Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Irish Liqueur 🌍 Origin: A Russian commercial green-when-ripe (GWR) variety. Initially released by seed companies like “Sortsemovosch” and “Uralskiy Dachnik”. While sometimes commercially labeled as an F1 hybrid, it has been widely circulated as a stable open-pollinated heirloom among growers. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indet. Sturdy and relatively compact for an indeterminate … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Izumrudnaya Parcha (Emerald Brocade) 🌍 Origin: A modern, highly sought-after collectible variety bred by the Russian breeder Sofia Saakova. The name translates to “Emerald Brocade.” 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall) and mid-early season. It displays classic oxheart genetics: the vines are very skinny, frail-looking, and have sparse, weeping foliage. Don’t panic, … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Zefir 🌍 Origin: A Russian heirloom variety. The name “Zefir” translates to “Zephyr” but actually refers to a popular Eastern European marshmallow-like confection, which perfectly describes the sweet, puffy, pale appearance of this tomato. 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate to semi-determinate. A compact and bushy plant that generally stays between 2.6 to … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Zelenushka F1 🌍 Origin: A commercial F1 hybrid from the Russian seed company Ilyinichna. The name roughly translates to “Little Green One” or “Greenfinch”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Billed as determinate (bush), but forum members report it behaves more like an aggressive indeterminate in a greenhouse, easily shooting past 6.5 feet (2 … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Zelenaya Slastyona (Green Sweet Tooth) 🌍 Origin: A highly regarded Russian green-when-ripe variety. The name translates perfectly to “Green Sweet Tooth”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), but generally acts well-behaved and compact. Outdoors in the dirt, it usually stays around 3.3-4.3 feet (1-1.3 m). In a greenhouse, it can push 5.2 … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Green Pear 🌍 Origin: An heirloom variety that frequently suffers from a translation/naming error in Eastern European seed catalogs, where it is often mistakenly sold as “Green Pearl”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Generally described as indeterminate, though growers report it acts more like a compact semi-determinate, rarely exceeding 3.3 feet (1 m) … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Green Zebra 🌍 Origin: A legendary American variety bred by Tom Wagner (Tater Mater Seeds) in 1983. It is arguably the most famous green-when-ripe tomato in the world. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. Can be a bit of a slow starter and sometimes grows spindly outdoors, but yields are generally reliable. It … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Green Sausage 🌍 Origin: A famous novelty variety bred by the legendary American tomato breeder Tom Wagner (Tater Mater Seeds). 🌿 Plant Habit: A strict determinate. The plants are extremely short and bushy with a sprawling, almost trailing habit. They feature very distinct, finely cut, wispy “carrot-like” foliage. Excellent for outdoor … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Grub’s Mystery Green 🌍 Origin: Developed in Australia in the mid-2000s by David Lockwood (well-known on tomato forums by his username “Grub”). It is a spectacular potato-leaf cross between Paul Robeson and Green Giant. 🌿 Plant Habit: Compact indeterminate. It is not a true dwarf, but it rarely exceeds 5 feet … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Green Honey 🌍 Origin: A US-bred variety that gained massive popularity among European and Russian growers through local seed catalogs. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. A true workhorse with an incredible harvest window, pumping out fruit right up until the first frost. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Cocktail-sized beauties weighing up to 2.1 oz … Read more
Quick Summary of Green Grape 📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Green Grape 🌍 Origin: A highly famous Green-When-Ripe (GWR) cherry variety developed by legendary American breeder Tom Wagner. It was bred from several varieties, including Evergreen. 🌿 Plant Habit: Originally released as a determinate (bush) variety, but years of seed saving and minor genetic drifts have … Read more
Quick Summary of Green Lantern Lights 📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Green Lantern Lights 🌍 Origin: A beautiful Green-When-Ripe (GWR) variety. The Russian name translates literally to “Green Lights of Lanterns”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, but usually doesn’t grow overly tall. Outdoors it often stays around 3.2 ft (1 m) tall, while in a greenhouse it … Read more