Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
Quick Summary of Amber Keyes 🌍 Origin: A fantastic multiflora cherry tomato from breeder Michael Keyes (part of the famous Keyes multiflora series). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, regular leaf. When grown outdoors in open ground, it tends to stay relatively compact, reaching about 1 meter (3.3 ft). It is incredibly resilient, showing excellent resistance to … Read more
Quick Summary of Absinthe 🌍 Origin: A well-known Green-When-Ripe (GWR) heirloom. In the Russian seed market, it is widely circulated by collectors like Valentina Redko. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), regular leaf (if you get a potato leaf, it is an off-type). It can be a bit of a slow starter in the spring, but … Read more
Quick Summary of Yantarnaya Komnata (Amber Room) 🌍 Origin: An exotic Russian commercial/heirloom variety, originally distributed by breeder Valeriy Medvedev. The name translates to “Amber Room,” referring to the amber-yellow blush the green skin develops when fully ripe. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, vigorous, and tall. In a greenhouse, it easily reaches up to 2.5 meters … Read more
Quick Summary of Ela 03 🌍 Origin: A new Polish breeding line. It is a cross between the variety Kiwi and K/20 (Kozula 20, described in Polish as czekoladowo-wiśniowy, meaning “chocolate-cherry”). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, mid-season variety. The bush is relatively manageable, reaching a height of about 1.5 meters (5 ft). 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Large, … Read more
Quick Summary of My Dancing Green Fingers 🌍 Origin: A relatively new, highly sought-after cherry variety created by Belgian gardener and collector Bart Praet. It took second place among the best tomatoes at the Tomatofest festival in Brussels (Nos Pilifs farm) in 2021. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), mid-season. The plant produces numerous thin stems … Read more
Quick Summary of Chile Verde (Green Chile) 🌍 Origin: A very popular green-when-ripe variety in Eastern Europe, often sold by commercial seed companies like Biotekhnika and Siberian Garden, as well as private collectors. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), reaching about 1.5 – 2 meters (5 to 6.5 ft). Most growers report a Regular Leaf (RL), … Read more
Quick Summary of Humph (Хм) 🌍 Origin: A relatively rare variety originating from the USA, introduced to Russian growers in 2015 by seed collector V. Popenko. In Russian, it is translated/transliterated as “Хм” (Hmm / Hmph). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall) and extremely vigorous. It is prone to putting out many suckers and can easily … Read more
Quick Summary of Hippie Zebra 🌍 Origin: A stunning Green-When-Ripe (GWR) bi-color variety. Highly popularized in Eastern Europe through collector V. Popenko’s catalogs. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), usually reaching 1.5–1.8 m (5–6 ft). It performs well in both greenhouses and open ground, showing excellent resistance to blossom drop during heatwaves or cold snaps. Note: … Read more
Quick Summary of Ulybka Sandry (Sandra’s Smile) 🌍 Origin: A mysterious variety with a fascinating history. Originally acquired by a Latvian collector at a seed swap in Germany under the name “Cassandra”. Since the real Cassandra tomato is a completely different red variety, the name was rejected during local registration. It was officially renamed “Ulybka … Read more
Quick Summary of Jade Gem F1 (Samotsvet Nefritovyi F1) 🌍 Origin & Name: A Russian commercial green cherry tomato from the popular “Gem” (Samotsvet) series by the SeDek seed company. The name translates to “Jade Gem”. 🔍 The F1 Hybrid Confusion: Officially registered in the Russian State Register as an F1 hybrid. However, SeDek has … Read more
Quick Summary of White Sugar (Sakhar Belyi) 🌍 Origin: An Eastern European heirloom variety. The name translates directly to “White Sugar” (Sakhar Belyi). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), but often behaves as a mid-sized sprawling bush in open ground, reaching about 1.6 meters (5.2 ft). It is a mid-to-late season variety. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Medium-sized … Read more
Quick Summary of Sibirskiy Malakhit (Siberian Malachite) 🌍 Origin: A well-known commercial variety from Siberian Garden (SibSad). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. In open ground, it usually reaches 1.2-1.4 meters (4-4.5 ft), and slightly taller in greenhouses. The bush is regular, not overly spreading. Growers note it exhibits excellent disease resistance (particularly against leaf mold / … Read more