Blush Tomato Review

I repeated this variety from a different source, from Elena-Remko (although I liked the first version too). The fruits are indeed slightly larger and also very tasty, sweet! Outdoors, the bush turned out even taller (grew as an indeterminate – up to 170 cm / 5.5 ft) and more abundant than in the greenhouse (up to 140 cm / 4.5 ft). I didn’t prune it.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Svetikk

I planted it this year, seeds were from @remko. Thank you so much for the seeds!

These were the tastiest tomatoes in my life. My experience is small, it’s only my first season with the forum’s variety diversity. But the experience is impressive.

They are the only tomatoes my son snatched from the greenhouse.

Blushies picked green in late September right on the truss are still ripening in the kitchen. The bright tomato taste has been preserved. It’s not the sweet August Blush, but they are tasty tomatoes. In December!

Edited December 6, 2019 by Botanik

Blushies… The first trusses… Many thanks to Elena Remko!

Blushies colored up first out of fifty varieties, and interestingly, simultaneously in the polycarbonate greenhouse and outdoors (it’s still cold at night, 4-5 degrees Celsius / 39-41°F, so they are under spunbond).

Decided to pick the first trusses today. I’m growing this variety for the first time, so I can’t quite determine the degree of ripeness. Accidentally snipped it along with green ones. To the touch, the tomatoes are still firm, and they have been hanging in this color condition for more than a week. I thought there should be more red stripes, but didn’t wait any longer, as they say the first tomatoes should be picked as early as possible. Haven’t tasted them yet, again on the advice of some forum members who believe the fruit’s flavor unfolds better if they sit for a couple of days. I’m being patient….. In anticipation.

Edited June 24, 2020 by T@tk@

You rushed it, they should have hung a bit longer. But the one in the center of the last photo is ready, try it.

remko said:
You rushed it, they should have hung a bit longer

Thank you, Elena, I’ll know for next time! Tasted it…, it’s tasty, but hasn’t reached full sweetness yet… Probably will be sweeter later.

I adore it. These are my favorite cherries. Large, firm, sweet. Growing it for the second time. I decided not to prune (remove suckers). Seems fine. But I should have shaped it a little at the beginning of the season, otherwise some stems ended up lying on the ground.

Finally!!! The Blushies (from Elena @remko) have gained their sweetness! So much so that they outshined Summer Sun! Summer Sun also has a sweet taste, but compared to Blush, it’s somewhat blandly sweet, not as vibrant. Blush’s taste is more balanced, bright, intensely sweet, it really does resemble grapes! Candy Sweet Icicle, by the way, ended up in third place in terms of taste. And all the large beefsteaks are still tasteless and bland so far.

I grew Blush outdoors and in two polycarbonate greenhouses with different hole amendments and different planting dates. In the greenhouse, the fruits are larger, the bushes are taller than outdoors, and they hit the roof a long time ago (yesterday I topped them, too lazy to train them along the ceiling). The taste slightly differs between the two greenhouses; in the one planted earlier, the taste is sweeter. Outdoors, the fruits are significantly smaller, but the taste turned out to be the brightest and seemingly the sweetest, probably due to a higher acid content balancing it.

By the way, the tomatoes in the greenhouse differ not only in their larger size, but for some reason also in color—they almost lack red stripes.

If only we had beefsteaks like this!!!

Elena, once again, thank you for such deliciousness!

T@tk@ said:
If only we had beefsteaks like this!!!

It’s so sweet your teeth will ache 😃

There is a large-fruited tomato with a similarly mind-blowing taste: Grub’s Mystery Green.

Thanks, Elena, I’ll write it down in my wishlist!

I am planting Blush for the first year, seeds from Svetikk. As a seedling, it was a bit frail, tried to die on me, and didn’t want to show a growing point. But somehow, closer to planting time, it started growing, and in the greenhouse, it became a normal, non-aggressive, lacy bush. During the seedling stage, it split in two, so I was forced to lead it in 2 stems; it didn’t produce many suckers.
March 4th it sprouted on a cotton pad, March 10th it showed cotyledons, moved to the greenhouse on May 9th, and the first fruit ripened on July 6th. The clusters aren’t huge, but I am a beginner gardener.

Blush from Remko is significantly larger in fruit size than the regular Blush. Tasty, my granddaughter’s favorite variety, though it seems to me that Candy Sweet Icicles are sweeter.

