Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Malakhitovaya Shkatulka (Malachite Box) is an indeterminate Green-When-Ripe (GWR) beefsteak that frequently tops favorite flavor polls. It offers a unique, incredibly sweet, fruity flavor that doesn’t taste like a traditional tomato. Growers recommend staking it heavily, as the vines are somewhat thin but produce massive fruits that will drag the plant down … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Myasnoy Zavtrak (Meaty Breakfast) is a mid-season, indeterminate orange beefsteak variety. It produces massive, oblate, meaty fruits that can reach over 2 lbs (1 kg). Growers praise its phenomenal sweet flavor and vigorous vines, though experiences with yield and storage shelf life are somewhat mixed across different climates. Full summary ↓ Growers’ … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Mikado Rozovyi (Pink Mikado) is an early-season indeterminate pink beefsteak that is heavily debated regarding its foliage. True Russian growers insist it must have a potato leaf (PL). It produces sweet, meaty, flat-round fruits ranging from 8 oz to a solid 2 lbs (250-900 g) and performs exceptionally well both in the … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Frog Princess (Lyagushka-Tsarevna) is a mid-to-late season, indeterminate Green-When-Ripe (GWR) tomato distributed by Gavrish. The packet promises 8.8 oz (250 g) fruits, though most growers experienced smaller yields averaging around 3.5-7 oz (100-200 g). The flavor is generally considered good, with some praising its sweet, buttery flesh; but others found it overly … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Leningrad Giant is an early-season, determinate beefsteak tomato bred specifically to produce massive slicers in short, cool northern summers. The compact bush stays under 3 feet (80 cm) but manages to pump out heavy yields of pink fruits averaging 10.5 oz (300 g), with some growers pulling 1.5 lb (685 g) whoppers. … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Lyubimyi Malyshik (Favorite Baby) is a mid-season, indeterminate Russian family heirloom promoted heavily by seed vendor V. Kolyakov. The vendor claims it produces incredibly beautiful, sugary fruits up to 7 oz (200 g) with great late blight resistance and massive yields. However, real-world grower experience tells a different story: poor yields, constant … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Lev Minusinskiy (Minusinsk Lion) is a striking, heavily ribbed, indeterminate heirloom from the famous Minusinsk region of Siberia. Producing large, meaty beefsteaks often weighing well over 10.5 oz (300 g), growers praise its rich, sweet flavor and excellent shelf life. While the flesh is thick and dense, some slices may reveal hollow … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Lopatinskie is a highly productive, large-fruited variety that is the subject of a massive seed-source split in the gardening community. Growers buying commercial packets (usually from Siberian Garden / SibSad) often get a short determinate bush producing red fruits. Meanwhile, seeds passed around by private collectors usually result in a tall indeterminate … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Lentyayka (which translates to “Lazybones” or “Slacker”) is a highly popular determinate red heart variety bred by Siberian Garden. Marketed as a low-maintenance bush for outdoor growing that requires zero pruning, it produces surprisingly massive fruits weighing up to 1.5 lbs. While some growers praise it as an early, heavy-yielding workhorse, others … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Konus (meaning “Cone”) is a vigorous indeterminate variety rescued by a dedicated seed saver over 20 years ago. It produces large, red, cone-shaped (oxheart-type) fruits that are meaty, juicy, and packed with old-school tomato flavor. The vine has a unique habit of naturally forking at the main stem. While it occasionally drops … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Krasavets Primorya (Beauty of Primorye) is an indeterminate variety that proved highly resilient in less-than-ideal conditions. Grown in a dark greenhouse corner during a cold summer, it still delivered an exceptional yield. Growers highlight its fantastic taste and the impressive uniformity of the fruits from the bottom of the vine all the … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Krasavets Myasistyi (Meaty Beauty) is a vigorous indeterminate pink tomato from the Russian seed company SeDeK. However, growers in this thread report wildly different results—one got the massive, meaty pink slicers described on the packet, while the other ended up with a multiflora plant producing small barrel-shaped canning tomatoes. Both versions yielded … Read more