Boloto (Swamp) Tomato Review

Boloto in the catalog on the old forum.
The discovery of this season. Grew out in the garden (open ground). Almost without pruning. While it was dry, I managed to remove all the leaves up to the first truss and pinched the suckers once. But then the rains set in and it was impossible to even walk up to the bushes. So my tomatoes grew however they wanted. A beautiful bronze-green oblate little tomato. I reeeally loved the taste, rich, sweet (but not overly so) with a slight tartness, I would even say a hint of saltiness 😋. The tomato is not a keeper at all, it’s very tender and juicy. In my opinion, it’s much tastier than Malakhitovaya Shkatulka (Malachite Box), which I grew in 2012. But that’s purely my opinion. Fruit weight ranged from 120 to 320g (4-11 oz). Mine was not particularly disease-prone. I will definitely plant it again. Left some for seeds.

Edited January 24, 2015 by Drosera

I’ve realized that with Boloto, there are as many opinions as there are people, so here is mine.
Boloto tastes like just ordinary tomatoes, nothing special. They are somewhat watery/mushy. Malakhitovaya Shkatulka is much tastier and meatier.

I liked Boloto… it was the first ripe tomato in the greenhouse. And the taste is pleasant, not sour…. Especially the color.. people who don’t know any better mistake it for an unripe tomato!! My friends kept looking and looking for the first ripe tomatoes.. “you don’t have any… what are you bragging about”))))

Dana2009 said:
I liked Boloto… it was the first ripe tomato in the greenhouse. And the taste is pleasant, not sour….

Me too. Growing it for the second year and will keep planting it. I really like it.

I really loved this variety. Tasty, sweet, the favorite tomato in our family.

The bush is neat, mine was 1.5m (5 ft) in the greenhouse, didn’t throw out too many suckers. The weight was from 150g to 300g (5-10.5 oz) for me. Trained it to two stems. I wouldn’t say it’s highly productive, but we love it for the taste. Doesn’t store well at all.

It’s in my plans for next year.

I liked Boloto. Mid-early, height in the greenhouse 1.2-1.5m (4-5 ft), not particularly sprawling, didn’t catch any diseases (knock on wood), tasty, sweet, juicy, and meaty.

Fruits 200-400g.

🙂

Yes, Boloto is very much loved in our family too 😋. A wonderful variety 👍 both for yield and taste, if only they stored a bit longer.

Could you please tell me how tall it gets in open ground?

Nadine said:
Could you please tell me how tall it gets in open ground?

Nadya, even in the greenhouse it’s short, “a meter with a cap” (barely over 3 feet).

I only plant it in the greenhouse, mine is about 1.0-1.2m (3-4 ft) there.

Nadine said:
Could you please tell me how tall it gets in open ground?

Mine was about 80cm (2.5 ft) in open ground. And it didn’t get overgrown with suckers either; after pinching suckers just once, it had 4 main stems and produced nice-sized tomatoes on all of them 👍.

Grew in the greenhouse, seeds from GISOK-AGRO: height = 1.30m (4.2 ft), yield – average+, taste – sweetish with a noticeable tartness. Good. Doesn’t store long.

For me, this variety lost to Malakhitovaya Shkatulka (Malachite Box) on all points!

Edited November 20, 2014 by Rok5

I haven’t seen the Boloto variety from Sibsad. I grew it from TomAgroS (the originator of the variety), and recently I also bought a packet from Nash Sad.

My Boloto was from GISOK. Height in the greenhouse was 1.2m (4 ft), the bush is powerful, easily handles 3-4 stems without sacrificing fruit weight, they were up to 350g (12 oz). Very tasty.

Nadyusha, GISOK was renamed to TomAgroS, if I’m not mistaken.

