Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Vechnaya Lyubov (Eternal Love) 🌍 Origin: A beautiful and highly sought-after variety popularized by the famous Ukrainian tomato collector Aleksey Kulik. The name translates romantically to “Eternal Love”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate with Regular Leaf (RL) foliage. It is very adaptable: out in the open ground, it behaves almost like a … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Vashe Blagorodie (Your Honor) 🌍 Origin: A Russian commercial variety. The name translates to “Your Honor” or “Your Excellency”. Seeds are mostly distributed by the company Siberian Garden (SibSad) and independent breeders like Terentiev. 🌿 Plant Habit (Warning – highly variable!): Growers in this thread report wild variations depending on the … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Kalman’s Hungarian Pink 🌍 Origin: A famous family heirloom originally from Hungary, introduced to the US heirloom community by Kalman Lajvort (Edison, NJ). It is highly regarded worldwide and was famously used by Polish breeder Anna Jankowski (Kozula) to create her highly sought-after K10 cross. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). A … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Volovye Serdtse (Ox’s Heart) 🌍 Origin & Naming: A classic commercial heirloom from Russia, officially registered in 2000 by “NK-LTD” (Semena NK). Language Note: In Russian, “Volovye” means Ox, and “Bychie” means Bull. While Americans use the term “Oxheart” as a generic shape category, in Russia, Volovye Serdtse (Ox’s Heart) and … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Vjerino 🌍 Origin: A treasured family heirloom originating from Bosnia. This variety holds a special place in the heirloom community because the seeds were passed down from a Bosnian woman’s stepdaughter directly to the late Dr. Carolyn Male, a legendary American tomato grower and author. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). A … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Velmozha (Nobleman) 🌍 Origin: A well-known commercial variety from Russia. The name “Velmozha” translates to “Nobleman” or “Grandee”. It was developed by the Institute of Cytology and Genetics (Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences) as an improved, determinate version of the famous Budenovka tomato. It is officially listed in … Read more
📌 Quick Summary: Granddaughter’s Joy 🌱 Plant Habit: A powerful, tall-growing indeterminate vine with thick stems and dense foliage. Requires sturdy staking or caging to support the massive fruit weight. 🍅 Fruit & Yield: Produces giant, flat-round (oblate) pink beefsteak tomatoes. Average fruits easily weigh 14–25 oz (400-700g), with some giants reaching up to 2.2 … Read more
📌 Quick Summary: Varvara 🌍 Origin: A Russian commercial release from the GISOK-AGRO seed company. Entered into the Russian State Register in 2001. 🌱 Plant Habit: An indeterminate vine growing 5.2–6 ft (1.6-1.8m) tall. It features classic “wispy” or sparse foliage, allowing lots of light to reach the fruit. Standard Regular Leaf (RL). 🍅 Fruit … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Bugay Rozovyi (Bugay Pink) 🌍 Origin: A commercial Russian variety from the Siberian Garden (Sib-Sad) seed company. “Bugay” is Russian slang for a large, muscular, towering man. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, mid-season. Reaches 5–6 ft (1.5–1.8 m) in height. It is an absolute workhorse variety with fantastic heat tolerance—it will continue … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Banzai 🌍 Origin: A Russian variety sold commercially by companies like Gavrish, though some growers have been saving their own family strains of this tomato since the 1990s. 🌿 Plant Habit: The commercial packet lists it as a 5 ft (1.5 m) plant, but growers consistently report it behaves as a … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Bull Sac 🌍 Origin: A giant red paste/oxheart variety circulating among heirloom collectors. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate and very tall, easily reaching 6.5–7 ft (2–2.2 m). It is a mid-early variety that shows fantastic productivity both outdoors and in the greenhouse. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Massive, bright red tomatoes. While some vendor … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Benedict Heirlooms Pink 🌍 Origin: A fantastic pink heirloom variety that has gained traction for its outstanding reliability and culinary versatility. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. A very vigorous plant that reaches around 5 ft (1.5 m) when grown outdoors in open ground. Mid-season maturity. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Dark pink/raspberry colored fruits … Read more