Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 3-7 Experience)
I didn’t see Caspar in the catalog and decided that just wasn’t fair, because it’s a really great hybrid, absolutely ideal for canning.
It’s one of my favorites, too. I’ll add that it’s a determinate bush, not late at all, I’d classify it as mid-early, and it’s a heavy yielder. We picked the first ripe fruit in 2012 on July 10th, outdoors.
I grew Caspar last year both in the greenhouse and out in the dirt. I really loved it for its productivity, the beauty of the fruits and the plant itself, and how low-maintenance it was. Outdoors it grew to about 2 feet (60 cm), in the greenhouse it reached 43-47 inches (110-120 cm). It produced for a long time, right up until we took down the greenhouse for the winter. Outdoors, unfortunately, it couldn’t resist late blight.
I dehydrated them, canned them peeled in tomato juice, and also canned unpeeled wedges, it performs great in any recipe. Too bad this hybrid is discontinued. The shop that sells Seminis seeds told me that it’s now been replaced by an improved Caspar called Hypeel. I have Hypeel seeds, but they didn’t make the planting list for this year. 🙂
Cherry wrote:
Too bad this hybrid is discontinued.
Caspar seeds are definitely still on sale, I saw them a couple of days ago in the seed shops.
Caspar and Caspar-2 have popped up on sale again, packaged by “Novye Semena” from Magnitogorsk. I wonder what they actually put in those packets? People over on the grape forum mentioned that Caspar-2 is “too early for canning”, but for us, that’s a big plus.
Hey ladies, I’m new here, just registered. But I really wanted to give a heads-up because I had a bad experience buying Caspar seeds from the Poisk company. I grew 3 bushes. All three bushes had completely different tomatoes. Only one bush actually looked like a real Caspar.
I had the exact same story with the Tolstoi hybrid from them.
I grew Caspar last summer in the greenhouse, the blossom clusters were huge, but not a single tomato developed, they just stayed as tiny nubs on the trusses. I was really surprised by that, first time that’s ever happened to me. I thought about giving up on it, but after reading your reviews, I decided to give it another shot, but outdoors this time.
Motylek wrote:
…I had a bad experience buying Caspar seeds from the Poisk company. I grew 3 bushes. All three bushes had completely different tomatoes. Only one bush actually looked like a real Caspar.
I also bought seeds from Poisk in 2012. I had 10 bushes. Not a single one of them looked like the ones you ladies have posted here. It got hit extremely hard by BER (it was the only one out of all my tomatoes that got it), and then it caught leaf mold on top of that.
My Caspar is from Sedek, I’ll be planting it for the third year in a row, here’s what it looks like.
Incas F1 looks a lot like Caspar, it’s also a Dutch hybrid. Had the bushes sitting right next to each other, it was impossible to tell them apart. My seeds were from Poisk, didn’t notice any off-types. 🙂
Grew Caspar every year. Extremely productive. Just an absolute abundance of fruit. I used it for canning. But this year I couldn’t buy it anywhere. Couldn’t find it. They gave me Duel Plus instead. Said it’s an exact match. Planted it. Germinated well. But I really miss Caspar.
Galina P. wrote:
I also bought seeds from Poisk in 2012. I had 10 bushes. Not a single one of them looked like the ones you ladies have posted…
I also bought Caspar from Poisk, I wonder what the heck is going to grow? 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁
Galya, as long as something grows. My seeds are from Semko-Petersburg.
Galiy wrote:
I also bought Caspar from Poisk, I wonder what the heck is going to grow? 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁
Galya, if it’s from Poisk, you shouldn’t get wrong seeds, I grew it last summer, everything was fine and I really liked the tomatoes. 🙂
Been growing Caspar for about five years in a row. The result is always excellent, a very heavy yielder, and it’s absolutely perfect for canning jars.
amarant wrote:
Been growing Caspar for about five years in a row. The result is always excellent, a very heavy yielder, and it’s absolutely perfect for canning jars.
Alla, what brand are your seeds from?
I previously grew Caspar F1 from “Novye Semena” (Magnitogorsk) and Plazmas (St. Petersburg) packets. The yield looked just like the photos above. I recently bought it from Plazmas again.
Last year I grew it from RO (Russkiy Ogorod). It was outdoors. Very productive, just completely dripping with fruit… I won’t say any more than that.
borchanochka wrote:
Alla, what brand are your seeds from?
Polina, my seeds were from AgroStyle.
Today I got Caspar F1 seeds sent to me from Plazmennye Semena… Guess I’ll have to plant it now.
Couldn’t find info on how to prune it, please advise.
I kept the suckers right below and above the first blossom cluster. I grow them under low tunnels with row cover.
Thanks, Zulya!
Zulfiya wrote:
I kept the suckers right below and above the first blossom cluster. I grow them under low tunnels with row cover.
Zulfiya, so how many leaders does the bush end up having?
This year I planted Hypeel (the package said “improved Caspar”). Had sooo many tomatoes on it.
Full Summary: Plant, Yield, Taste and Storage
- 🌿 Plant: A highly productive determinate F1 hybrid. It typically reaches about 2 feet (60 cm) outdoors and can stretch up to 4 feet (120 cm) in a greenhouse. Growers usually prune it to a few main leaders (keeping suckers just above and below the first flower cluster). It is well-suited for outdoor growing under low tunnels, though one grower noted poor resistance to late blight in wet outdoor conditions.
- 🍅 Fruit: Firm, red, elongated cylinders/plums. They are meaty, uniform, and hold their shape beautifully. A common issue reported with some repacked seeds was high susceptibility to Blossom End Rot (BER), though genuine Caspar is usually considered reliable.
- 📈 Yield: Universally praised as an absolute workhorse. It is a mid-early variety that sets fruit prolifically, often described as “dripping” with tomatoes.
- 👅 Storage & Use: This is a processing tomato par excellence. It excels when sun-dried, pickled, or peeled and canned whole in tomato juice.
