Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR) 🌍 Origin: A highly regarded heirloom tomato. It famously made it into the top 10 best-tasting tomatoes list by renowned collector Tatiana Kouchnareva (Tatiana’s TOMATObase). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, mid-season. Features beautiful Potato Leaf (PL) foliage. When grown in a greenhouse, it typically reaches around 1.5 meters (5 ft). It responds … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR) 🌍 Origin: A very famous commercial Russian/Ukrainian heirloom that has caused a lot of naming controversy! Many growers assume “Black Sea Man” is just a direct translation of the Russian variety Chernomor. However, as documented by growers in this thread who planted both side-by-side, they are completely different varieties. The strain … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR) 🌍 Origin: An old heirloom variety originating from Japan. It is also widely known among collectors as Barlow Japanese. One of the strains reviewed here was sourced via a seed swap from Slovenia. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, mid-season. Features beautiful Potato Leaf (PL) foliage. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Large, oblate (flat-round) pink … Read more
Quick Summary of Big Golden Delicious 🌍 Origin: A superb golden-yellow heirloom. This particular line was sourced from well-known American tomato grower Dale Thurber. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall) with excellent disease resistance. A true workhorse that provides huge yields from the beginning of the season right up until the first frost. It sets fruit … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR) 🌍 Origin: A well-known heirloom variety. It is documented in Tatiana’s TOMATObase. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, mid-season. It features Potato Leaf (PL) foliage. Growers note that the seedlings are sturdy and don’t get leggy. It produces a manageable amount of suckers and shows good disease resistance. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Beautiful, shimmering … Read more
Quick Summary of Best Bestos 🌍 Origin & Type: A gorgeous, deeply ribbed (pleated/ruffled) red tomato. Some fruits take on a pear-like or wide piriform shape. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, mid-season. Reaches up to 6.5 ft (2 meters) in height. Highly prized for its stress tolerance—it performs exceptionally well in both extremely hot regions and … Read more
Quick Summary of Black Mountain Pink 🌍 Origin: A massive old heirloom tomato originating from Kentucky, USA. Highly prized by Russian collectors who often translate the name to “Chernogorskiy” or “Pink from Black Mountain”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, vigorous, and tall. Growers note that it can be a bit slow to start in the spring … Read more
Quick Summary of Bill Bean Select 🌍 Origin: A fantastic American heirloom variety. Named after the grower (Bill Bean), it has become a staple among collectors who are chasing both giant fruit size and extreme productivity. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, mid-early. A very vigorous and tall vine that produces fruit relentlessly right up until the … Read more
Quick Summary of Bobbie 🌍 Origin & Strains: A well-known heirloom oxheart tomato. There is an interesting discussion among growers about the color: seeds sourced from Tatiana’s TOMATObase (Canada) typically produce pure red fruits, while strains sourced from some US vendors produce pink/raspberry-pink fruits. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, mid-season. Like many oxheart varieties, it features … Read more
Quick Summary of Blood Moon 🌍 Origin: An excellent cross between two absolute favorites in the tomato world: Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye and Blue Beauty. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate but generally manageable, growing to about 5 ft (1.5 m). It is known for being very stocky, robust, and well-behaved as a seedling without getting leggy. It … Read more
Quick Summary of Bigly 🌍 Origin: A stunning striped orange variety closely associated with the lines bred by Fred Hempel (Artisan Seeds), sharing many characteristics with Orange Jazz. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, tall, and mid-season. Known to be highly productive. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Massive orange beefsteaks with plump shoulders and light yellow stripes. Fruits are … Read more
Quick Summary of Big Yellow Simpson 🌍 Origin: A classic heirloom tomato. Often cataloged in seed databases (like Tatiana’s TOMATObase) as Big Yellow, Simpson. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. Can be grown successfully both in open ground and in greenhouses. Typically pruned to 2 stems for the best balance of fruit size and yield. Mid-season to … Read more