Cherokee Purple is the name of a very old variety of tomatothat develops a fruit with a deep, dusky-rose color while maintaining a somewhat greenish hue near the stem when mature for eating. The deep crimson interior and clear skin combination give it its distinctive color. It was one of the first of the darker color group of tomatoes sometimes described as "blacks"; the variety Purple Calabash, with its highly irregularly shaped fruits, arose in a very few seed catalogs in the mid 1900s.
Tomato fertilizers work well for chili pepper plants, as do compost and well-rotted manure. A good 5-10-10 fertilizer is usually sufficient for peppers. Work it into the soil before transplanting, about 3 pounds per 100 square feet.
Grows well in fertile, moist, but well-drained soil that's high in organic matter. Trillium can be grown in clay soils, if amended with peat moss and compost. Spacing: Space the small rhizomes (roots) about 6- to 12-inches apart and about 2- to 4-inches deep.
Early season pepper plant pruning shouldn't be done until the plant is at least a foot (31 cm.) tall and can be stopped once fruit have set. Most pepper plants have an overall 'Y' shape and branches then create smaller and smaller Y's off of the main stems. By the time the plant is a foot (31 cm.)
The plants do well in a container filled with a potting mix that drains quickly, such as a combination of half commercial potting soil and half small bark chips.
