Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 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
🍅 Quick take: Kronprinz (Crown Prince) is an indeterminate, mid-season heirloom that produces massive multiflora-style trusses of firm, red tomatoes weighing 2.8 to 4 oz (80-110 g). It is highly prized for whole-fruit canning and is historically significant as one of the parent lines for the famous Tarasenko hybrids. Note that there is also a … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Korneevsky Pink (Korneevskiy Rozovyi) is a vigorous, indeterminate heirloom producing heavy yields of large, dark pink, oblate (flat-round) beefsteaks weighing up to 14 oz (400 g). Highly praised for its sugary, meaty, and tender flesh, it is a fantastic mid-season fresh-eating slicer. Its genetics are so respected that Russian agricultural institutes have … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Queen Elizabeth (Koroleva Elizaveta) 🌍 Origin: A fantastic commercial Russian variety from Siberian Garden (Sibsad). Interestingly, it was later renamed/repackaged by the company as “Tsarsky Podarok” (Tsar’s Gift) to avoid trademark confusion with a famous strawberry variety of the same name. 🌿 Plant Habit: A gorgeous determinate, tree-type dwarf. It grows … Read more
📌 Quick Summary: Kartofelnyi Malinovyi (Potato Raspberry) 🌍 Origin: A commercial heirloom variety distributed by Siberian Garden (SibSad). The name perfectly describes it: it has “potato” style leaves and produces “raspberry” pink fruit. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). Reaches about 5.2 feet (1.6 m) in height. Features highly distinctive Potato Leaf (PL) foliage that lacks … Read more
📌 Quick Summary: Kubyshka 🌍 Origin: A Russian commercial variety distributed by seed companies like Siberian Garden (SibSad) and Agros. The name “Kubyshka” refers to a traditional, chubby little clay pot used for hoarding coins—a perfect name for a short, stocky plant stuffed with fruit! 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate (dwarf). It grows as a sturdy, … Read more
📌 Quick Summary: Kenigsberg (Königsberg) 🌍 Origin: A famous Russian commercial heirloom bred by amateur Siberian breeders and popularized by the Siberian Garden (SibSad) seed company. Named after the historical Prussian city of Königsberg (modern-day Kaliningrad). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). Reaches about 5 to 6 feet (1.5-1.8 m). It is bred to thrive in … Read more
📌 Quick Summary: Kardinal (Cardinal) 🌍 Origin: A classic Russian/Ukrainian commercial heirloom. The seeds in this thread originally came from the “Narodnaya Selekciya” (People’s Selection) company in Dnepropetrovsk. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall) in a greenhouse, requiring strong staking, but generally stays shorter when grown outdoors in open ground. It produces very sturdy trusses that … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Cosmonaut Volkov (Kosmonavt Volkov) 🌍 Origin: A legendary Soviet heirloom bred in 1985 by amateur agronomist Igor Maslov. He named it in honor of his friend, Cosmonaut Vladislav Volkov, who tragically died during the Soyuz 11 mission in 1971. Warning: Modern commercial seed packets are notorious for selling incorrect “off-types” under … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): King of Siberia (Korol Sibiri) 🌍 Origin: A highly regarded commercial heirloom from Russia (Siberia). Beware: Due to its popularity, several major Russian seed companies have released completely incorrect seeds under this name (selling yellow plums, round, or striped off-types). Procuring seeds from a trusted private collector is crucial to getting … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Korolevskoe Serdtse (Royal Heart) 🌍 Origin: A stunning Russian heirloom. The name perfectly translates to “Royal Heart”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). An absolute workhorse that performs exceptionally well, especially in greenhouse setups. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Large, beautiful oxheart-shaped fruits. The skin is a glowing orange with striking pink marbling. They … Read more