Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 3-4 Experience)
Pink Tiger. Seriously tasty and gorgeous cherry variety, got my seeds from Popenko.
Indeterminate vine, regular foliage. The fruits are pink elongated plums with golden stripes, weighing around 0.7 oz (up to 20 g), and remarkably sweet! 😋
Grew it in the greenhouse, pruned to 2 stems early on, then let it branch out into multiple stems once it hit the rafters. Performs as a mid-season variety. Yield is quite respectable for an elongated cherry, with a very long harvest window. Fruits keep exceptionally well, zero cracking issues, and they hold their full flavor when counter-ripened indoors. Absolutely loved this one! 👍
Edited December 13, 2015 by Drosera
Svetlana, does it differ much from Blush in terms of taste and yield? Which one is the better pick for the garden?
Vedma:
Svetlana, does it differ much from Blush in terms of taste and yield? Which one is the better pick for the garden?
I grew Blush out in open ground. It was also very productive and super tasty, with fruits that were slightly larger and a bit firmer than Pink Tiger. Honestly, both are winners! 🤷♀️
Well, that settles it, planting both!
Mid-season indeterminate variety. Fruits are elongated, tapered plums, very unusual and handsome with a distinct pointed beak. Pink skin highlighted with golden stripes.
Yield was average for me. Skin is on the thicker side, standard classic tomato flavor. The fruits store remarkably well after harvest.
This looks like the spitting image of Rozovyi Kotya from Partner Seeds.
Olya ch:
This looks like the spitting image of Rozovyi Kotya from Partner Seeds.
It probably is, they completely ripped it off! 😂 Their ‘Kotya’ is plain as day just Blush.
Full Summary: Plant, Yield, Taste and Storage
- 🌿 Plant & Growth Habit: Indeterminate vine with regular foliage. Adapts well to high tunnels and unheated greenhouses, performing best when pruned to 2 stems early on before branching out along trellis rafters. Mid-season maturity.
- ⚖️ Fruit Characteristics: Slender, elongated mini-plums (julienne type) with sharply pointed beaks. Deep pink skin overlaid with bright golden stripes, averaging around 0.7 oz (up to 20 g). Thick-skinned and highly resistant to splitting or cracking on the vine.
- 👅 Flavor Profile: Sweet and rich in warm, sunny conditions; takes on a more balanced, traditional tomato profile in cold, overcast regions like Kostroma. Retains its sugar profile without going bland when finished indoors off the vine.
- 📦 Storage & Versatility: Excellent keeper. Due to durable skins, fruits hold for weeks post-harvest, making them ideal for fresh snacking, specialty market pints, and whole-cluster pickling.
- 🌎 Trialed Climates: Evaluated in Moscow Region (USDA Zone 4), Kostroma (USDA Zone 3b/4a), and Western Siberia (USDA Zone 3). Highly reliable under greenhouse plastic in short northern summers.
The discussion between Olya and Nadezhda highlights a notorious point of friction in the Eastern European gardening community. Fred Hempel of Artisan Seeds (Sunol, California) originally bred the iconic “Tiger” and “Blush” series, releasing them as open-pollinated heirlooms. Several large commercial seed outfits in Russia, most notably Semena Partner, faced heavy backlash from forum hobbyists for allegedly renaming open-pollinated American classics (rebranding Blush as “Kotya F1” and Pink Tiger as “Rozovyi Kotya F1”) and marketing them as proprietary hybrid novelties at premium prices.
