Quick Summary of Chernyy Russkiy (Black Russian)
- 🌍 Origin: A famous old heirloom variety, highly popular among Eastern European gardeners. Interestingly, it is considered a “folk” variety, as growers note it isn’t even listed in the official Russian State Register of Seeds.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), but its vigor heavily depends on the seed source. Most growers report very strong, powerful vines with thick stems that require pinching (topping) late in the season. Best pruned to 1 or 2 stems.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Medium to large round or slightly flattened beefsteaks. The color is stunning: a deep, rich mahogany or burgundy-black. Average weight ranges from 150 g to 250 g (5.3 oz to 8.8 oz).
- 👅 Flavor: Highly rated! Growers frequently describe it as one of the best-tasting black tomatoes, noting a complex, rich, and very sweet flavor profile.
- ⏳ Maturity: Mid-season. Often takes a while to gain strength but produces heavily until the fall.
Chernyy Russkiy (Black Russian)
Seeds were from APD (Minsk). Claimed as a mid-season salad variety of English breeding, medium-tall around 1.2 m (4 ft), and fruit mass over 150 g (5.3 oz).
I grew it in 2012 in a greenhouse. Its height was completely unlimited; I had to pinch the growing tip in early August. The plant is very powerful, with large spreading leaves and a thick, sturdy stem. It requires quite a bit of space, and in a greenhouse, it’s definitely better to prune it to a single stem. The ripening time matched the description—mid-season. The fruit weight was mostly 200 g (7 oz) and higher. The color is just amazing—a deep burgundy, easily the most beautiful color among all my black tomatoes in 2012. The taste was also excellent.
I also had one plant of Black Russian outdoors in open ground. Its height was about 150 cm (5 ft), I trained it to 2 stems, and the yield was above average.
Edited January 14, 2013 by Cherry/Olga
My Black Russian is more of a “red-black”. I saved my own seeds, from which I later got some bushes with red fruits and some with black fruits. The fruits are round-shaped, and when sliced, they have 3-4 locules (mostly three, really).
We noticed that the red-black ones are sweeter than the pink-black ones.
I decided to compare this variety side-by-side with Black Prince, because at first, it seemed to me that they were twins, but there is still a difference between them. Both varieties are definitely not early; they gained full strength closer to autumn, and the fruits on both are almost perfectly round. The size is up to 250 g (8.8 oz) for the Prince and 220 g (7.8 oz) for the Russian, both are very productive. Taste-wise, Black Russian turned out to be tastier. In fact, we did a tasting of several black varieties, and Russian proved to be the most delicious of them all. I will tell you about the other varieties in a separate thread.
Olya-Cherry shared these seeds with me. The bush is indeterminate, up to 1.8 m (6 ft). There were a lot of fruits; they weren’t huge, but very tasty. Ripening time is mid-season.
I had some bad luck with my Black Russian. My seeds were from Aelita (a commercial seed brand). I planted two bushes, and they turned out totally different, and as far as I understand, neither was the true Black Russian. One was extremely tall, very productive, but with tiny plum/roma type fruits (40-50 g / 1.5 oz). I thought they would be good for canning, but they started splitting. The other bush was only 80 cm (31 inches) tall, with tomatoes weighing 150-200 g (5.3-7 oz), and it quickly topped itself (determinate). The only reassuring thing was that the tomatoes on both bushes were indeed black.
I grew it for the 2nd year and I am very satisfied…
Taste and yield are top-notch.
Average weight is 200 – 250 g (7 – 8.8 oz).
The tomato variety “Black Russian” (Chernyy Russkiy) is NOT listed in the State Register of Seeds of Russia as of March 1, 2018. The same goes for “Russian Black”. See for yourselves at the register website.
Oh, you’d be surprised how many of the heirlooms we grow here are not in the register. 🤷♀️
On 1/25/2013 at 5:38 PM, Elena_ said:
We noticed that the red-black ones are sweeter than the pink-black ones.
For me, it was Purple Strawberry—which is a pink-black type—that turned out to be the sweetest of all the dark tomatoes during the difficult 2023 growing season.
