Quick Summary of Anna Russian
- 🌍 Origin: A legendary heirloom variety with Russian roots that became highly popular in the USA. It is famous for its classic oxheart shape and exceptional taste.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall) with classic wispy, drooping foliage typical of heart-shaped varieties. It adapts surprisingly well to container growing!
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Pink, beautifully heart-shaped fruits (though some seed lines produce slightly plum-shaped variations). They have thin skin that peels easily when fully ripe.
- 👅 Flavor: The ripe flesh has a very pleasant, tender flavor that melts in the mouth. It is juicy and meaty, neither sour nor hard. Note: It requires good heat, sunlight, and proper soil nutrition (potassium) to unlock its full sweetness.
- ⏳ Yield & Performance: Yields can be highly variable depending on the climate and seed source. Some growers report disappointing yields, while others harvest up to 40 fruits per plant. It performs exceptionally well in greenhouses in colder climates.
I’ve been growing this variety for 2 years now. Lenochka from New York sent me the seeds. A huge thank you to her! In 2013, I tried it outdoors in open ground and in a pot on the terrace. The terrace faces south: it is very warm and sunny.
In the pot, the taste was excellent! In the open ground, it turned out a bit sour for me (less heat, more water, alkaline soil, no potassium fertilizers, and the slugs wouldn’t let me wait for full ripening). I gave seedlings to friends with sandy soil, and they liked the tomato.
The color is pink, and the shape is a beautiful heart. Medium size. When fully ripe, the skin peels right off. The ripe flesh has a very pleasant and tender taste that melts in the mouth (not sour and not hard). I didn’t measure the height, but I’d say it was approximately 1.2 m (4 ft). My husband said we must always plant it, but strictly in pots. 🙂
Sometimes it got sunburned in the hot sun on the terrace.
These are all photos from 2013.
I also grew Anna Russian in 2014 from Lenochka Leo. The bush turned out unproductive for me (my own fault), but the tomatoes were delicious 👍
My Anna (from Redko) also suffered from low yield; only three tomatoes hung on it. It grew in a polycarbonate greenhouse along with all the others. But she was the only one that didn’t produce.
I am going to plant it this year. It is productive and the taste is good 👍
Irina, it looks like our Annas are slightly different in shape. And the green fruits look different too. Although maybe it depends on the growing conditions. Here is mine in open ground:
Quote by Katya iz Kieva:
Irina, it looks like our Annas are slightly different in shape. And the green fruits look different too. Although maybe it depends on the growing conditions.
It’s probably from different seed sources. I got mine from a girl on the forum 😚, and she got hers from Anderson.
Katyusha, thanks for the info! I plan to plant it this year. I received seeds from Gusev. I am interested, what size pot did you plant this variety in? Thanks!
Edited February 15, 2015 by Drosera
Anna Russian was my favorite in 2014. Despite such a terrible year for weather, it made me very happy. This is a single bush; it split into two stems by itself, and then into three. There are about 40 fruits on these trusses. After picking the first red fruit, the rest started growing and swelling up intensively.
This is the second tier.
I will definitely keep planting it.
Quote by Pensionerka1:
Katyusha, thanks for the info! I plan to plant it this year. I received seeds from Gusev. I am interested, what size pot did you plant this variety in? Thanks!
Marina, I had a pot of about 50 liters (13 gallons).
Here is a thread on Russian by Tanya from Canada (Note: Tatiana Kouchnareva of Tatiana’s TOMATObase) about growing in pots. Lots of discussions about soil composition.
https://www.tomat-pomidor.com/newforum/index.php/topic,473.0.html
In this thread, she provides a link to her presentation where she advises for “compact” indeterminates and cherries: 10 gallons (38 liters). And in containers of 15-20 gallons (60 liters), any tomato will grow—you can even put 2-3 in one pot. I just found the biggest one I had and planted it in there.
I planted this variety for the second year in a row. It fruits perfectly in the greenhouse. The fruits were somewhat small, plum-shaped, very tasty, juicy, and meaty.
