📌 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 this name.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), reaching about 5-6 feet (1.5-1.8 m). Standout feature: It is an absolute light hog. The breeder originally recommended growing seedlings under 24/7 lights and planting them horizontally (trenching) with wide spacing to maximize root mass.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: The true strain produces large, red, oblate (flat-round) beefsteaks with slight ribbing at the shoulders. Average weights are 10-17 oz (300-500 g), but they easily reach over 1.5 lbs (700 g) if pruned heavily.
- 👅 Flavor: Renowned for a perfectly balanced, intense old-fashioned red tomato flavor. A true classic slicer.
Grew this variety in the greenhouse, pruned it to 3-4 stems. The plant is a vigorous, tall, mid-season grower. I really loved the flavor, it’s a true harmonious tomato taste! Extremely heavy yielder, I pulled over 30 fruits off a single plant.
Sveta! What seed vendor did you use? And what was the average fruit weight? That is one heavily loaded plant!
ElenaN wrote:
Sveta! What seed vendor did you use? And what was the average fruit weight? That is one heavily loaded plant!
Lenochka, the seeds were from Popenko. I planted three bushes and all of them were equally productive. The fruits were medium-sized, around 7 oz (200 g). I saved seeds, I can share some with you… 🤫
Svetochka! I actually have Cosmonaut seeds from Popenko. I even started them this year, but I lost the seedling early on. So that means if I prune it to just 2 stems – the fruits will get even bigger! Thanks 🙏!
My “Cosmonaut Volkov” had a completely different shape. It was oblate and slightly ribbed at the top, my seeds were from the “Russian Garden” (NK) brand.
Where can I see the photos? C. Volkov is supposed to be oblate and all bumpy. My batch from Popenko gave me one ribbed plant, and the second plant pumped out egg-shaped tomatoes. 😡 😡 😡 😡
Popenko claimed that he has the absolute true, original Cosmonaut Volkov. And that whatever they are selling in the stores right now is completely wrong.
Galiy wrote:
Where can I see the photos? C. Volkov is supposed to be oblate and all bumpy. My batch from Popenko gave me one ribbed plant, and the second plant pumped out egg-shaped tomatoes. 😡 😡 😡 😡
I don’t have photos, I grew it 2 years ago and wasn’t taking pictures of my tomatoes back then. But I specifically remember it having a lot of gnarly, bumpy fruits, which is why I never grew it again.
Lenochka, people can claim whatever they want. 😉 Just look at the variety description. The fruit is supposed to be bumpy and extremely tasty. 😡
Galiy wrote:
Where can I see the photos? C. Volkov is supposed to be oblate and all bumpy. My batch from Popenko gave me one ribbed plant, and the second plant pumped out egg-shaped tomatoes. 😡 😡 😡 😡
We could open an entirely separate thread just for all the off-types people get from Popenko.
🙂 This year I grew Cosmonaut Volkov from both Popenko and Petrov. I liked Popenko’s better, maybe it just had a better spot in the greenhouse, I don’t know. The taste is a solid, classic tomato flavor, and the yield is beyond praise. Zero disease issues. Last year my Cosmonaut was from SibSad, and there’s nothing to even talk about there, it was complete garbage. Here is this year’s harvest:
Meri wrote:
My “Cosmonaut Volkov” had a completely different shape. It was oblate and slightly ribbed at the top, my seeds were from the “Russian Garden” (NK) brand.
Yes, that is exactly how it should look. 😳 😳 😳 I’m so tired of getting the wrong seeds from these so-called breeders. Plus, the fruit weight is supposed to be way more than 7 oz (200 g). I suggest we officially rename Popenko’s version. 😄 😄 😄 😄 😄 😄 😄 😄
Well, since I’m a dinosaur around here 🤣
I think I already wrote this on the old forum, but I’ll repeat it… I remember when this variety was created. There was a special feature article in the “Household Farming” magazine back in the 90s. They actually asked Volkov’s widow for permission to use the name… The variety, naturally, had spectacular characteristics across the board (obviously, since it was honoring a fallen hero)… I grew it back then… Tall plant, heavy yielder, massive OBLATE and slightly PLEATED fruits, very tasty…
So whatever Popenko is claiming (judging by the photo in the first post), to put it mildly, has absolutely nothing to do with the original characteristics of this variety. I’m hoping someone just misled him.
