Quick Summary of Berkeley Tie-Dye & Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart
- 🌿 Plant Habit: INDETERMINATE (Tall/Vining). Both the standard and the “Heart” versions are tall, vigorous plants that can easily reach up to 2 m (6.5 ft) in a greenhouse. Regular leaf. Be careful not to over-fertilize with nitrogen early on, as they can grow too vegetatively (putting energy into foliage instead of fruit).
- 🌍 Origin: Famous, highly sought-after varieties created by Brad Gates (Wild Boar Farms, USA). The community often grows both the original oblate version and the heart-shaped mutation.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Stunningly beautiful striped fruits. The background color is a deep maroon/brown or crimson, heavily striped with metallic green and gold. The Heart version produces large (200-300g+ / 7-11 oz) oxheart-shaped fruits, while the original produces flattened beefsteaks. The flesh inside is dense, meaty, and beautifully marbled.
- 👅 Flavor: Balanced, sweet, and rich with a slight fruity note. They are fantastic eaten fresh, but growers also highly recommend them for oven-drying (sun-drying); when dried, their complex flavor and sweetness become incredibly concentrated.
- ⏳ Maturity & Yield: Mid-to-late season. Yields can vary from low to high depending on growing conditions and how well the plant sets fruit.
I had seeds from Vera Tomatinka. I grew it in 2014. I sowed both Berkeley Tie Dye and Berkeley Tie Dye Heart. Then the seeds got mixed up. The majority of my fruits were oblate (flattened), and a couple were heart-shaped. I think this is Berkeley Tie Dye, but it might actually be Berkeley Tie Dye Heart. 🤷♀️
In any case, I really want to write about this variety because it is very beautiful and productive. The taste is good, but it ripened when everything else ripened all at once, and I was already stuffed with tomatoes. So I didn’t rush to eat it fresh. I needed to quickly do something with these beautiful fruits, so I oven-dried (sun-dried) them. And exactly during winter, in a salad, the slices of this tomato completely won my husband and me over!
Edited September 20, 2015 by Drosera
The tomato cross-section looks like a nectarine, makes you want to eat it right away. Katya, is it a late-season variety?
Quote by Katya iz Kieva:
I needed to quickly do something with these beautiful fruits, so I oven-dried (sun-dried) them. And exactly during winter, in a salad, the slices of this tomato completely won my husband and me over!
Mmm, how tempting! 😋 And when you ate the dried ones in a salad, did they taste the same as fresh ones?
Edited June 11, 2015 by Drosera
Quote by kae-2:
Katya, is it a late-season variety?
Yes, probably late. I sowed on February 27, planted out on May 2, and picked the first tomato on August 17. It started ripening later than others, but then those trusses somehow all ripened together. Early in the season, it grew a bit too vegetatively (too much foliage, little fruit), maybe that’s why it turned out later and the trusses were huge. Also, the summer in 2014 was very cool and rainy here.
Quote by Fotinia:
And when you ate the dried ones in a salad, did they taste the same as fresh ones?
No, they don’t taste the same, of course, because they are more concentrated + a little sugar and salt. But I only semi-dried them and then froze them. It turned out very well. 👍
Edited June 11, 2015 by Katya iz Kieva
Mid-August is still okay, normal, especially since it’s productive. My Neves Azorean Red only started ripening in mid-September (waiting that long takes too much patience) 🌸.
I really want to grow such beauty now.
I planted the “Heart” version. One outdoors in open ground, and the second in the greenhouse.
- External description of the bush: late variety, medium-spreading, regular leaf,
- Fruit set – sparse,
- Bush height in open ground as of August 19 – 1.2m (4 ft), the bush has been pulled out long ago,
- Trusses – 1-2 fruits each,
- Overall yield – low,
- Fruit: oblate, red-yellow-green, intensely striped,
- Firmness of the ripe fruit – medium,
- Taste – balanced, tasty, with a slight fruity note, sweetness is 4+.
First impression: a beautiful tomato for fresh eating and processing.
Cons – low yield.
Rating for seedling – 4+, bush – 3, fruit – 4+, overall rating of the variety – 4.
I liked the variety, long fruiting period, tasty, productive. Grew in a greenhouse, with partial shade from the sun. The height of the bush by September was 1.7m (5.5 ft).
For me, it also turned out tasty, beautiful, and productive. Thanks to Lyuba (Gulya) for the seeds!!!!
Unfortunately, I only photographed the green ones. But the ripe ones were very beautiful—as if they were coated in bronze paint.
Grew in the greenhouse – indeterminate, regular leaf, fruits are heart-shaped, burgundy-brown with green stripes, burgundy flesh, weight 200-250g (7-9 oz). A wonderful variety!
Thanks to Lana from the Caucasus for the seeds. I liked the variety very much, tasty, grew in the greenhouse.
I liked the Berkeley Tie-Dye Heart variety, just like other varieties in this series. The fruits were beautiful, large, sweet, juicy, and meaty. Heart-shaped, crimson-colored with stripes. In the greenhouse, the bush grew to nearly 2 meters (6.5 ft).
Berkeley Tie Dye Heart, a beautiful unusual variety, rich and good tomato flavor. Fruits are large, rounded-heart shape, all of slightly different shapes.
Edited September 12, 2020 by Svetikk
A good variety. Productive, beautiful. Fruits are large, around 200g (7 oz).
Edited December 3, 2020 by OlyaSashina
Berkeley Tie Dye Heart seedling. Did something go wrong? A mutant?