Girls, maybe this is a bit off-topic, but I haven’t really seen any difference between Blush and Candy Sweet Icicle yet. Aren’t they the same variety? I have 3 bushes of each planted from different sources side by side. I plant cherries separately in a flowerbed, like flowers. So far, only Blush sent from Kostroma has started to color. By appearance, I can’t tell them apart. The fruit shape and leaves (long lobes with leaf blades pointing backward, like arrowheads) are identical. I haven’t tasted them yet.

I also have Maglia Rosa planted with them. I wanted to compare them all. But summer didn’t go well right from spring.

For me, Candy Sweet Icicle differed greatly from Blush. In color, size, and taste. I can definitely say they are different varieties. Candy Sweet Icicle also segregated by color for some; different ones grow for some people. Maybe there was a mix-up from whoever sent them to you. Natalia, take a photo when they ripen, and we’ll identify exactly what’s growing for you.

Unripe Maglia Rosa looks like Blush, but when they start coloring—Blush is yellow with red stripes, Maglia is pink with stripes. I also have Green Tiger from this series growing next to Blush. While unripe, they are identical twins. But the Tiger will be green with yellow stripes when ripe.

Tatiana, thank you. I am apparently just impatient. Everything is ripening so slowly this year. Maybe they will all turn out different upon closer inspection. I haven’t even eaten a single tomato of mine yet, except for Pygmy.

Natalia, all 3 varieties are different. Blush is the tallest (6 stems), the fruits are the largest of the three, yellow with pink stripes. Candy is shorter, fruits are smaller, the color is pink with a bronze tint, and they are the sweetest for me. Maglia Rosa is a determinate that requires no pruning, a little over 1 m (3 ft) tall, fruits are bright pink with gold stripes, also very tasty and sweet. I don’t have photos yet, except for Blush.

Petrofka said:
I haven’t really seen any difference between Blush and Candy Sweet Icicle yet. Aren’t they the same variety?

For me, they are completely different in both color and taste. Candy Sweet Icicle is denser, sweet-sour, the acidity is quite noticeable and there is less sweetness than in Blush. Blush changes its taste from bland-sweet to sweet, sometimes to cloyingly sweet, and the acidity is either barely noticeable or completely absent. Some forum members wrote that it tastes like grapes… For me, some very ripe, soft, and almost transparent tomatoes really did taste like grapes.

Blush is already coloring up for me. It perfectly matches the shape and color. I don’t know about the taste yet. And the rest are all still green.

Petrofka said:
Blush is already coloring up for me.

Natalia, when did you sow it?

T@tk@ said:
Natalia, when did you sow it?

In mid-March. Planted out in open ground in May. But May was cold, so it wasn’t early.

Petrofka said:
Planted out in open ground in May

I sowed on February 20, planted out on May 10, the first ripe ones were in both open ground and the greenhouse around the twenties of June. But outdoors, the bushes sharply stalled in development and the tomatoes are twice as small. I probably won’t plant it outdoors anymore, it struggles there for me.

T@tk@ said:
I sowed on February 20…

How early they ripened! Everything is like frozen in time for me this year. Like in slow motion.

I arrived at the dacha yesterday. All these varieties started to show color. Everything matches the descriptions—they are different. I tasted Blush. The taste so far is just a good tomato flavor. I didn’t like the very tough skin. We will wait for the continuation.

By the end of August, Remko’s Blush became simply incredibly delicious! I want to express my huge gratitude to Elena Remko for introducing this wonderful variety to the masses!

Petrofka said:
I tasted Blush. The taste so far is just a good tomato flavor. I didn’t like the very tough skin.

Natalia, that’s not my Blush. Ask Ninulya for seeds, I sent some to her, and you’ll understand the difference. Mine is larger, more tender, and very, very sweet.

The variety is super. “A song” – said one of my friends. “I’ll plant the whole greenhouse with it” – said the second friend. It grew however it wanted. Completely loaded with fruit. Huge thanks to Svetikk and Remko.

Khrizantema57 said:
The variety is super…

They look so nice. Delicious!

Girls, I discovered a variety even sweeter. Truly sweeter than Blush. Its sweetness is just brighter. Also icicle-shaped and smaller than Blush, or at least it turned out that way for me this year. The discovery of the year for me: Brad’s Atomic Grape.