Everything in this world gets degraded eventually. Black Prince and De Barao (Red) aren’t what they used to be either, just like the Cosmonaut Volkov being shown here. I just wish they wouldn’t mess with a memorial tomato honoring the dead at least… 😎
Nadin wrote:
Here is this year’s harvest:
This one looks way more like the classic “Cosmonaut Volkov.” That’s exactly how I saw it, if I remember correctly, back in the 90s when I first got interested in tomatoes.
bozon wrote:
There was a special feature article in the “Household Farming” magazine back in the 90s…
Yes, yes, yes, it was definitely in that magazine that I probably first came across it.
Pomidoroved wrote:
This one looks way more like the classic “Cosmonaut Volkov.”
Yes, yes. This one looks like it. 😘
Cosmonaut Volkov seeds from SibSad, 2012 packet.
Season 2015:
My Cosmonaut Volkov – from Olya-cherry… Olya, thank you so much! 🙏 It turned into a very prolific plant… although it lacked some potassium in spots, but that’s just a flaw in my garden feeding routine.. 😳
I bought “Cosmonaut Volkov” today from the “Udachnye Semena” brand. If anyone has grown this specific vendor’s seeds, let me know, does it look like the real Volkov or not?
I ordered from Redko.
Grew it in the greenhouse. Weirdly enough, I can’t find a single photo of it(
Overall, a veeeery slow-moving plant. Towards the end of the summer it pushed out a few small clusters of perfectly round, non-ribbed tomatoes… The shape is totally wrong for the real Volkov, even though the website description matched the original. And it was absolutely tasteless( I guess they have good shelf life because the skin was thick and the fruit was hard as a rock.
Sturdy plant, not too tall, around 5 feet (1.5 m).
Cosmonaut Volkov. Bred by I.M. Maslov in 1985. According to Maslov’s description, it is a mid-season variety, definitely not late (110-120 days from sprouting).
Maslov’s specific growing instructions for this variety: mandatory supplemental grow lights during the first month (Maslov kept the lights on 24/7), a massive distance between plants – up to 3.3 feet (1 meter). And planting the seedlings horizontally (trenching). I completely agree about the mandatory lights and the huge spacing for this one. This is the biggest light hog out of any tomato I’ve ever grown. Most of my other mid-early varieties started pushing vegetative growth a full two to three weeks earlier than Cosmonaut Volkov. As a result, it ended up getting shaded out by the others.
This is what my Volkov looks like out in the dirt right now. And here it is in the greenhouse: (Spacing is 20 inches / 50 cm in there right now, but that is definitely not enough for this variety because it demands so much light).
2017 photo: It was growing in the very front row next to the door, so it got plenty of sunlight.
Cosmonaut Volkov (from Angelina).
CV (Ural’skiy Dachnik brand) – can we even consider these little barrels to be Cosmonauts? 😳 😕 🤷 I haven’t taken a pic of the ripe ones yet, but they are no heavier than 3.5 oz (100 g), well, guess this doesn’t belong in this thread anymore 😳
My first Cosmonaut of the year. Most of the “Cosmonauts” are well over a pound (500 g). For the biggest fruits, the author suggested planting the seedling horizontally.
Grew these from Gavrish seeds (2012 packet) last year. Tasty, heavy yielder, but this deep accordion ribbing depresses me 😞
Pasha, you ended up with a really interesting off-type from Gavrish then! You have no idea how hard people on the forum were hunting for deeply-ribbed tomato seeds this winter! Folks were ordering them from Spain for 50 rubles a seed… Was yours sweet back in 2012?
According to the author’s description, the fruit shape is oblate-round, and the ribbing is only prominent near the stem.
Zulfiya wrote:
Was yours sweet back in 2012?
No, the seed packet was from ’12, but I grew them twice in ’14 – they were sweet and tasty.
And in ’17, but we had awful summer weather, so like most varieties that year, they ended up bland 😞
August photos:
Nata N. wrote:
August photos:
Natalya, remind me please, whose CV are you growing? And how is the taste? Superb size 👍 I don’t know why, but I just love it when plants are hanging with these huge “bombs” 😄
m_Kallista wrote:
Natalya, remind me please, whose CV are you growing? And how is the taste? Superb size 👍 I don’t know why, but I just love it when plants are hanging with these huge “bombs” 😄
Yulia, store-bought seeds, I bought them in Crimea. Taste is good. But I prefer very sweet varieties – like Peaches and Cream, Honey Giant. After those, red varieties just don’t seem very sweet to me anymore.
