Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Bull Sac 🌍 Origin: A giant red paste/oxheart variety circulating among heirloom collectors. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate and very tall, easily reaching 6.5–7 ft (2–2.2 m). It is a mid-early variety that shows fantastic productivity both outdoors and in the greenhouse. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Massive, bright red tomatoes. While some vendor … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Benedict Heirlooms Pink 🌍 Origin: A fantastic pink heirloom variety that has gained traction for its outstanding reliability and culinary versatility. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. A very vigorous plant that reaches around 5 ft (1.5 m) when grown outdoors in open ground. Mid-season maturity. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Dark pink/raspberry colored fruits … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Bychye Serdtse Beloye (White Oxheart) 🌍 Origin: A Russian/Eastern European strain of the classic White Oxheart. Note: Like almost all “white” tomatoes, it is not pure paper-white; it ripens to a pale lemon-yellow or ivory, sometimes developing a slight pinkish blush or orange marbling at the blossom end when fully ripe. … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Barany (Rams) 🌍 Origin: A Russian heirloom sourced from collector T. Yashchenko. The name “Barany” translates to “Rams” (male sheep)—named because the elongated fruits often curve at the tip, resembling a ram’s horn. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall vine), reaching up to 1.8 m (6 ft). Can be easily pruned and … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Bychok (Little Bull) 🌍 Origin: Introduced to North America and popularized by the famous tomato collector Tatiana Kouchnareva (Tatiana’s TOMATObase). The name “Bychok” literally translates to “Little Bull” (a play on the famous “Bull’s Heart” oxheart tomatoes). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. It exhibits the classic “wimpy” oxheart growth habit with thin, … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Bull’s Heart of Minusinsk 🌍 Origin: A famous local heirloom from Minusinsk, Siberia (the tomato capital of Russia, known for its giant tomato festivals). Also known as Bychye Serdtse Minusinskoe. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), but generally tidy, growing up to 1.7m (5.5 ft) in the greenhouse. Like most true oxheart … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Anna Maria’s Heart 🌍 Origin: A well-known heirloom oxheart variety, highly prized by collectors worldwide for its beauty and reliability. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. Grows to about 1.5 meters (5 ft) in open ground. Shows incredible cold tolerance and adaptability, performing exceptionally well even in the short, challenging summers of Siberia. … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Bychie Serdtse Oranzhevoe (Orange Oxheart) 🌍 Origin & Confusion: A popular commercial Russian variety sold by various seed companies (Russkiy Ogorod, Poisk, Sibsad, etc.). However, growers report massive variations depending on the seed vendor. It is often confused with varieties like Liskin Nos (Fox Nose), Oranzhevoe Serdtse (Orange Heart), and Korol … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Zore’s Big Red 🌍 Origin: A renowned heirloom variety. In Russian collections, it is often circulated under the translated name “Bolshoy Krasnyi Zora”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate and tall. A notable feature of this specific strain grown by forum members is its Potato Leaf (PL) foliage, which is an interesting trait … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Bychie Serdtse Kanarskoe (Canary Oxheart) 🌍 Origin: The exact history and origin of this variety are unclear. The name translates to “Canary Oxheart.” It is circulated among Russian growers from domestic private seed collections (such as Ananyeva’s line). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. Shows average vigor and reaches about 5.5 ft (1.7 … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Belorusskoe Serdtse (Belarusian Heart) 🌍 Origin & History: A fantastic heirloom with a verified history! In 2006, a tomato grower named Andrey from Minsk (Belarus) bought a massive 900g (2 lb) tomato from an elderly woman at a local market. She had grown it for years but didn’t know the name. … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Huge Lemon Oxheart (Limonnyi Okskhard) is a tall indeterminate vine that produces exactly what its name promises: massive pale yellow/lemon-colored oxhearts frequently weighing 14-21 oz (400-600 g). Most growers report exceptional yields and a delicate, mild flavor, though opinions are slightly split on whether that mildness leans toward sweet or just plain … Read more