I have Blush from Remko. My husband does not like sweet tomatoes. His attitude towards them is perfectly conveyed by the phrase: “You planted fruits, but will we have any tomatoes?” I just put Blush on a plate and placed it on the table. My husband showed no interest. I asked him to try it. He reluctantly popped a tomato into his mouth. Then another one… and another… and another. When less than half was left, he twirled a tomato in his hand and said with surprise – “I never thought sweet tomatoes could be tasty!” And then he asked if I would repeat them next season. Curtain drops! 😂

A productive, very beautiful, and very tasty variety! Again, more of a fruit than a tomato. A treasure, not a tomato. For some reason I couldn’t find the file with the whole bush, though I think I took a picture.

They do still crack. I deliberately select the largest flawless ones for seeds, without a hint of a crack. I see Yulia has some cracks. But it must be noted they crack less now; initially, more than half had cracks. Now there are just a couple on the bush.

remko said:
I see Yulia has some cracks.

Elena, those are isolated cases. The bulk of them are smooth, large, and delicious.

Yulia said:
The bulk of them are smooth, large, and delicious.

Try not to save seeds from the cracked ones. They really do become fewer with selection.

T@tk@ said:
By the way, the tomatoes in the greenhouse differ not only in their larger size, but for some reason also in color—they almost lack red stripes.

This is due to less insolation in the greenhouse. There is always more sun outdoors, so the tomatoes produce more dark pigment. And by the way, the taste is brighter outdoors in most cases, the exception being a number of varieties to which it doesn’t matter whether it’s a greenhouse or outdoors—they are practically the same there, though usually more productive in a greenhouse. Most anthocyanin ones are like that, Pork Chop, hybrid cherries, Summer Sun.

Oksana Evgenyevna said:
the taste is brighter outdoors in most cases, the exception being a number of varieties…

Oksana, thank you. I’d love to know the names of such varieties.

Don’t forget that this is the Blush thread in the catalog. At least use a spoiler.

I want to say this about Blush. Sowed it the first year; the year was very favorable for tomatoes (warm early summer), but in August there were 3 weeks of continuous rain. Everything that could crack, cracked, Blush was one of the earliest and stopped cracking last. But if you pick on time and eat/dry immediately, it’s fine.

Regarding the taste – it’s very sweet, there are probably sweeter varieties (I haven’t encountered them yet), but it’s not just sweet, it’s very rich overall – both sweet and even salty. Very unusual taste. It rarely happens to me that all tomatoes are eaten right off the bush. I don’t even have a photo of Blush, we ate them semi-green off the bush – it gains sugar even when semi-colored. It’s awesome dried, again it’s a pity they get eaten immediately.

I tried leading the bush in 2 stems, but it so stubbornly produces suckers that I gave up by August and whatever grew, grew. And quite a lot grew, I must say. It set fruit with a few skips, but overall the clusters were almost full.

Overall I liked it a lot, I will plant 3-4 times more in 2021.

And how is it for pickling?

Every year I close quart jars of Blush and Candy Sweet Icicles.

swetlanna said:
And how is it for pickling?

Good!

I also tried pickling, but only using the cold method. I liked it.

Thank you, I’m just selecting different varieties. Can you send the cold pickling recipe in a PM? We love it but can’t seem to find the right recipe.

I grew 4 varieties of “pearlescent” icicles this year: Blush (from Remko), Candy Sweet Icicles light and dark, Maglia Rosa. I can’t single out any particular variety; in principle they are identical in taste, yield, and disease resistance, Maglia Rosa is slightly shorter in height, and well, the colors vary among the varieties (yellow-pink, pink-yellow, green-brown, pink), they look beautiful together in a salad bowl. Sweet, without special gourmet nuances in taste, firm, skin is quite thick, they acquire a particularly sweet taste when very well ripened (so they are slightly soft to the touch). At the beginning of the season they were in high demand in our family, but at the peak of the rich-tasting beefsteaks they got lost. In any case, out of all the cherries this year, I liked them the most.

