Kosovo Heirloom Tomato Reviews & Photos: Giant Pink Oxheart

Please tell me more about this variety. There is barely any information about it on the internet. What did you like so much about it that made you include it in our 2013 grow-out experiment? 🤔

I’m curious too.

This is the only thing I found about it:

Height up to 8.2 feet (2.5 m). Weight 1 to 2 lbs (500-900 g).

There was also a photo or a drawing on that site. I managed to copy it through some unimaginable computer magic, but I can’t figure out how to paste it here. Looks beautiful from the picture.

Here is what someone wrote about Kosovo on another forum. Seems like this variety really rubbed the author the wrong way… 😂

“Here is what I love about Americans – they know how to package a story beautifully. Either a variety was lost forever but miraculously found on the wild shores of the Mississippi. And the guy who found it was unbelievably happy, but the tomato was even happier to be found, and rewarded this jungle-explorer handsomely. Or it’s a terribly rare variety (even though a tomato isn’t a palm tree, it grows in a year and produces an absolute mountain of seeds, but hey, it’s rare by definition because it just has to be) that was seemingly lost forever. But it was found by some completely impoverished comrade in an abandoned garden. And the overjoyed plant struck gold for its new owner, making him a millionaire. Where all the other gardeners were during this time is a mystery. Who he sold the tomatoes to for a million bucks is also hard to imagine. Why his competitors just walked around begging the lucky guy for seeds instead of just scooping seeds out of one single tomato is totally unclear. But… anyway, it happened. After reading revelations like this, you just want to drop everything and run to buy all the seeds of varieties with such a tragic, difficult destiny. And here you go. A father brought it out of Kosovo during a mission. I mean, they literally had to wait for an active warzone just to go fetch a tomato. Because before that, no American comrade had ever set foot in Kosovo. Long story short, he saved the tomato, carrying it out from under enemy fire.”

I actually noticed a long time ago that all American heirlooms seem to have a “tragic destiny” and it sent me into deep thought… but hey, who am I to judge.. 🤐

I just treat it as a legend. That was written by an angry person who hates seed collectors.

I grew Kosovo, absolutely loved it 😋

Lenochka, everyone here is waiting for your review (and photos if you have them) 😊

Maturity 75-80 days, indet., 8-12 oz (200-300g), pink heart-shaped fruit, productive, very good taste. http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Kosovo

And here are the pictures for those who don’t click links.

More photos.

Even more photos of Kosovo.

Thanks, Lord. I’ve already seen all that online. I was hoping for reviews in simple human words, like: “the plant is vigorous, sprawling, loves the sun… etc”, something along those lines.

Just go here http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Kosovo and read. Everything is written right there.

Alyonushka, it feels like everything about Kosovo has already been said here, I don’t know what else to add. And I think I already posted my personal photos on the other forum. But I only have photos of it when it was green. If I had known it was going to be part of an experiment, I would have taken a hundred pictures of it! But I didn’t know back then, so I didn’t bother. 👍

Lord, the photos you posted look very familiar to me, those are from Tatiana’s site 😉

Lena leo_leo_1: “Lord, the photos you posted look very familiar to me, those are from Tatiana’s site”

Yes. The link to the site is in my post above.

You can also go here //www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=5418, translate it, and read.

As many people as there are, there are that many opinions. It performs differently for everyone, just like with any other tomato variety. Depends on where the seeds are from, where it’s grown, and who is growing it. People have been growing it since 2005. The Poles are already doing this with it: http://forumogrodnicze.info/viewtopic.php?p=2817166#p2817166

Yeah, the opinions are wildly contradictory..

GIRLS, we are planting Lena’s seeds, which means we will be growing Lena’s Kosovo! We don’t care about anyone else’s! 😎

More photos of Kosovo

And one more. Hope the leaves and fruits are clearly visible here.

Lord, thanks for the photo collection (seeing these for the first time)!

When they are green, the shape really reminds me of “Mazarini”. And the vines are just as frail-looking.

They remind me of “Rozoviy Myod” (Pink Honey) too… 😵

And a few more photos. Just to look at it from all angles.

And more….

And more… (Some people write that it’s prone to diseases)

😮 😮 😮 Oh wow. Lena, do the fruits get smaller on the later trusses?

What a beauty! Well, we’ll see what happens with Kosovo this year. It’s part of our experiment after all!

I’m also really curious to see how it performs for you guys (in different regions) since the seeds were all taken from this exact same plant. Not all the tomatoes were 18 oz (500 g) of course, but the fruits definitely didn’t get smaller on the upper trusses, that’s for sure 😉

So how tall can this vine actually get out in the dirt?

