📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Boets (Buyan) Red
- 🌍 Origin: A super-reliable Siberian commercial variety. In the official registry, it is named “Boets” (Fighter), but it is widely sold by the Siberian Garden seed company under the name “Buyan” (Brawler).
- 🌿 Plant Habit: A compact, tree-type determinate (micro-dwarf) topping out at just 16–19 inches (42–48 cm). It has sparse/wispy foliage and is the ultimate “plant it and forget it” tomato. It requires absolutely zero pruning, suckering, or staking. Highly cold-tolerant.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Red, cylindrical plum/paste tomatoes. The first fruits can weigh up to 6.3 oz (180 g), with later ones averaging 2.3–3.1 oz (67–88 g). It has incredibly high resistance to Blossom End Rot (BER) and fruit rot, even when fruits are resting directly on wet soil.
- 👅 Flavor & Utility: A fantastic workhorse variety for short-season growers. Meaty with very few seeds. It tastes significantly better than your average early red determinate. Perfect for canning, sun-drying, and fresh salads.
Description from the Siberian Garden seed packet:
“An early-season, popular Siberian variety (98-100 days) for open ground and high tunnels. The bush is tree-type, short, reaching 16–19 inches (42-48 cm). Does not require pruning or staking. Fruits are cylindrical, smooth, and large (first fruits up to 6.3 oz / 180 g, subsequent ones 2.3–3.1 oz / 67-88 g). They ripen quickly off the vine. Ripe color is red. Universal use. Drought-resistant, resistant to TMV, and moderately resistant to bacterial diseases.”
Overall, it lives up to the description, though my fruits (even the first ones) were slightly smaller than 6.3 oz (180 g). It’s an unfussy little baby plant that grows exceptionally well in Siberia. A true workhorse variety!))
The yellow version of Buyan seemed to produce slightly larger fruits for me. The tomatoes are meaty with very few seeds. Great for salads, canning, and sun-drying.
The name “Buyan” is only used on the packaging from Siberian Garden. In the official State Register, it is simply registered as “Boets”.
Grew it in the summer of 2014. Picked this variety on a colleague’s recommendation because she said it was completely unfussy.
Confirmed 200%.
I grew it out in the field like a potato crop, completely surrounded by weeds. No pruning, no staking. Watered it directly from the well with freezing cold water. And mind you, the summer of 2014 in Chelyabinsk was brutally cold and rainy… yet, despite my clumsy gardening skills, it produced an amazing crop. We ate them fresh in salads and canned the rest.
I imagine that with actual proper care, it would produce a massive yield. Visually, the bush reminded me a bit of Petrusha Ogorodnik.
An absolutely perfect variety for open ground in short-season/risky climates. Just bought seeds again for this year))))
I am so grateful to Galya from Krasnoyarsk for sending me this variety! I talked all the girls’ ears off about it. It’s this tiny, sparse little bush loaded with large plum tomatoes. And they actually taste good—way better than your average early red determinates.
It is insanely cold-tolerant. We had a sudden fall frost that completely wiped out everything in the garden, but a few of my Boets bushes actually survived. Naturally, I saved seeds from those exact survivors. Started them indoors for an early harvest this year, and they are growing without any issues. Another huge bonus: you truly don’t need to prune/sucker it, mainly because there’s nothing to prune—the bush is tiny and practically see-through.
Strekoza: I grew it out in the field like a potato crop, completely surrounded by weeds. No pruning, no staking… An absolutely perfect variety for open ground in short-season/risky climates.
Can confirm! Mine grew exactly the same way. It is absolutely perfect for “weekend gardeners”. I’ve permanently added it to my must-grow list.
Bought it because a customer highly recommended it to me. Will definitely be trying it out.
It was the very first one to ripen for me this year, sowed the seeds in late March. The bush really is tiny.
I absolutely adore this variety. For me, it ranks right next to Dusya Krasnaya and EM-Champion, though those two are a bit taller, but they all provide amazing yields.
📝 Just thinking out loud here, making a comparison…
– The fruit on Buyan is 4-locular, and the plant is low-growing, which means it shouldn’t suffer from Blossom End Rot (BER).
– Meanwhile, tall indeterminate varieties like “Ladies Fingers” have almost no guarantee against BER. Why is that? And at what stage does it hit?
When a plant is tall, loaded with fruit, and has plenty of foliage, it demands highly STABLE watering and feeding. If there’s a lack of calcium—especially because elongated fruits are usually 2-locular (less fleshy structure) and the massive “water pumps” (the leaves) are pulling all the moisture away from the fruit—you get BER.
The development of BER in 2-locular elongated fruits usually starts around the 3rd or 4th truss, hitting the upper clusters first, even while the tomatoes are still totally green.
P.S. Maybe I posted this rant in the wrong thread, but just wanted to throw that comparison out there. Mods can move it if needed. 🙏 👋 🤠
To add to Andrey’s point: it is generally very resistant to rot.
Even though the first trusses are often laying directly on the dirt, they don’t spoil or rot during rainy weather; they just keep right on ripening.
Strekoza: Even though the first trusses are often laying directly on the dirt, they don’t spoil or rot during rainy weather; they just keep right on ripening.
That is awesome!! I am definitely going to try it this year, I’ll carve out a little spot for it in the greenhouse!
Thanks for adding that info 🙏 👋
It’s such a shame our climate here is too harsh for open ground growing 📝. If the summer forecast looks good, I might risk it outdoors, but I hate wasting my labor if things go south! 😲
