Bobcat F1 Tomato Review

Description from the seed packet:
“Early ripening, high-yielding determinate large-fruited hybrid (plant height up to 70 cm / 27 inches). The bush is vigorous and well-leafed. When grown outdoors in open ground or under plastic row covers, it requires no pruning or suckering. The fruits are very beautiful, round, bright red, with no green shoulders at the stem, weighing up to 250g (9 oz). The fruits do not get smaller as the fruiting period progresses.”
Photo credit: Galya-64

Not a single word about the taste in the description… it must be inedible! 😂

I bought my seeds from “Gavrish”. The bushes are beautiful, with dark green foliage that completely covers the main stem. My packet said it was a late-season variety, but for me, it ripened mid-early. They recommend growing it to a single stem. The height was just a little bit above knee-level.

They were the greenest, healthiest bushes in the garden—no diseases at all. At first, I didn’t even notice any tomatoes because they were hiding so well under those thick leaves. When I finally started pulling some leaves off, I discovered heavy, large fruits underneath. They kept and stored very well for a long time. Firm, solid, and tasty. Despite moles constantly bothering their roots, my 8 bushes managed to fill a massive nylon watermelon crate. It has earned a permanent spot on my grow list.

My seeds are from “Prestige.” It’s listed as a mid-early large-fruited determinate. They didn’t specify the height, but they noted it is a vigorous plant.
The State Register gives slightly different info: late season, recommended for open ground in Region 6 (North Caucasus), fruit size 90g to 226g (3-8 oz), oblate, ribbed, with good flavor.
I guess I’ll have to find out the truth through empirical testing! 🙂

Height outdoors in open ground is 60 cm (24 inches). I prune the suckers only up to the first flower cluster. The yield is absolutely massive. Fruits are 180-220g (6-8 oz). They don’t shrink in size later in the season.

The flavor for fresh eating is just average. However, the juice made from it is absolutely perfect in both flavor and consistency. It is the ideal variety for processing.

Mikhail, what is the optimal spacing between plants?

Mikhail actually posted a lot of info about this hybrid in his grow journal last year. It was one of his absolute favorites due to the yield, and he said it’s excellent for juice and canning sliced in jars. If I remember correctly, he barely pruned it at all…

Mikhail, I’m planning to can jars of seasoned sauce/dressing. Consistency is very important to me—I don’t want it to be too watery, otherwise I’ll be boiling it down forever! So, my main priorities are high yield, resistance to stress (I grow everything outdoors), and the consistency of the ripe flesh. The flavor of my dressing will come from garlic, paprika, and spices anyway. Does this hybrid meet those expectations?

Veronika wrote:
…Does this hybrid meet those expectations?

100% yes.

irina58 wrote:
Mikhail, what is the optimal spacing between plants?

50 cm (20 inches).

Oh, and one more huge plus: all the fruits are completely covered by the leaf canopy, so they never suffer from sunscald (sunburn).

Did I understand correctly: No pruning, not tall, doesn’t sunburn, high yielding, great for processing. Is that right?
Also, when you say “high yielding,” what does that mean? More than 5 kg (11 lbs) per bush? Just trying to calculate how many plants I need.

Prune only up to the first truss. I actually let mine sprawl on the ground. I didn’t weigh them by the kilo, but the entire bush was absolutely loaded with pretty large, beautiful tomatoes. I had zero disease issues with it. We made juice, tomato paste, and lecho out of them. 😋

Thanks to Mikhail’s recommendations (much respect! 🎩), I planted Bobcat outdoors in open ground. What a beauty! It’s bringing me so much joy—powerful bushes and abundant trusses. Despite the torrential rains followed by a heatwave, it just keeps growing, blooming, and pumping out fruit. It is the absolute envy of all my neighbors. It’s completely disease-free (I follow Mikhail’s spraying system). Thanks to Bobcat, my family definitely won’t be left without tomato juice this year.

A great tomato, I’m so glad I grew it this season. One bush grew in the hoop house, and three in open ground. It was highly productive in both locations and didn’t get sick. It reached 80 cm (32 inches) in the greenhouse and 60 cm (24 inches) outdoors. The excellent summer weather also contributed to a very good flavor. I’ve already bought seeds for next season. In the photo, the bush has already had one entire truss harvested.

Alla, what beauties 👍 They look so delicious! 😋 What company were your seeds from? I wonder if there’s a difference between different seed packers?

Which company do you buy from? The bush is so beautiful.

Following Mikhail’s tip (thanks to him! 🎩), I planted Bobcat this year. I actually really loved it specifically for its flavor—it was juicy, meaty, and sweet. The yield didn’t blow me away, but that’s probably my own fault with my growing techniques. Grew outdoors in open ground, bought the seeds in a group buy from Olya (Zolushka).

I grew it too. Seeds were from a Syngenta professional bulk packet. (Can’t get the photo to rotate 🤷‍♀️)

Girls, can you tell me what color the original Bobcat seeds are supposed to be?

They are uncolored (untreated/not pelleted with dye).

HolyMacaroni wrote:
Girls, can you tell me what color the original Bobcat seeds are supposed to be?

Yulia, in the professional bulk packets, they are uncolored.

Zolushka wrote:
I grew it too. Seeds were from a Syngenta professional bulk packet.

Olya, tell me when you sowed them and how you pruned them? I sowed mine on March 15th, was that too late?

My largest fruit 🙂
Next year I’m planning to plant 10 of these bushes, and I’ll plant them completely out of sight so my hands aren’t tempted to constantly “tidy up” and prune the bushes )))
It’s going straight into processing: juice, “caviar” (stewed vegetable spread), and sauces. Velvety, meaty, with a nice acidic tang 😋

This year I’m planting 30 bushes of Bobcat outdoors in open ground!

It seems I’m the only one disappointed by this hybrid. Seeds were from “Prestige”. I bought into the hype about the super-foliage (where you can’t even see the tomatoes). In the end, there was no special foliage to speak of, and barely any tomatoes either—maybe 3 or 4 average-sized fruits per bush (I didn’t even bother tasting them fresh, just threw them into the general processing pile for juice).