📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Church
- 🌍 Origin: A massive American heirloom from the Church family in Hot Springs, Virginia. It was first introduced to the wider tomato community by the legendary collector Chuck Wyatt. In Russian collections, it is frequently traded under the direct translation “Церковь” (Tserkov).
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, regular leaf. A very vigorous and strong plant with dense foliage cover. Some growers note it has excellent resistance to foliar diseases like Leaf Mold (Cladosporium).
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Enormous pink beefsteaks. Fruits are very meaty with few seeds. They routinely reach 500g (1 lb) and can grow to well over 1 kg (2.2 lbs) under the right conditions.
- 👅 Flavor: A classic, old-fashioned slicing tomato profile. Reviews vary based on climate—some find it perfectly balanced and delicious, while others in cooler areas found it slightly bland.
- ⏳ Maturity: Mid-late to late season.
An indeterminate, mid-season slicing variety. Very large pink fruits, meaty. For me, the flavor turned out to be a bit bland.
Edited January 2, 2016 by Drosera
The variety is mid-late, didn’t set a lot of fruit, and the taste wasn’t memorable. It was prone to cracking for me.
A late season variety. Very healthy—it was one of only 2 varieties that didn’t get Leaf Mold (Cladosporium); all the others caught it in early June.
The fruits are large (my biggest one was 1,230g / 2.7 lbs!), pink, and tasty. A very heavy yielder. It didn’t crack at all.
There are very few seeds in the fruits.
For me, it turned out to be very late. Only the first truss managed to ripen on the bush, and I had to ripen all the rest indoors off the vine. The trusses mostly held 2-3 very large fruits. In terms of taste, it was one of the most delicious varieties I grew. It is definitely planned for planting again next season.
I couldn’t find this variety in the catalog under its Russian translation, “Церковь” (Tserkov/Church). That’s how it is more familiar to tomato lovers here in Russia. I really wanted to highlight it.
I grew it from two different seed sources in different greenhouses. It completely satisfied my craving this season for a classic slicing tomato. This is exactly what it should be.
It’s a large-fruited pink beefsteak. It’s mid-season, managing to produce a very decent harvest even in northern regions. A strong bush with good, dense foliage cover. The taste is perfectly balanced, exactly what you want for a slicing variety. I will gladly grow it again.