I asked Uncle Yandex (search engine), and sure enough: https://gmstar.ru/moscow/2-309936-tomagros-ssf-semena.html

For me, it was the champion of megablooms this year. Other tomatoes had them too, maybe it’s just the year, but Boloto was the leader 😂
In terms of flavor, I would put an equal sign (=) between Malachite Box and Boloto.
I’ve been growing Malachite Box for 3 years. Boloto for the first year. These varieties, in my opinion, are for gourmets. Not only do they have poor shelf life, but they must be picked and eaten at a very specific time. For Malachite Box, a difference of 2-3 days is huge. Boloto seemed slightly less demanding.
For weekend gardeners, Malachite Box might seem underripe, and a week later it’s just watery mush. Boloto seemed more forgiving in this regard. You can wait a week maybe.
Anyway, I saved my own seeds this year, will see next year. If anyone wants to participate and compare, I’ll send you my seeds 😉
The flavor of these varieties is mind-blowing 😋

Yeah, Galyush, probably. Checked the legal address, it’s the same. I bought them about 4 years ago, the packet said GISOK.

Esme said:
I haven’t seen the Boloto variety from Sibsad. I grew it from TomAgroS (the originator of the variety), and recently I also bought a packet from Nash Sad.

Gal, my original seeds were from Sibsad, now I use my own. It’s a fantastic little tomato. Planted Malachite Box this year. Also not a bad tomato, but Boloto is better.

LLL said:
Gal, my original seeds were from Sibsad, now I use my own. It’s a fantastic little tomato. Planted Malachite Box this year. Also not a bad tomato, but Boloto is better.

Slav, that’s exactly why I’m suggesting we compare and add to our collections, but using our own saved seeds 😉

Whose seeds are your Malachite Box from?

When I was ordering Orange Strawberry and Chocolate Stripes, I ordered this along the way (hoping it turns out to be the real Boloto, the company seems decent):

rudik said:
Whose seeds are your Malachite Box from?

Malachite Box is definitely Sibsad, but I couldn’t find the packet for Boloto, unfortunately. After Galya’s post, I started doubting if it was actually Sibsad. I just use my own saved seeds now.

My Boloto – 2014
At the bottom 😲😲😲, it apparently managed to set fruit before the heat hit, higher up it was just setting one by one.
Height is about 1.5m (5 ft).
Seeds from TomAgroS.

Zolushka said:
My Boloto – 2014
Height is about 1.5m

Olenka, is 1.5m in the greenhouse? In open ground Boloto is 1.0m (3.3 ft), it’s one of my favorites.

Edited December 24, 2014 by Drosera

Give me some advice, where should I stick Boloto? I finally got the seeds and I’m wondering where it will do better, out in the garden or in the greenhouse?

mamaGalya said:
Give me some advice, where should I stick Boloto?

Gal, put it in open ground. It performed excellently for me there 😲😋👍!

I hesitated for a long time about getting it… but once I decided, I didn’t regret it, it’s not a bad tomato.

Lidiya said:
Olenka, is 1.5m in the greenhouse? In open ground Boloto is 1.0m, it’s one of my favorites.

Yes, in the greenhouse:

Grew in the greenhouse. Trained to 2 stems. Grew just over 1m. Taste was average.

I didn’t like the yield and the disease susceptibility. 🙁 Had 5 medium-sized fruits and then just skipped trusses. And this was despite growing 2nd from the door, so ventilation should have been good.

trofi said:
I didn’t like the yield and the disease susceptibility.

You don’t like swamps (Boloto), and they don’t like you. 🙂

Boloto isn’t impressing me yet… 😕 First off, I’m disappointed in the color…. I was expecting a real swampy green, but it’s clearly turning red… 😢 The taste hasn’t impressed me yet either, but we’ve only eaten one fruit, so I’m comforting myself that it’s too early to draw conclusions… Seeds from GISOK-AGRO, growing in the greenhouse.

mamaGalya said:
I was expecting a real swampy green, but it’s clearly turning red… Seeds from GISOK-AGRO.

That is not Boloto. It’s an off-type (wrong seeds).

mamaGalya said:
Seeds from GISOK-AGRO, growing in the greenhouse.

That’s interesting. My local seed shop assured me that GISOK-AGRO (TomAgroS) is the original source of the seeds, and that they are the ones who have the true Boloto. Turns out even they sell off-types. What a pity. I thought better of that company.

