📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Caucasian Liana (Kaukasische Liane)
- 🌍 Origin: Hails from the Caucasus region of Russia, though it became widely known among collectors through German seed catalogs under the name “Kaukasische Liane”.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). An incredibly vigorous, creeping vine (liana) that some growers say grows as thick and strong as a small tree, while others in cooler climates struggle with its vigor.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Elongated, finger-like or “bottle-shaped” paste tomatoes. They ripen to a pinkish-red color and weigh up to 3.5 oz (100 g). They grow in massive clusters holding up to 20 fruits each.
- 👅 Flavor & Use: A classic tomato flavor with a noticeable acidic tang. The skin is on the thicker side, making this a phenomenal variety for canning, sauces, and processing. Check out the forum debate below to see if this Southern heirloom can actually handle cooler Northern gardens!
A wonder-variety with powerful, strong, and intense growth. The plant grows like a tree. It has a true liana-like creeping stem. The trusses are beautiful, holding up to twenty elongated, finger-like fruits weighing up to 3.5 oz (100 g) that ripen to a red color. The taste qualities are excellent. This variety is known for its disease resistance, high yield, long harvesting window, and resistance to both cold and heat.
I also grew Kaukasische Liana (Caucasian Liana) this year. The vine grew outdoors in the dirt and was very productive with lots of fruit per truss. The color of the fruits is pink-red, and the taste is classic tomato with a bit of a tang. The skin is a little thick. I didn’t save seeds from it. According to Kraft’s description, the fruits are pink-red plums: http://tomaten.bplaced.net/tomatoes.htm
“Kaukasische Liane. Pretty, low-seed, soft-juicy, pinkish-red bottle tomato from Russia. Very tall growing, heavy yielding.”
Hello! I’ve read a few different descriptions of this one, and I have two questions so far:
1. Does it actually perform well outdoors in the open ground here in Central Russia?
2. Who is the breeder? What ecological conditions was this variety developed in? The “Caucasus” is a very broad term. The Rostov region on the border with Voronezh, the Main Caucasian Mountain Range, the Black Sea coast, and the flat plains of the North Caucasus are not the same thing. They all have totally different conditions when it comes to diseases and temperature/humidity levels. If the variety was truly bred down there, its natural selection process could vary wildly depending on the exact location.
I’m afraid it just won’t make it in our climate. It looks super wimpy and sickly. It’s a bit early to fully judge its disease resistance, but it’s already catching crud faster than the plants next to it. Most likely, it just isn’t going to be useful for our growing conditions…
User Artemiy brings up an excellent point about microclimates. He is gardening in the Vladimir Region (similar to USDA Zone 4), while this tomato originates from the Caucasus (a southern, mountainous, much warmer region roughly comparable to Zone 6 or 7).
Many southern heirlooms are programmed to wait for serious heat before they kick into high gear. When planted in cold, northern soils, they often look “wimpy and sickly” and struggle with foliar diseases because the soil never warms up enough to trigger their aggressive growth phase. If you are growing a deep southern heirloom in the North, always put it in your warmest greenhouse spot or a black nursery pot!
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