📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Bolshaya Medveditsa (Ursa Major)
- 🌍 Origin: A Russian commercial and heirloom variety (circulated by commercial vendors and private collectors like Kulik). The name translates to “Ursa Major” or “The Great Bear.”
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. A tall, vigorous vine that reaches 1.8m to over 2m (6 to 6.5+ ft) depending on whether it is grown in a greenhouse or outside in open ground.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Large, oblate (flattened-round) pink beefsteaks. The flesh is very meaty, dense, and described as having a “sugary” or “sparkling” texture with very few seeds. Fruits generally weigh between 210-260g (7.5-9 oz), but can easily reach up to 500g (1.1 lbs).
- 👅 Flavor: Highly rated. A classic, sweet pink tomato flavor. Excellent for fresh eating, salads, and making juice.
- ⏳ Maturity & Yield: Early to mid-season (seed packets claim 100-110 days from germination). Yields are generally high, and it performs exceptionally well outdoors in hot summers.
Description from the seed packet:
“Quote: One of the most large-fruited early varieties – the first tomatoes weighing half a kilo (1.1 lbs). For fresh consumption. A salad made from just one fruit can feed a whole family. The variety is indeterminate, 150-200 cm (5-6.5 ft) tall, the first flower truss sets above the 6th-9th leaf, subsequent ones – every 1-2 leaves. Approximately 100-110 days after germination, delicious tomatoes begin to ripen on the plants – oblate, with shiny pink skin and pink, granular-sugary flesh. The fruits are large, weighing 210-260g (7.5-9 oz), up to 500g (1.1 lbs), with more than 6 locules, dense, and meaty. Yield is high, 12-15 kg per sq. meter (2.5-3 lbs per sq. ft). Sowing: Grown via seedlings with mandatory potting up (pricking out) in the phase of 1-2 true leaves. Seedlings are planted out at the age of 60-65 days, placing 3-4 plants per sq. meter. Plants are tied up and trained to 1-2 stems. Removing side shoots (suckers) is mandatory.”
Indeterminate. In the greenhouse, it was over 2 meters (6.5 ft) tall. I pruned it to 2 main stems. Tasty, juicy, beautiful tomato. Productive. Good for salads, juice, and canning in slices/wedges.
Bolshaya Medveditsa (Ursa Major)
Kseniya, how does this tomato taste – is it more on the sweet or sour side? I love sweet ones like Orlinyi Klyuv (Eagle’s Beak) and Zolotye Kupola (Golden Domes). I’m debating whether to plant it or not.
Nadya, it’s sweet, like all pinks. I don’t eat sour ones either.
KsenaZ said:
Nadya, it’s sweet, like all pinks. I don’t eat sour ones either.
Ksyusha, does it have a lot of seed locules or is it on the few-seeded/meaty side?
Galya, more on the few-seeded side. I don’t remember exactly, but I looked at the amount of seeds I saved)). Not a lot.
KsenaZ said:
Galya, more on the few-seeded side. I don’t remember exactly, but I looked at the amount of seeds I saved)). Not a lot.
Thanks, Ksyusha! It’s just that I have one variety that seems tasty (can’t remember its foreign name), but it looks like yours and has as many seeds as a sunflower 😁
My Bolshaya Medveditsa. Very tasty tomato, height is about 1.8m (6 ft). Seeds are from Kulik. The yield was average, but I will keep trying to tame/adapt it to my garden just for the taste.
Edited September 7, 2021 by TatianaSh
Grew 2 plants this season. One in the greenhouse, the other out in the garden (open ground). The yield and size are very decent, but we also had an unusually hot summer. The ones in open ground turned out larger than the ones in the greenhouse.
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