Quick Summary of Yabloki na Snegu (Apples on the Snow)
- 🌍 Origin: A popular early-season Russian commercial heirloom variety (frequently sold by “Russkiy Ogorod”). The poetic name translates to “Apples on the Snow”.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate (bush). Grows very compact, typically around 40–80 cm (16–32 inches) tall. Highly suitable for container gardening (thrives in 3-gallon / 12L pots) or open ground. Often stops growing on its own after setting a few clusters. Prone to growing as a “volunteer” (self-seeding) if fruits are left on the ground.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Bright red, perfectly uniform round fruits with no green shoulders. They have a thin skin, soft and juicy flesh. While seed packets claim 50–70 g (1.8–2.5 oz), most growers report larger fruits around 80–100 g (2.8–3.5 oz).
- 👅 Flavor: Classic tomato flavor. There is some debate among growers: if picked early, they lean towards sweet-and-sour/tart, but if allowed to fully ripen or slightly overripen on the vine, they become very sweet.
- ⏳ Maturity: Ultra-early season. A reliable workhorse that sets fruit prolifically and “dumps” its entire harvest very quickly, usually finishing by mid-summer.
Yabloki na Snegu (Apples on the Snow)
Seeds by RO (Russkiy Ogorod).
Here is what they write:
“The earliest, very productive variety. The plant is determinate. Fruits are small, uniform, weighing 50-70 grams (1.8-2.5 oz), without a green spot at the stem, bright red color, very good taste qualities.”
It turned out to be the first to ripen (along with ‘Boni MM’). Sown on March 3, the first fruits ripened on June 25 (in the greenhouse). I think if June had been warmer, it would have ripened even earlier.
In the seedling stage, it wasn’t a dwarf — it grew on par with everyone else, and stopped growing entirely after setting a few clusters almost in a row.
I pruned the suckers up to the first flower cluster.
On average, there were 25 tomatoes per bush weighing about 100g (3.5 oz). They are all uniform, almost identical in size, while the bush itself is only about 40 cm (16 inches) tall.
The taste is a regular tomato flavor, with thin skin.
It dumped its harvest very quickly and was pulled out at the end of July….
Among the early varieties, I liked it very much.
Repeated it in 2016 👍 🙌 (only the photos are sideways for some reason 🤷)
Olya, what volume of soil did the little apples grow in??
Marisha wrote:
Olya, what volume of soil did the little apples grow in??
About 12 liters (~3.2 gallons).
I had 5 or 6 of them — I planted the runts (stunted weaklings) that were left unsold from my seedling batch.
Zolushka wrote:
I planted the runts (stunted weaklings) that were left unsold from my seedling batch.
I’m constantly wondering: do the runts actually give a better yield compared to the rich, robust seedlings?
Planted it this year for a trial, seeds from “Russkiy Ogorod”.
Sown on March 6, transplanted on May 28 under a canopy in the garden.
The fruits started ripening in late July. The bush is not tall, about 80 cm (32 inches), I didn’t prune it. It set a lot of fruit, and in three weeks I’ve already harvested 2 kg (4.4 lbs).
The fruits are soft and juicy. The ones that fully ripened, or even got slightly overripe, are very sweet.
At an earlier stage, the taste is sweet-and-sour, but rich.
Judging by how it sets fruit and the shape of the bush, it strongly echoes Sibirskiy Skorospelyi (Siberian Early).
The only difference is in the taste, the “apples” are noticeably sweeter.
Apples on the Snow on the left, Sibirskiy Skorospelyi on the right:
I grew it a long time ago. I don’t plant it anymore because of the tart taste, and the next year it just grew as a volunteer (self-seeded). For those who like sweeter early tomatoes, Yamal and Lyana Rozovaya (Pink Lyana) are pretty good.
And here are my little apples this year 👍
July 20th of this year.
True, only the first two clusters look like this (huge), the standard for them is still 80-100g (2.8-3.5 oz).
And to say that Apples on the Snow are tart 😲, well I don’t know what you’d call sweet then.