Edited December 3, 2021 by TIMM

I got the seeds for this variety many years ago, sowed it, and as always for new varieties, tried just one plant—it successfully died from wilt (Fusarium). I didn’t return to it for many years until an acquaintance I shared the seeds with described how good it was. This year I’m trying 3 plants; while they grew in pots in a heated greenhouse, everything was fine. Then I planted two in an unheated greenhouse, both showed signs of wilt, I replaced one with the one remaining in the heated greenhouse, and treated the second with Pharmaiod. The replaced one has no signs of wilt, the new leaves on the second one are not wilting, we’ll see what happens next.

It seems this variety is susceptible to wilts, at least Fusarium. But both plants are quite delicate—short and skinny. Is it always like this?

Aleksander said:
It seems this variety is susceptible to wilts, at least Fusarium.

Have you tried Sporobacterin? I highly recommend it, try it and you won’t regret it. I’ve saved cucumbers more than once when I overwatered them in cold weather. Now I keep it on hand for all occasions.

Edited May 28, 2022 by Tatunya

Aleksander said:
But both plants are quite delicate—short and skinny. Is it always like this?

Yes, it’s always like that. The Blush bush is a “hug and cry” situation, the leaves droop and sometimes you can’t tell if it’s wilting or if it was just born that way. Don’t be scared and don’t worry, this skinny and droopy tomato is capable of a very decent yield. And it’s capable of supporting thickets and jungles of branches with a large number of tomatoes. You need to prune its suckers up to chest height, then let it go and just tie up the droopy branches. It will overwhelm you with harvest. You can trust me because the tastiest Blush is named after me…..

My Blushes have wilted too. I wouldn’t say regularly, but it happened a couple of times. Once the reason was wireworms in the roots. The second time, who knows…. It wilted and that was it.

Tatunya said:
Have you tried Sporobacterin?

Tatiana, somehow I find it hard to believe that one fungus will quickly eat another fungus in the plant’s vessels and clear them up, restoring their patency. For prevention in the soil or on the leaves to reduce the amount of harmful fungus, sure, it might work, but for curing…

Last year, I saved late-sown cucumber seedlings that way; they were wilting so badly… I thought I had ruined them, but no, they recovered and didn’t wilt again. Same with summer-sown peppers, it’s like they caught a “cold”… I’ve used it more than once, even on a cucumber plant in my apartment when I overwatered it.

It’s worth a try.

I will never give up this little tomato now. It will always have a place, even if I decide to plant over a hundred varieties. It is good in every way, and many forum members here haven’t skimped on the praise, so I won’t repeat them. If anyone wants to see how it grew for me during the summer of ’21, here are some frames. Back then I didn’t even know it had the name Blush.

Can Blush be sun-dried, could anyone advise?

I don’t think so. Its walls are very delicate. And how can you send such deliciousness to be dried? I would choose something firmer and meatier. Like Bendrik’s Plums, for example.

I tried it this year. There’s barely anything left of the tomato.

I planted Blush from Svetikk this summer. Honestly, I wasn’t impressed at all, yes, beautiful, tasty, but no “wow” factor 🤷 Maybe it was just the summer… I canned them.

BUT, the ones picked last in September lay around until New Year’s and nothing happened to them, i.e., they didn’t sprout inside.

I had a Persimmon (Khurma) tomato lying on the balcony, so when I found it, it looked like a horror movie 😱 ALL! the seeds inside had sprouted, didn’t break the skin, but swelled up the whole fruit – it was terrifying to look at 😬. But Blush just lay there like a darling; only Roma from outdoors picked in August lay longer… probably conserved itself…?

I need to try Blush from Remko, they say it’s much sweeter.

Buketuk said:
I need to try Blush from Remko, they say it’s much sweeter.

My Blush is exactly from Remko; that’s how I label it everywhere.

🤷 Then I’ll plant it again 🤔 we’ll see.

Or maybe it just didn’t like my soil?

I had Blush from the forum girls, didn’t impress me at all, but I decided to find Blush from Remko (again, the forum girls shared). It really is night and day; the one from Remko is delicious, explosive, definitely on my permanent grow list! 👍

Svetikk said:
My Blush is exactly from Remko; that’s how I label it everywhere.

In your photo, they are more orange. I noticed that the ones that gained more orange color and brighter hues were tastier. They probably lacked sun here. Mine were much paler, yellow-pink.

