📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Baron Solemacher
- 🌍 Origin: A unique Eastern European dwarf tomato. (Note: Not to be confused with the famous alpine strawberry variety of the same name!).
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate / Micro-Dwarf. Officially listed at 30 cm (12 inches) tall, though it can reach 45-50 cm (18-20 inches) in ideal conditions. The standout feature is its carrot-like, feathery foliage (similar to the famous Silvery Fir Tree tomato).
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Bright red, round to slightly oblate fruits weighing up to 150g (5.3 oz)—which is quite large for such a tiny plant!
- 🏠 Container Growing: Perfect for indoor winter growing, balconies, or 3-liter (3-quart) pots. It is highly vigorous and produces floral trusses on every single sucker.
- ⚠️ Leaf Roll: Growers note that the feathery leaves are highly prone to physiological leaf roll (curling into tight balls) during the daytime when exposed to intense light or heat, unrolling again at night. This is a harmless genetic trait, not a disease.
Seeds were from Alexey Kulik. Here is the description from his catalog:
“An ultra-early determinate variety, bush height is 30 cm (12 inches), fruit weight up to 150g (5.3 oz). Carrot-like foliage. Guaranteed mountain of fruits in the shortest possible time, disease resistant.”
I want to add my own experience: I grew it on my windowsill in a 3-liter (3-quart) pot, sowed the seeds back in December. The little bush is incredibly beautiful thanks to its long, cascading, dark-green “carrot” leaves. It grew suckers very quickly—and every single sucker immediately formed a flower truss.
I actually had to pinch off all the suckers, otherwise the tiny bush would have just collapsed under the weight of the tomatoes. The flavor is a classic tomato taste, with a slight tang, not bland at all. I loved the variety for its beauty, earliness, and ruggedness. And the fruits gain size and color very quickly!
I rooted two of the suckers (which already had blooming flowers on them) in a glass of water. As a result, the little tomatoes actually set fruit while the suckers had absolutely no roots and were just sitting in the water! I’m going to plant them out in the garden bed right at the base (at the “feet”) of my tall indeterminate varieties.
Lenochka, does it actually grow much taller than the claimed 30 cm (12 inches), or did it just look like that in the photo?
What an interesting variety, it seems completely bulletproof.
Iva – yes, mine grew a bit taller than stated, it reached 45 centimeters (18 inches).
A very beautiful variety. A true aristocrat 🙂 In my greenhouse, it ripened mid-early. In terms of characteristics and appearance, it is very similar to the variety Morkovnye (Carrot-Like), but Baron’s fruits were sweeter. Excellent yield. The bushes stay quite short, reaching about half a meter (20 inches).
The variety also showed great resistance to leaf mold (Cladosporium).
For those who grew Baron Solemacher, please tell me: did yours roll its leaves downward too? The weirdest thing is, the leaves look perfectly normal in the morning, but by the afternoon they curl up into tight little balls. Is this a specific trait of this variety, or is it just mine acting up?
I have more than 10 of these plants, and they are all doing it. I gave some of the exact same curled seedlings to a friend, and at her house, they stand perfectly fine and don’t curl at all anymore. I thought maybe they weren’t getting enough light, so I moved them to a sunnier spot, but three days later they are still rolled up into balls. 🤷♀️
Baron Solemacher did not let me down during the cold, difficult 2019 season.
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