I just can’t figure out where to “plant” it in my grow list – trying to pick the right spot 😵

Natashenka, mine was about 6.5 feet (2 m) tall.

Len, was yours in a greenhouse?

Verochka, no, it was out in the open ground. Unfortunately, I don’t have a greenhouse because I just don’t have the space for one 🙁

Lena leo_leo_1: “Found a couple of photos of Kosovo from last year 😉”

Lena, what absolute beauties! 👍👍👍 Where did you get your seeds from?

Yeah, those photos of Lenochka’s Kosovo caused such a sensation last year!!!!!! 👍

Girls, Lenochka, Lord wrote that the maturity is 75-80 days, so does that mean it’s an early variety? When is everyone starting their seeds?

Natasha, sites usually list the days starting from when you transplant the seedlings into the ground 🙁 It’s really not that early. 🤐 More like a late-season variety.

Thanks girls 😳

For me it wasn’t super early, but it wasn’t extremely late either. I also got Hungarian Heart and Bull’s Heart from them, and out of those three, Kosovo was the first one to start ripening 😉

Kosovo grew in the greenhouse. Absolutely loved the taste. 🙌👍 One single plant was enough to feed two families. 😂 Lenochka, thank you! 🌺🌺🌺

Lyubushka, is yours really that bright red? Mine is more pink…

I would say it’s closer to raspberry, a very rich color.

How does Kosovo store? Does it have a long shelf life?

Murmurka: “How does Kosovo store? Does it have a long shelf life?”

Galya, in my opinion, there are other varieties for long-term storage. Kosovo is meant to be eaten and enjoyed right away. 😋

I don’t think it will store very long.. it’s a very delicate, tender tomato, makes incredibly delicious juice.

Thanks, girls. I got it. As usual, all the tasty, meaty ones don’t store well. And vice versa, the thick-skinned tomatoes store forever, but the taste is just whatever. I want a variety that has all the best traits at once. I guess those just don’t exist. 🙁

Tasty, aromatic, productive.

Murmurka: “As usual, all the tasty, meaty ones don’t store well… I want a variety that has all the best traits at once. I guess those just don’t exist. :(“

Exactly, slicer varieties just melt in your mouth, as they say) I’m definitely going to try this variety this year.

Weird. It looks pink in the photos, but mine is red and oblate. Maybe crossed seeds / not true to type.

mopsdad1: “Weird. It looks pink in the photos, but mine is red and oblate. Maybe crossed seeds / not true to type.”

Mikhail, take a look here http://www.irinas-shop.de/kosovo-p-10486.html Does it look like yours or not?

Nope, doesn’t look like it.

Tall vines, fruits are incredibly huge. It is the most delicious tomato, very tender and juicy, but it won’t store for long. I will absolutely plant it again next year. My seeds are from Angelina.

Planted Kosovo in the greenhouse. The fruits turned out extremely tasty. Excellent yield. The vines were of average height. Excellent variety. Next year I’ll plant more of them.

My Kosovo produced beautiful heart-shaped fruits with very few seeds, and a pretty decent yield for my growing conditions. But the inside was full of hard white veins, and closer to the stem it was completely white and hard. Maybe this variety just isn’t suited for our climate, or maybe that’s just its reaction to the massive temperature swings. But I really have no desire to grow it again.

My son told me to only grow Kosovo from now on, but my seeds have failed to germinate for 2 years in a row. 😢😢😢😢😢😢

Grew out in the dirt, nice large little hearts. Transplanted outside on May 28th. Started ripening on the vine around August 8th. Next year I’ll try it in the greenhouse. Photo is from August 4th.

I have a specific list of varieties that I plant every single year. They are my “magic wands”, so to speak. Thanks to them, I’m never left without a harvest.

Kosovo is on that exact list. I looked at the previous photo and got upset. That has never happened to me. Kosovo is an absolute workhorse variety. It loads up so heavily with fruit that it takes two people just to tie the vine up. Very tasty beefsteaks/hearts. I definitely recommend it.

Kosovo is an indet, the vine is slender and the foliage is wispy. Mid-season maturity. Fruits are large pink hearts, 12 oz (350 g) and up. The flesh is pink, tender, and looks sugary when you break it open. It’s a tomato meant for salads and canning where you need a lot of tomato “meat”. The skin is thin.

What a beauty! Olya, what dominates the flavor profile, is it sweetness or tang?

Vele: “What a beauty! Olya, what dominates the flavor profile, is it sweetness or tang?”

I classify these as sugar-sweet – the sweet taste definitely dominates. Sometimes it’s almost a bit mild or bland because there is so little acidity. A lot of it depends on the summer – how much sun and rain it gets.