Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Anna Meyer 🌍 Origin: A beautiful family heirloom variety, highly popularized by the well-known American heirloom seed collector Dale Thurber (Delectation of Tomatoes). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). Forms a large, vigorous bush with very thick, sturdy stems. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Large, meaty beefsteaks. It has a very interesting color expression: … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Altai Yellow (Altayskiy Zheltyy) 🌍 Origin: A classic Siberian/Altai regional heirloom from Russia. Available from several commercial seed companies (like “Siberian Garden”), but many collectors grow specific heirloom strains (like the ones from collector Yashchenko). 🌿 Plant Habit: Often classified as a tall determinate or semi-determinate, growing to about 1.5 – … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Antoshka 🌍 Origin: A fantastic early-season Russian commercial variety. The name “Antoshka” is a friendly, diminutive form of the name Anton (often associated with a cheerful cartoon character in Russia). 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate (bush/dwarf type). Extremely compact and sturdy, growing only 30-60 cm (12-24 inches) tall. It requires zero pruning … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Apricot Jam (Abrikosovyi Dzhem) 🌍 Origin: A delightful novelty variety circulating among Russian collectors. Experienced growers strongly suspect that this variety is actually synonymous with another famous Russian fuzzy tomato called Yellow Target (Zheltaya Mishen). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), producing powerful, vigorous bushes with large fruit trusses. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: … Read more
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📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Blushing Pineapple Sergeant (Ananasnyi Serzhant Rumyanyi) 🌍 Origin: A specific sister-line bred by Sofia Saakova (Russia). It comes from a complex cross involving Schlumbach’s Strawberry, Pineapple Heart, and Sgt. Pepper’s. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), growing to about 1.8 m (6 ft) in a greenhouse. Mid-season maturity. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: This … Read more
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📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Apelsinovoe Mango (Orange Mango) 🌍 Origin: Another stunning creation by Russian breeder Sofia Saakova. It is a cross between Blue Orange (Siniy Apelsin) and the classic Heart of Ashgabat (Serdtse Ashkhabada). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), early to mid-season. It features a slender, “wispy” foliage structure typical of many oxhearts. Despite … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Pineapple Sergeant (Ananasnyi Serzhant) 🌍 Origin: A breathtakingly beautiful modern creation by Russian tomato breeder Sofia Saakova. It is a yellow/bicolor anthocyanin descendant of the world-famous American heirloom, Sgt. Pepper’s. The line is currently around the F7 stage of stabilization. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), mid-early to mid-season. Like many oxheart … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Appetitnye Shchechki (Appetizing Cheeks) 🌍 Origin: A modern commercial Russian variety introduced by the “Gavrish” seed company. The name charmingly translates to “Appetizing Cheeks”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), mid-season (110-115 days). Recommended for greenhouse growing but can perform well outdoors in warmer zones. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Designed to be a … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Almatinskiy Tricolor (Almaty Tricolor) 🌍 Origin: A relatively new but already highly sought-after variety bred by the famous tomato breeder Vitaly Alifirov from Almaty, Kazakhstan. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), vigorous, and highly productive. Usually ripens mid-season, though it can lean towards late-season in cooler climates. It keeps setting fruit well … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Apelsin (Orange) 🌍 Origin: A very popular commercial Russian heirloom. The name translates literally to “Orange” (the citrus fruit), perfectly describing its appearance. Distributed by major Russian seed companies like SeDeK, Aelita, and Poisk. 🌿 Plant Habit: Generally considered indeterminate (or semi-determinate depending on conditions), mid-season. Growth height varies from 1 … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Carmella’s Yellow Stripes 🌍 Origin: A beautiful striped bicolor heirloom variety. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). Produces sturdy, beautiful seedlings. Interestingly, growers report variations in leaf type—some plants display a Potato Leaf (PL) trait. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Large beefsteaks weighing 300-400 g (10.5-14 oz). The skin and flesh are stunning: pinkish-red … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Copia 🌍 Origin: A stunning American heirloom developed by breeder Jeff Dawson. It is a cross between ‘Marvel Stripe’ and ‘Green Zebra’. It was named in honor of Copia, the American Center for Wine, Food & the Arts in Napa, California. It is sometimes sold under the name “Tigercopia”. 🌿 Plant … Read more