Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Krasavets Primorya (Beauty of Primorye) is an indeterminate variety that proved highly resilient in less-than-ideal conditions. Grown in a dark greenhouse corner during a cold summer, it still delivered an exceptional yield. Growers highlight its fantastic taste and the impressive uniformity of the fruits from the bottom of the vine all the … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Korshun Zheltyi (Yellow Kite) is an indeterminate yellow/pink bicolor beefsteak. Unusually for an indet, it grows as a very stocky, stout vine. While one grower found it incredibly resilient in a crappy shaded spot with fluctuating temps, another struggled with blossom drop. When it does produce, it offers a well-balanced, excellent flavor … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Kavkazets (Caucasian) is a mid-season indeterminate variety that produces uniform, oblate raspberry pink slicers. While its height can be stunted if grown outdoors in cool climates, it thrives in a greenhouse, easily reaching 8 ft (2.5 m) and pumping out meaty, highly flavorful tomatoes weighing up to 21 oz (600 g). Full … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Ferris Wheel is an indeterminate American heirloom that produces massive, sweet pink beefsteaks. However, some growers have discovered two completely different foliage types circulating in the market under this name. While the true historical strain should have Regular Leaf (RL) foliage, a highly productive Potato Leaf (PL) off-type is widely grown and … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Kentucky Pink Stamper is an indeterminate potato leaf (PL) heirloom from the US. Brought over to Russia by seed collectors, it pumps out massive pink beefsteaks (regularly breaking the 1 lb / 500 g mark) with distinctive pleated shoulders. While the fruit size and flavor are awesome, growers note that yields can … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Korol Gigantov (King of Giants) is an indeterminate Siberian heirloom that throws out absolutely massive beefsteaks, regularly hitting 1-1.5 lbs (500-700 g) and occasionally topping 2.2 lbs (1 kg). Unlike most giant heirlooms, it actually stores fairly well without cracking. However, there are multiple crossed seed lines circulating (some with PL foliage … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Bear Claw (Kogot Medvedya) is an indeterminate pink heirloom that produces massive, lightly ribbed, pear/oxheart-shaped fruits weighing up to 28 oz (800 g). While the flavor is universally praised as sweet, juicy, and meaty, growers have mixed feelings about its productivity, with some struggling with poor fruit set per truss. It is … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Strawberry Leopard is a US-bred, early-season semi-determinate variety that’s supposed to produce red tomatoes with distinct yellow “freckles.” While growers agree it is impressively early and produces good-sized slicers, multiple people in this thread report getting plain red fruits with zero freckles, heavily suggesting that a batch of off-type (crossed) seeds is … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Korol Rannikh (King of the Earlies) is an early, determinate to semi-determinate variety famous for producing absolutely massive first fruits (up to 28 oz / 800 g) on surprisingly short bushes. While it pumps out impressive early yields with a classic tart tomato flavor, its biggest drawback is poor disease resistance. Growers … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Korolevich (Prince) is an indeterminate pink oxheart bred by the Russian seed company Semena Altaya. It is a mid-season variety known for producing massive heart-shaped fruits that can weigh up to 28 oz (800 g). Growers praise it for its outstanding flavor and versatility in the kitchen. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Beauty Queen is a stunning striped bicolor indeterminate beefsteak bred by Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms. In this thread, Russian growers fiercely debate the differences between Beauty Queen and its sibling variety, Beauty King. While some experienced identical plants, others note that Beauty Queen produces slightly smaller, more orange fruits with … Read more
🍅 Quick take: King Kong is an indeterminate, mid-season red beefsteak that fully lives up to its name. It is highly prized by growers for producing massive, sweet fruits that regularly exceed 2 lbs (1 kg), with one grower hitting 2.6 lbs (1.2 kg). It thrives in greenhouses but requires careful pruning and is best … Read more