The real one was absolutely green. If I remember correctly, it barely even changed color when ripening.

trofi said:
The real one was absolutely green. If I remember correctly, it barely even changed color when ripening.

Len, mine shifted a little towards bronze, does that mean it’s not Boloto?

My Boloto grew out in the garden. It was just over a meter (3.3 ft) tall. The first fruits were large. The one I kept for seeds is medium. But I left it on the vine a bit too long, it’s overripe. It’s a variety for specific tastes. Yield is average. It’s quite tasty, but there are better ones. I’d give it a 4 out of 5.
The slight redness when it overripens starts from the bottom, not from the top of the fruit.

elena1984 said:
Len, mine shifted a little towards bronze, does that mean it’s not Boloto?

Len, maybe mine shifted too, I don’t really remember anymore. 😳 😳 But it definitely didn’t turn red. 😂 😂 I just didn’t like Boloto at all, so I didn’t pay much attention to it, plus the yield was only 5 fruits per bush (I found my notes), you can’t exactly go wild with that. 🙂 🙂

trofi said:
But it definitely didn’t turn red. 😂 😂 I just didn’t like Boloto at all, so I didn’t pay much attention to it, plus the yield was only 5 fruits per bush

Lenok, I had more than 5 fruits on mine, but all the green-when-ripe tomatoes tasted pretty ordinary to me this season.

Boloto turns olive when ripening, and its yield is excellent. 👍

tomatinka said:
Boloto turns olive when ripening, and its yield is excellent. 👍

Thanks, Verochka! That means my Boloto is the right one 🙂

tomatinka said:
Boloto turns olive when ripening, and its yield is excellent. 👍

And the taste is mind-blowing. If you pick it at the right time. I pick it 3-4 days after watering.

If, for example, you pick it in the morning after a cold night, the taste is nothing special 😉 It needs to warm up in the sun.

Malachite Box and Boloto have earned permanent residency in my garden 😋

P.S. When Boloto gets overripe, it gets a pastel color on the bottom, at least for me 😉

rudik said:
And the taste is mind-blowing. If you pick it at the right time. I pick it 3-4 days after watering.

I wasn’t impressed by Boloto. The yield, yes, it’s good, but the flavor of Malakhitovaya Shkatulka, for example, is much better. However, Boloto is very juicy. It makes excellent green tomato juice.

I planted Boloto for the first time, I really loved both the taste and the yield.

Very tasty, very productive – both in the greenhouse and out in the garden. In the greenhouse, the fruits are larger in size. The only drawback is that if you leave it on the bush too long, it quickly gets mushy and loses its flavor.

I came across a video where Boloto has a yellow or even red center.
They are preparing a salad with it, with the sliced fruits sitting in a bowl. It made me doubt if it’s really Boloto… The video drags on a bit, but at 1m03s the tomatoes are specifically presented as Boloto. What could that be? I haven’t seen a yellow center mentioned in the description of green-when-ripe tomatoes before. Made me curious!

mamaGalya said:
I came across a video where Boloto has a yellow or even red center… What could that be?

I think it might be a slight color balance issue on the video. Although I have seen a yellowish and even slightly pinkish center in green-when-ripes, when they are completely ripe, just like in this photo of mine – Boloto at full ripeness.

Grew in open ground, bush height about 1.4m (4.5 ft)..

My tomato discovery of the year 👏

Even in this summer’s weather, we are gorging on these sweet, tender little tomatoes. True, they don’t store well, but to me, the overripe ones are even tastier – just like fruit.

On the cross-section, some of the overripe ones from the second and third truss have a beautiful red tie (starburst) inside.

Planted 2 bushes in the greenhouse, they grew up to 1.5 meters (5 ft), actively threw out suckers and generally tried to grow a ton of foliage. Outside, the bush is much more compact, but this summer it only set 2 trusses.

The yield of Boloto has left me stumped, I don’t know what to do with all of them, what can you make out of ripe green tomatoes?