Barkhatnye (Velvet) Tomato Review

Indet, both the leaves and the fruits are fuzzy/velvety. In the greenhouse, it took a very long time to get going and was the absolute last one to bloom, even though it’s supposed to be mid-early. The ones in the greenhouse never even had time to color up.

The one I planted outdoors in open ground had better luck; a good portion of the fruits managed to ripen on the vine. The tomatoes are small, almost perfectly round, deep red, and very, very tasty—even the ones I picked green and ripened off the vine on the counter. (Forgot to take pictures of the ripe ones, so these will have to do).

Oh, Barkhatnye… that’s a whole different story. Grew them outdoors. They are very late; I had tons of them still sitting green on the vine in September. Flavor-wise—wasn’t impressed at all, they tasted pretty tart/acidic to me. Don’t plan on growing them again, didn’t even bother saving seeds.

Marina and I must have gotten completely different flavor profiles. I wouldn’t call them “tart” at all—mine were neither overly sweet nor tart, just had this really unique, delicious flavor.

Sveta, I was really hoping they’d be tasty too, but unfortunately, they just didn’t live up to my expectations.

Ladies, share your seed sources. I got mine from Popenko—now I’m debating if I should even plant them?

TatianKa: Ladies, share your seed sources. I got mine from Popenko—now I’m debating if I should even plant them?

You absolutely have to plant them and try them yourself to know for sure if you’ll like them or not. I had seeds from Popenko, and I think Sveta did too?

Marishka: I had seeds from Popenko, and I think Sveta did too?

Yes. And TatianKa definitely needs to try them herself. Wonder why Vera is quiet, I thought she liked the taste of Barkhatnye too.

Yeah Sveta, I really like Velvet too. The yield, the taste, and the beauty are all top-tier. My seeds were from Petrov. I’ll just throw my two cents in here 😂—don’t you guys think it’s basically the exact same variety as Scheherazade?

Girls, what was the actual height on these? I’m planning to put them in the greenhouse for a late crop! Elena-Elina from Novosibirsk sent me seeds, and hers grew into a tall bush and sat in the greenhouse until the 20s of September. But Elena didn’t move over to this new forum with us 🙁

Alena, outdoors they weren’t tall at all, only about 31 inches (80 cm).

Marish, then what should I plant for a late harvest in our region?

Alena, they aren’t early, they are late-season, so they actually fit perfectly for us.

Alena, Elena didn’t have Velvet (Barkhatnye), she had Striped Velvet (Barkhatniy Melirovanniy) which is mid-season and short.

Barkhatnye is tall and late.

Well what do you want me to do now? I was aiming for a late crop :-\

I grew them too. Didn’t like them, but mine were called Peach (Persik). Exact same thing though—they are hairy, eating them feels like stuffing a wool mitten in your mouth 😂

vasilich: eating them feels like stuffing a wool mitten in your mouth 😂

Well, at least it wasn’t a wool sock! 😂😂😂😂

Yeah, a mitten doesn’t sound too appetizing either! 😂😂😂

Ladies, don’t bother with these novelty freaks. There are so many normal varieties to test—you won’t have enough space or time in your life. Last summer I tested 36 varieties from Balashov, some were decent, but only kept 6.

That’s exactly why everyone is trying to find their own top six… Some people just started, and some already have THEIR favorites but just want to grow something unusual for fun 🙂

vasilich: eating them feels like stuffing a wool mitten in your mouth 😂

Regular peaches (the fruit) are hairy too, you know! I definitely didn’t get a “chewing on a wool mitten” vibe when eating Velvet.

vasilich: ladies, don’t bother with these novelty freaks.

Nah, these novelties aren’t freaks, they are beauties !!!

I actually liked the taste of Peach last year (not sure if it’s the exact same thing as Velvet), but it was way too late for our climate and didn’t have time to fully show its potential.

They sell these around here under two other names: Barkhatniy Pizhon (Velvet Dandy) and Golubaya Yel (Blue Spruce) 🙂

Actually, Blue Spruce is supposed to be a completely different variety.

Ughhh, I just took Peach and Blue Spruce off my planting list, and now here comes the temptation again… anyone who grew it, please tell me more details, maybe I’ll put them back on my list… or NOT 🙂

Marishka: Actually, Blue Spruce is supposed to be a completely different variety.

Maybe it’s supposed to be, but they grew out as absolute twins for me 🙂

And their descriptions are basically identical:

Blue Spruce – 5 ft (150 cm) tall, fruits 6.3 oz (180 g), red. Silvery-blue thick velvety foliage, looks like it’s covered in frost. Looks like an ornamental plant. Unique fruits with peach-like fuzzy skin and tender, sweetish flesh.

Velvet Dandy – Mid-season, mid-tall bush 4 ft (1.2 m), fruits round, pink, peach-like (fuzzy fruits), weighing up to 7 oz (200 g), potato leaf, blue-tinted.

Like they say, find 10 differences 🙂

One season was enough for me. Yes, the bush is beautiful, the tomatoes are fluffy… and that’s it. We dumped our entire harvest into the canning jars, because eating hairy tomatoes was just way too weird 😂

P.S. And yeah, my Dandy turned out red, not pink as described.

Turns out there are so many “Velvet” (Barkhatnye) tomatoes! I have a packet of Barkhatniy Sezon (Velvet Season) from Siberian Garden. Might plant it. But one thing makes me nervous: there are 20 seeds in the packet, about 7 of them are large, and the rest are tiny 😲.

Seed size doesn’t mean anything. One time I had a batch of 10 seeds where 6 were tiny, and they grew into perfectly fine, correct plants.

You risk nothing, plant them and see what happens.

Thanks! I’ll give it a try 🙂

Girls, the year before last I planted Pink Peach from RO (Russian Ogorod)—delicious 😋, fluffy, yielded heavily. Last year, someone gifted me seedlings from that same “fuzzy” category (from Gusev’s seeds, I think), including one called Red Velvet or something. I cursed it so much, it just took up space. Beautiful 👍 for a flowerbed, but absolutely useless 😡 in every other aspect.

I just checked my Velvet Season packet and there isn’t a single word about it being “fluffy”: Mid-early, determinate, short. Fruits are deep red, meaty, elongated-round, weighing up to 10.5 oz (300 g). Flesh is dense, tender, sugar-fleshed. Bush is compact, upright, 20-27 inches (50-70 cm) tall. 🤔

Oksana, I grew Velvet Season from Sib-Sad a few years ago. Mine grew indeterminate, and the fruits were large, round, red, and meaty. I liked it a lot.

But there was absolutely zero fuzziness on it. I think the word “velvet” in that name is just used as part of the phrase “velvet season” (which is an idiom in Russian for late summer/early autumn when the weather is perfect), not to describe the skin.

Thank you, now I’ll definitely plant 2 or 3 of them.

Here are my Velvet (Barkhatnye) from this year. Very fluffy, still holding onto the dried blossom.

Even outdoors, mine grew to 6 ft (1.8 m). Highly disease resistant, holds up really well to weather changes. Started ripening in mid to late August. The foliage is potato leaf (PL), pubescent (fuzzy), and beautiful. Just a standard tomato flavor, though honestly if I had let them vine-ripen longer they probably would have tasted better. I had to pull them early because of fruitworms (cotton bollworm).