I just fell in love with this variety! Our summer barely even showed up this year! Cosmonaut Volkov grew out in the dirt and set massive trusses without dropping a single blossom. Pruned it to 2 stems. Just gorgeous! A permanent favorite for me now!
Very prolific variety. The bushes were absolutely loaded. The truss is gorgeous.
Shelf life is good. They ripen up on the counter indoors perfectly. Good tomato flavor. Nice and firm when pickled in jars.
My favorite variety for all times. Reliable. 👍
VictoryCat wrote:
Shelf life is good. They ripen up on the counter indoors perfectly. Good tomato flavor. Nice and firm when pickled in jars.
Interesting. From my childhood memories, C. Volkov produced massive fruits, it was strictly a slicer. Extremely tasty, but definitely not for canning. An average tomato wouldn’t even fit through the mouth of a jar.
Oksana Evgenievna wrote:
C. Volkov produced massive fruits…
How many stems did you prune it to?
I let mine go to 4-5 stems… so I think that’s why they sized down.
By the way, mine aren’t exactly tiny either… I like chunky tomatoes in my canning jars 😁 But it’s true they weren’t huge, around 3.5-5.5 oz (100-150 g).
Here they are in a half-gallon jar)
VictoryCat wrote:
How many stems did you prune it to?
I let mine go to 4-5 stems… so I think that’s why they sized down.
It was grown in open ground, so it was treated like a bush variety with minimal suckering (like all our outdoor tomatoes), so it was definitely 4-5 stems, if not more. We just leave 1-2 trusses per stem and then top them. But I distinctly remember C. Volkov having enormous, delicious fruits. This was back in my childhood, but I still remember. In 2017 I planted seeds bought from Aelita, and the taste and size weren’t even close. Sometimes I wonder if the original strain even exists anymore? Even Popenko wrote that C. Volkov has completely degenerated for a lot of people over the years.
What color are they actually supposed to be? Here are mine. Seeds were from a cheap 1-ruble packet (“Semena Altaya”).
Heavy yielder, despite having a ton of stems (at least 4). Average weight is 8.5 oz (240 g). Delicious and a favorite.
Natsha/Nataliya wrote:
What color are they actually supposed to be? Here are mine. Seeds were from a cheap 1-ruble packet (“Semena Altaya”).
From the Aelita seeds, it was exactly as it should be – a deep, rich red color. And the foliage color during the seedling stage is the darkest green, with a thick and powerful stem.
Grew it again, and as usual, it didn’t disappoint me.
11 lbs (5 kg) off the plant, average weight 12.5 oz (350 g).
Oksana Evgenievna wrote:
From the Aelita seeds, it was exactly as it should be – a deep, rich red color. And the foliage color during the seedling stage is the darkest green, with a thick and powerful stem.
Oh yeah. That looks like the original. It’s a shame I lost it out of sheer stupidity. I used to have it.
Nata N. wrote:
Yulia, store-bought seeds, I bought them in Crimea. Taste is good. But I prefer very sweet varieties – like Peaches and Cream, Honey Giant. After those, red varieties just don’t seem very sweet to me anymore.
Natasha, how tall did your plant get? Are you still growing it?
tomatinka wrote:
Natasha, how tall did your plant get? Are you still growing it?
Vera, about 6 feet (180 cm). No, I’m not growing it anymore. The variety demands extremely good insolation, and we live in the northwest suburbs of Moscow, so sunlight is a constant struggle for us. Its yield tanks in overcast weather. I ended up picking less fussy varieties for myself.
This thread is a fascinating piece of Russian gardening history. Igor Maslov (the breeder of this tomato) was a legendary figure in Soviet agriculture. He popularized the method of “trenching” tomatoes—planting tall, leggy seedlings horizontally in a shallow trench so the buried stem develops a massive root system. He explicitly bred Cosmonaut Volkov to thrive on this technique.He named it after Vladislav Volkov, a Soviet cosmonaut who died alongside his crew during the Soyuz 11 reentry in 1971. Because of its historical and emotional significance, the name carries a lot of weight.Unfortunately, this thread highlights a chronic issue in the heirloom seed world: commercial seed packagers cashing in on a famous name. Many growers here complain about buying “Cosmonaut Volkov” packets at the store, only to grow small, deeply ribbed, or egg-shaped off-types. A true Volkov is a massive, slightly flattened red beefsteak. If you want the real deal, always source your seeds from a dedicated private heirloom collector!
