of money to buy stuff. So m seeking recommendations for the easiest and least expensive support system anyone can think of. Thank you!?
I posted a comment a little below yours about how my Juliet tomato has behaved this year. Honestly, I think you couldn’t kill it if you let it just sprawl all over the ground! Those big round wire cages people build for tomatoes out of tall field fencing would probably be the best thing. Maybe you could get someone to sell you a length of it left over from a fencing job. Even so, Juliet will probably grow up over the tower and down to the ground again. That is, unless I just have an anomaly on my hands. First time I’ve ever grown a Juliet. Wish I had slicers that would put out this easily….
I should also mention that I’m growing on my deck. So there’s not a lot of space. ?
The only thing that’s survived in my zone 8 garden that’s been in the high nineties all summer is the one little Juliet plant I bought from Lowes. It overgrew its tall tomato tower, cascaded over onto the ground and grew out about four feet until I lifted it all up and stuck it on top of another tomato tower, where it has proceeded to cascade all down the sides. I have never seen so many tomatoes in my life! And I have watered this plant maybe three times all summer. I mean, it’s dry as a bone outside and 98 degrees F right now, and that tomato is putting them out like there’s no tomorrow!
My question is, isn’t this a hybrid? This particular plant has done so very well that I’m very tempted to try starting new plants from seed to see what I get. Anyone have any success with that?
It is my understanding that planting the seed from a ‘generic’ plant will most likely not produce the same fruit. Instead, it will be the fruit of one of the plants that was used to create the ‘crossbred’ new plant. If that’s true, the burning mystery is how in the world are the generic seed produced? I assume that since I have provided my email address I can expect to receive a response to this question. I’d appreciate some feedback!
it most definitely is a hybrid. If you save seeds you may find you have plants and fruit quite similar to Juliet, but also perhaps not. Seeds from tomato hybrids are viable, for sure, but may have fruit that are smaller, or less sweet, and the vine might be more wild that it already is in the hybrid.
With juliet tomatoes being a hybrid, is it possible a hybrid juliet could produce seeds that grow into a Roma the following year? I bought a 6 cell container of juliet’s but 5 grew to be romas. I really really wanted just juliet’s! Lol
I saved seed from my 2020 Juliet plants, dried them a few days, then put in small containers in the refrigerator for overwintering. Planted seeds late spring of 2021 in Midwest US–they all germinated! When large enough, planted in large pots with tall tomato cages. Now, in late August, we have a huge crop of tomatoes ripening! Vines easily 9 ft long. Clusters of 8 tomatoes look like and size of Romas but some are developing more round. Taste is sweet, very few seeds. Don’t say hybrids won’t grow!! Try it! I’d like to know what type tomatoes were hybridized to get Juliets–does anyone know?
i don’t know about what plants are used for thejuliet hybrids, but wanted to add that i saved seeds from 21 and the plants this year are the healthiest of all my tomato transplant. Excited to hear your success. I was worried about the next year seeds producing an inferior tomato. I wonder if anyone has ever saved sungold cherry tomato?
I read a few years ago that the Juliet was created by crossing a Roma and a cherry. I don’t know what varieties
In my post about the size of Juliets started from 2020 seeds, I meant to say the fruits are the SHAPE of Romas, but smaller, like Juliets.
the next spring my Juliets volunteers produced huge plants from last years season. I am going to make this season climbers. I did internet research on how this is done. Juliets are the right type to use.
Bought Juliet at a usually reliable nursery. The plant grows like crazy. There is however, something wrong with the plant. The leaves are misshapen. The leaves look like a ducks webed feet, and have points on the edges. Looks like herbicide damage, but there has been no applications in the eleven years I lived on this land. Nearest neighbor is a quarter mile away, with dense trees separating us, so it is not drift. Lots of other plants nearby, doing very well. The flowers on the seedling when I bought it produced nice tasting fruit, but nothing on the new growth. I live at 7500 feet elevation, but have always grown tomatoes here with very few problems. Any ideas why the plant is not producing?