📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Altaechka
- 🌍 Origin: A fantastic commercial heirloom from Siberian breeders (Altai region). The name affectionately translates to “Little Altai Girl”.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate (bush). Compact, reaching about 70-90 cm (27-35 inches) in height. It produces beautiful stocky seedlings and is perfectly suited for open ground. Does not require strict pruning.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Beautiful raspberry-pink oxhearts. The fruits are firm and meaty. Commercial packets state a weight of 150-300g (5-10.5 oz), though real-world growers often see an average of 100-200g (3.5-7 oz).
- 👅 Flavor: Excellent classic tomato taste. Sweet, reliable, and very satisfying for an early variety.
- ⏳ Maturity: Early season. A great choice for short-summer climates to get pink hearts early in the year.
ALTAECHKA Tomato.
Official Description:
A mid-early variety from Altai breeders for open ground. This variety possesses all the qualities amateur gardeners dream of: early ripening, large fruit size, high yield, and excellent taste. It does not require pruning/shaping and delights the eye right from the windowsill with beautiful, stocky seedlings.The plant is medium-sized, 70-90 cm (27-35 inches) tall, with a compact bush. The fruits are firm, raspberry-red in color, weighing 150-300 g (5-10.5 oz). Yield is around 6-7 kg per square meter (1.2-1.4 lbs per sq ft).
The variety responds well to watering and complex mineral fertilizers. To speed up seed germination, improve plant health, and increase fruit set, it is recommended to use specially formulated plant growth stimulants.
Quoting Nadine (Sept 27, 2015):
Altaechka
Determinate, early ripening, the fruits are pink hearts with excellent taste and good yield. Does not require bush shaping, the plant is 70-90 cm (27-35″) tall, compact. The fruits are firm, pinkish, weighing 150-300 g (5-10.5 oz).
It is also one of the early pinks, just with smaller hearts. It ripened 5 days later than Alsu; Velmozha also has a similar ripening timeframe.
My Altaechka is from the “Siberian Garden” (SibSad) brand, from a packet like this:
A very good tomato. Early-ripening and tasty. For me, Altaechka tomatoes didn’t quite reach the claimed 300 grams; on average, they were around 100 g (3.5 oz), with a maximum of 200 g (7 oz).
I agree with Inna’s comment. Over three years of growing, I liked the Altaechka tomato probably more than any of the other early varieties.
