Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Miele di Saluto Arcobaleno (Honey Rainbow Greeting) is a mid-season, indeterminate Italian heirloom. The vigorous, disease-resistant vine produces massive, flat-round bicolor beefsteaks weighing anywhere from 14 oz up to a whopping 2.2 lbs (400 g to 1 kg). The fruits have very few seeds and feature an incredibly sweet flavor profile with … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Lavender Lake is a massive, highly productive indeterminate beefsteak. It produces stunning terracotta/red-brown fruits with subtle green striping and deep crimson flesh, weighing a hefty 17.5-28 oz (500-800 g). Growers report it as an exceptional and very early producer, though the seeds can sometimes be notoriously finicky to germinate. Full summary ↓ … Read more
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🍅 Quick take: Micro Dwarf Laura is an ultra-compact micro dwarf variety that maxes out around 12-16 inches (30-40 cm) tall. It is absolutely perfect for small spaces, thriving in small 1 to 1.5-gallon (3-5 L) pots. It produces unique, red-striped elongated cherry tomatoes weighing up to 0.5 oz (15 g) that pack a remarkably … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Kleopatra is a highly productive, tree-type dwarf variety featuring potato leaves and a very stout, sturdy main stem. It produces beautiful raspberry-yellow striped plum tomatoes weighing around 2.8-3.2 oz (80-90 g). Growers love its massive yields (up to 11 lbs / 5 kg per plant) and extreme ruggedness late into the season. … 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: 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: Red Striped Furry Hog is a fuzzy (angora-type) indeterminate variety originating from the US, Wild Boar Farms, Brad Gates. Grown in a greenhouse, it proved to be a highly productive, towering vine. The striped fruits are praised for their thick walls, meaty yet juicy texture, and a complex flavor profile that balances … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Strawberry Tiger is a highly productive, indeterminate variety that produces beautiful, striped plum-shaped tomatoes. Reaching up to 6.5 feet (2 m) tall in a greenhouse, it performs equally well outdoors. While growers rate its yield and appearance highly, the flavor is generally considered good but not exceptionally sweet. Full summary ↓ Growers’ … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Brown Flesh is a mid-season, mid-tall variety that produces heavy yields of stunning, dark maroon beefsteaks with green stripes. Weighing up to 14 oz (400 g), these oblate slicers are praised for their dense, meaty crimson flesh and an outstanding, sweet fruity flavor profile. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and Photos O … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Krasnaya Mishen (Red Target) 🌍 Origin: A fascinating and somewhat mysterious Russian commercial/heirloom variety. Its genetics are notoriously unstable, leading to a massive debate among growers. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). It is an incredibly vigorous vine that requires staking. The biggest quirk of this variety is that a single seed … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Beauty Queen Heart 🌍 Origin: A gorgeous bicolor oxheart variety. In this thread, growers trace their seed lines back to Russian collector V. Redko and Marianna’s Heirloom Seeds in the US. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), reaching up to 6.5 feet (2 m). A very vigorous grower with regular foliage that … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Canadian Heritage (Canada) 🌍 Origin: The exact history is a bit murky, but it is widely believed to have originated in the US or Canada before becoming a highly sought-after collectible variety among Eastern European growers. Often sold simply as “Canada”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), reaching around 6.5 feet (2 … Read more