Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Orange Berry (Oranzhevaya Yagoda) is an indeterminate bicolor heirloom with a surprisingly wispy, scrawny vine habit. It produces oblate, orange fruits with a beautiful pink blush on the blossom end. Flavor reviews are stellar—noted as being exceptionally sweet. However, fruit size and yield seem highly dependent on the grower’s environment and pruning … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Hazel Gold is an indeterminate, rare American heirloom that produces oblate (flattened) slicers weighing between 5 to 9 oz (150-250 g). Despite the name, growers report the fruits often feature orange skin with bright yellow flesh. They have thick, firm walls and a mild, sweet flavor. It is a solid yielder, though … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Orange Elephant (Oranzhevyi Slon) is a determinate, mid-season commercial Russian variety from the Gavrish seed company. While the packet claims massive 1 lb (500 g) fruits, real-world growers consistently report neat, round 5-7 oz (150-200 g) slicers. The flavor is generally considered average to good, but it earns high marks for excellent … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Orenburgskie (Orenburg) is an indeterminate, surprisingly early Russian pink beefsteak that yields fruits up to 14 oz (400 g). Growers praise it for its absolute ruggedness—surviving severe root damage, setting fruit continuously without dropping blossoms, and showing top-tier resistance to leaf mold (Cladosporium). It produces heavily right up until hard frost. Full … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Odesskiy Rozovyi (Odessa Pink) is an indeterminate pink beefsteak with Ukrainian roots. While the original breeder description lists it as an early variety, multiple growers report that it’s actually a very slow starter that ripens late in the season. Growth habits seem a bit unstable (ranging from 3 ft to 6.5 ft … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Oranzhevyi Gigant (Orange Giant) is an indeterminate, mid-season beefsteak. It boasts excellent heat tolerance, setting heavy trusses of firm, bright orange fruits that usually weigh between 8.5 oz and 1.3 lbs (250-600 g). The shape can vary depending on the seed source and truss position—ranging from perfectly smooth and round to flattened … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Oranzhevoe Leto (Orange Summer) is a mid-season, indeterminate orange variety bred by the Siberian seed company Semena Altaya. It produces firm, bright orange-yellow fruits that range from 6 to 14 oz (170-400 g). Growers appreciate its sweet flavor, disease resistance, and exceptionally long shelf life, as it can be stored fresh for … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Oaxacan Jewel (Oaksakanskaya Dragotsennost) is an indeterminate bicolor heirloom originating from Mexico, circulating here in a distinct potato leaf (PL) mutation alongside the standard regular leaf strain. Known for its golden-yellow skin marbled with raspberry streaks and marble-patterned orange interior, it offers a sweet, fruity flavor. Gardeners praise it as one of … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Oaxacan Jewel (Joya de Oaxaca) is a gorgeous indeterminate, mid-to-late season heirloom beefsteak from Oaxaca, Mexico. It pumps out massive, striking yellow-orange slicers with ruby-red marbling, routinely tipping the scales between 20 oz and 2.2 lbs (600 g to 1 kg). Forum growers love its super juicy, sweet, low-acid flavor, but warn … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Orange Strawberry is a vigorous, indeterminate, mid-to-late season heirloom known for producing massive, meaty, heart-shaped or oblate orange fruits with very few seeds. Originating in the US as a stray from a Pineapple tomato packet, it thrives on heavy potassium/phosphorus feeding and sunshine, though it can be a sparse yielder in cooler … Read more
🍅 Quick take: OPO (often called Dwarf OPO) is a fascinating American variety that looks like a stocky Dwarf seedling but grows and produces like a classic indeterminate. Producing beautiful pink, round-to-heart-shaped fruits weighing 5-14 oz (150-400 g), it is universally praised for its incredibly sweet, bright, old-fashioned flavor. It performs exceptionally well both outdoors … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Nizhegorodskie is a mid-season, indeterminate heirloom that produces round, slightly ribbed red slicing tomatoes weighing up to 14 oz (400 g). It is known for its excellent productivity, setting fruit in distinct tiers all the way up the tall 6.5 ft (2 m) vines. Growers report that it performs equally well in … Read more