Quick Summary of Heartbreaker (Serdtseed)
- 🌍 Origin & Name: A Russian commercial heirloom variety. The name translates beautifully into English as “Heartbreaker” (Serdtseed). Cultivated and circulated by well-known private seed collectors like Yashchenko and Redko.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), usually growing to about 1.5 meters (5 ft). It features classic oxheart genetics with sparse, wispy foliage.
- ✂️ Growing Tip (Pruning): The official seed packet gives a very strict instruction: to achieve the massive fruit sizes this variety is known for, it must be strictly pruned and trained to a single stem.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Classic red heart-shaped (oxheart) tomatoes. They are very large, officially averaging 300-500g (10-18 oz), with some individual fruits capable of reaching 700g (1.5 lbs) when properly pruned.
- 👅 Flavor & Culinary Use: Highly praised for its taste. The flesh is tender, juicy, and described as “sugary” with a pronounced traditional tomato aroma. Excellent for fresh eating, but also highly suitable for making juices and canning.
🍅 Have you grown this variety? Scroll down to add your review and photos in the comments below!
Description from the seed packet:
Mid-early variety (100-105 days from germination to fruiting). Intended for growing in open ground and film greenhouses. The plant has sparse foliage, up to 150 cm (5 ft) tall; pruning to a single stem is mandatory. Fruits weigh from 300 to 500g (10-18 oz), with some individual fruits up to 700g (1.5 lbs). They are heart-shaped, red, juicy, tender, with sugary flesh and a characteristic aroma. The taste qualities of the fruits are very high. Yield per bush reaches 2.5-3.5 kg (5.5-7.7 lbs). Planting spacing is 40×70 cm (16×27 inches). Intended for fresh consumption, making juices, and suitable for pickling and canning.
(Photo credits: IrinaA, Valentina 54, Danko)
Svetik, is it really that good in taste? And which seed company were the seeds from?
Svetlana said:
Svetik, is it really that good in taste? And which seed company were the seeds from?
Very tasty. My seeds originally came from Yashchenko (private collector). I sent them out to a lot of the girls on the forum last year.
It grew outdoors for me under a temporary cover. The bush reached about 1.1 m (3.6 ft). It turned out to be quite voluminous/bushy, and it was not early. The tomatoes were up to 250g (8.8 oz).
My seeds originally seemed to come from Redko.
