Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Bizon Chernyi (Black Bison) 🌍 Origin: A Russian commercial variety, distributed primarily by the “Poisk” seed company as part of their “Vkusnoteka” (Tasty Library) series. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. A tall, very vigorous and powerful plant. Growers note it has a tendency to go vegetative (focusing on leaf growth rather than … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Black John (Blek Dzhon) 🌍 Origin: A dark Russian variety circulated by domestic seed vendors (like Brizhan and L. Myazina). Note: Some growers report older seed lines segregating, producing a mix of Potato Leaf (PL) and Regular Leaf (RL) plants. The original, stable strain should be PL. 🌿 Plant Habit: Tall … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Huge Lemon Oxheart 🌍 Origin: Known in Russia as “Bolshoye Limonnoye Serdtse” (Big Lemon Heart) or “Limonny Oxheart”. An outstanding yellow/pale heirloom variety. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. A very tall and vigorous plant that can easily exceed 8 ft (2.5m) in a greenhouse. Requires aggressive pruning (usually kept to 2 stems) … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Apricot Brandywine 🌍 Origin: A beautiful variation within the famous Brandywine family, prized among heirloom collectors for its unique coloration and classic flavor profile. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, PL (Potato Leaf). A very vigorous and sturdy plant that can easily reach 6 ft (1.8m+) in a greenhouse. Responds well to being … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Bychiy Lob (Bull’s Forehead) 🌍 Origin: A commercial Siberian variety released by the Russian seed company “Siberian Garden” (SibSad). The name translates to “Bull’s Forehead” in English. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, though some growers report that it occasionally self-tops (terminates with a flower truss) around 6.5 ft (2m) in the greenhouse. … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Babushkino (Grandma’s) 🌍 Origin: A highly popular heirloom variety widely circulated among collectors. The name translates to “Grandma’s”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, vigorous, and tall (easily pushing past 7 ft / 2m in a greenhouse). An absolute workhorse of a plant that pumps out heavy yields. Often grown to 2 or … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Burracker’s Favorite 🌍 Origin: A famous heirloom variety from the USA (Virginia), named after the Burracker Hollow in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was introduced to the gardening world by Craig LeHoullier. In Russia, it’s known as “Burrakerskie Lyubimtsy”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. The plant is notorious for having somewhat “wimpy” … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Babushkino Bychie Serdtse (Grandma’s Oxheart) 🌍 Origin: A Russian family heirloom that is over 80 years old. Introduced to seed collectors by Angelina Khilenko. The name translates to “Grandma’s Oxheart”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, vigorous, and tall. Can easily reach over 2 m (6.5 ft) in a greenhouse. Its performance is … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Bolshoy Oranzhevyi Khrebet (Big Orange Ridge) 🌍 Origin: A Russian heirloom variety. The name translates to “Big Orange Ridge”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. Requires pruning/training (growers typically prune to 2 or 3 stems). It can experience slow fruit set during unfavorable early-season weather but compensates heavily once conditions stabilize. Demonstrates good … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Big Zac 🌍 Origin: Bred in the USA by Minnie Zaccaria. It is famous worldwide among competitive growers for producing record-breaking giant tomatoes. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, vigorous, and noted for producing exceptionally thick stems. It can easily exceed 2 meters (6.5 ft) in a greenhouse. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Red, oblate … Read more
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📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Grosse de Christophe 🌍 Origin: A large European variety. The name translates from French as “Christophe’s Large”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Produces a sturdy, robust plant. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Raspberry-pink beefsteaks. The fruits are shiny, uniform in shape, and relatively smooth with slight ribbing. They are consistently large, typically ranging from 300–500 … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Chernyi Oxheart Large 🌍 Origin: Sourced from the collection of American seed saver Dale Thurber. The name is a linguistic mix (“Chernyi” means “Black” in Russian). It likely circulated in the US as “Chernyi Oxheart Large” before being translated back into Russian by local growers as “Large Black Oxheart”. 🌿 Plant … Read more