Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Ocharovanie (which translates to “Charm” or “Fascination”) is an indeterminate, mid-season Russian variety that produces beautiful, apricot-looking orange fruits with a slight blush. Weighing up to 3.5 oz (100 g), they are firm, sweet, and perfect for canning. Greenhouse performance shows massive vigor and excellent late blight resistance, but growing it outdoors … Read more
🍅 Quick take: A wispy, frail-looking indeterminate vine that defies expectations by producing a literal “waterfall” of red, elongated paste tomatoes. It is remarkably resistant to blossom end rot (BER) and sets heavy crops in both intense heat and cold. An elite canning and long-term storage variety, though growers warn that ripe fruits easily drop … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Mikado Shtambovyi (Mikado Dwarf) is an incredibly rugged, early-season tree-type dwarf with thick potato-leaf foliage. A legend since the Soviet era for its ability to produce early crops in cold northern regions, this variety thrives completely unprotected outdoors. It produces heavy yields of uniform, 4-5 oz (120-140 g) red fruits that fully … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Markhotskaya Kist (Markhotsk Cluster) is a tall, mid-late season indeterminate variety known for producing stunning, pearlescent raspberry-pink plum tomatoes weighing 2-3.5 oz (60-100 g). It is highly regarded for its excellent disease resistance and ability to resist splitting even during prolonged, heavy rains. While commercial descriptions boast of a “gourmet” flavor, forum … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Mashenka is a highly confusing variety name because multiple Russian seed companies sell entirely different tomatoes under this exact same label. Depending on the vendor, it might be a 7 oz (200 g) red slicer or a massive 1.3 lb (600 g) pink beefsteak. Unfortunately, grower feedback on the forum is largely … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Minusinskie Shary (Minusinsk Globes) is a red, indeterminate heirloom from the famous Minusinsk region in Siberia. It produces large, blunt heart-shaped tomatoes on vines with classic wispy foliage. While one grower praised its meaty, sweet flesh, another noted that the fruits were very juicy but had disappointingly thin walls. Full summary ↓ … Read more
🍅 Quick take: A mid-early, potato-leaf indeterminate that produces thin-skinned, red oblate tomatoes. Highly notable for its uniquely sweet seed gel, though it can be finicky in high heat and inconsistent moisture. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 4) B borchanochka (Polina) Pro | 9,895 posts 📍 Bor, Nizhny Novgorod region (USDA … Read more
🍅 Quick take: A highly contested name covering several different strains. The heirloom swap version produces sweet, deep pink oblate tomatoes on a regular leaf plant, while commercial seed packets often produce a completely different compact, carrot-leaf plant with mixed-to-negative flavor reviews. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 3-6) L Lana_s_Kavkaza (Svetlana) … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Morkovnyi (Carrot) is an early-season, determinate bush variety famous for its striking, finely cut, carrot-like foliage. Staying compact at around 20-32 inches (50-80 cm), it is an excellent choice for outdoor growing and early harvests. The fruits are medium-sized, red, slightly ribbed, and usually weigh around 5-9 oz (150-250 g). While everyone … Read more
🍅 Quick take: The name Michurinets refers to two completely different tomato strains circulating among growers, both featuring potato-leaf (PL) foliage. Strain 1 (The Early Dwarf): A short, rugose tree-type (determinate) bush that produces small, early 3 oz (80-90 g) red tomatoes. Excellent for short-season climates. Strain 2 (The Brandywine Cousin): An indeterminate PL heirloom … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Mom’s Love (Mamina Lyubov) is a vigorous, highly productive indeterminate red beefsteak from Russia. Treasured for its nostalgic, old-fashioned “real tomato” flavor, this variety produces beautiful, uniform red fruits generally weighing around 9-10.5 oz (250-300 g). The vines are powerful and require heavy-duty staking, as they often get weighed down by the … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Marusya is an early, highly productive determinate paste tomato from Russia. Producing incredibly dense, meaty, and dry red plum/egg-shaped fruits in the 2.5-3.5 oz (70-100 g) range, it is an absolute favorite for whole-peeled canning and making thick sauces. The bushes stay compact at around 20-32 inches (50-80 cm), require minimal pruning, … Read more