Quick Summary of Boronia
- 🌍 Origin: A fantastic release from the Dwarf Tomato Project. It was developed by crossing New Big Dwarf with Paul Robeson.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: True dwarf growth habit with thick, sturdy central stems and dark, crinkly “rugose” foliage. It typically reaches about 2-3.5 ft (60-100 cm) in height. While it stands strongly on its own initially, the heavy fruit set means it absolutely requires staking or caging later in the season to prevent collapsing.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Produces large, oblate (sometimes slightly ribbed) beefsteaks. The color is a unique dusty rose-purple or brownish-burgundy (often described as “beaujolais wine” color) with dark shoulders. Fruit weight generally ranges from 3.5 to 7 oz (100-200 g), though some reach larger sizes.
- 👅 Flavor Profile: Inherits much of its excellent flavor from its Paul Robeson parentage. Growers rate it highly for its rich, sweet, and juicy-meaty taste, with a nice hint of balancing acidity.
- ⚠️ Agronomic Tip: Like many large-fruited beefsteaks, if it is exposed to sudden, sharp temperature fluctuations during the blossom stage, the resulting fruits can become severely catfaced or misshapen.
The tomato belongs to the Dwarf Tomato Project series, obtained by crossing the varieties New Big Dwarf and Paul Robeson.
I got it as a seedling, already a sturdy, stocky little plant. It grew quite compactly, stood confidently on its own two feet, but it still needs to be tied up – I missed the moment when the fruits started swelling up and the bush collapsed. 😳 The height of the plant was 2 ft (60 cm) in open ground. I counted 25 fruits on the little bush, each weighing between 3.5-7 oz (100-200g).
The color is difficult to convey both with a camera and with words: pinkish-purple-brownish-greenish… something like that 😄 It’s not easy to determine ripeness – the tomato first becomes soft, and only then does it color up. The first fruit tasted ordinary with some tartness, I hope the rest will be tastier, because its “dad” – Paul Robeson – pleased me very much with its taste this season. 😳
I will definitely plant it next year.
Quote from Baba-Yaga:
The color is difficult to convey both with a camera and with words: pinkish-purple-brownish-greenish… something like that 😄 It’s not easy to determine ripeness – the tomato first becomes soft, and only then does it color up.
Surprising 😲. For me, it turned out completely dark – red-brown and no green at all. Your description fits my Wild Fred much better, and even then, the green completely disappears from the ripe fruit. 😞
Quote from Ninulia:
Surprising 😲. For me, it turned out completely dark – red-brown and no green at all. Your description fits my Wild Fred much better, and even then, the green completely disappears from the ripe fruit. 😞
Nina, I picked them like this because they were getting really soft, I was afraid they would overripen. Later, a few of them sat at home and turned a beaujolais wine color – not dark, and no brown at all.
In the greenhouse, it turned out to be mid-season, 3-4 ft (1-1.2 m) tall. The fruits are very tasty, sweet, tender, juicy, oblate with slight ribbing, purple color, large size. The leaf was rugose (crinkly). Good yield.
In the greenhouse, it grew up to 3 ft (1 m) tall, not sprawling, there were few suckers. I liked the taste.
I wonder why mine turned out completely misshapen and catfaced?
Quote from Irven:
I wonder why mine turned out completely misshapen and catfaced?
They get catfaced due to sharp temperature drops/fluctuations.
My Boronia grew exactly like Ilya’s, and I liked the taste.
A productive little dwarf. Bright flavor, sweetness is a 4 out of 5.
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