2 Blushes. Is one a mutant?)

Edited March 2, 2023 by CWERT

As many people, as many opinions; I didn’t like it. There’s nothing unusual about it. Last year I planted 3 bushes, they all grew, they all fruited a lot, like normal cherries. In our climate, everything is sweet. It wasn’t suitable for sun-drying. Too juicy, only skin is left. It cracked constantly.

CWERT said:
2 Blushes. Is one a mutant?)

Nothing terrible, it will grow up and won’t differ from the others. Once I actually had a little tomato sprout with four cotyledons; I left it just to see, and it turned out for the best. It just split into two before the cotyledons, and then two stems went right up from them, so there were two leaves on each. The point is it split BEFORE the cotyledons, which is rare, and later this bush produced an excellent harvest of large, tasty fruits )))

Milayug said:
As many people, as many opinions; I didn’t like it…

And it was just so-so for me too. I expected more. It didn’t overwhelm me with a harvest, the taste was a bit sour, and the skin was thick.

Olgazve said:
And it was just so-so for me too. I expected more. It didn’t overwhelm me with a harvest, the taste was a bit sour, and the skin was thick.

Regarding the somewhat thick skin, the fact that it cracks, and that it’s not suitable for sun-drying—that’s a matter of taste and individual needs, but I’m surprised about the sour taste… We have Blush from Remko and Candy Sweet Icicle on our permanent grow list. Every year I try 1-2 cherry or cocktail varieties in addition to these goodies, and none of them can stand the competition.

Jacline said:
…but I’m surprised about the sour taste…

Everyone’s tastes are different. My husband liked it, but I thought it was just so-so, so I won’t waste space on it. There are many varieties, and the greenhouse is not made of rubber. I made a note for myself, maybe I’ll repeat it someday.

Folks, there’s no point in arguing. It can be sour and have a thick skin… But not mine. The Kostroma folks have the version from ElenaN; I tried it, the skin is so thick you could choke on it, and it’s completely tasteless. So I am in total agreement with Olga—that Blush is complete garbage.

The signs of my version: the little rascal cracks because the skin is too thin. It’s easy to fix: before watering, pick all the ripe and yellowing ones. It counter-ripens beautifully in the sun and gets even sweeter, but it doesn’t crack anymore. And of course, save seeds only from the uncracked ones. It’s very sweet; your fingers get sticky from the juice. The color depends on the sun; the more sun it gets, the brighter the blush. Does the color affect sweetness? In my opinion, no; ripeness affects sweetness—the riper it is, the sweeter.

For me, Blush is the absolute best cherry variety! The taste is fantastic! I’m just crazy about it! And the yield! Amazing! Usually, highly productive ones aren’t that tasty, but this one… !!!

August 1, outdoors. And the same place on August 19. I barely pruned it, left 3-4 stems at the beginning, and then only occasionally removed excess suckers when I walked by. But the bushes grew massive and it became very crowded—you need to space them out more. It’s more productive on 3-4 stems, but you need to add some rotted manure or two-year-old compost to the garden bed.

But yes, Elena, it does crack. I believe that’s because it’s very difficult to maintain even soil moisture outdoors without drip irrigation. It didn’t crack in the greenhouse.

Edited September 21, 2023 by Valtwelve

My little Blush is acting weird this year. The plant itself isn’t growing tall, and the first trusses are just 15-20 cm (6-8 in) from the ground. But it has already set tomatoes.

Tink@ said:
My little Blush is acting weird this year. The plant itself isn’t growing tall, and the first trusses are just 15-20 cm from the ground…

Mine are acting up too. But for them, it’s the exact opposite—they are stretching upwards, the trusses are sparse, they aren’t branching out, just pushing out lanky suckers. One bush actually topped itself (terminated) at the very first truss, now it’s continuing to grow from a sucker. I gave a seedling to a friend; hers is almost red and not sweet at all! Although, maybe she just left it on the vine too long?

My Blush also grew its first truss very low, but otherwise it is behaving decently. It lives outdoors.

I ran an experiment this year. I have always planted seeds of this variety from Remko. This year I came across it from Aelita (commercial seed brand).

And here is the Aelita result. To me, the taste is exactly the same—fruity, sugary; I can’t find any differences from memory. But Aelita’s fruits are larger in size. It was the very first to ripen out of all the varieties sitting in the greenhouse. It sets fruit well in any weather.

Edited August 26, 2025 by CWERT