Quick Summary of Costoluto Fiorentino
- 🌍 Origin: A famous, classic Italian heirloom originating from Florence, Italy. The name translates to “Ribbed from Florence”. Very popular among Eastern European growers.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall) and highly vigorous. In a greenhouse, it easily surpasses 2 meters (6.5 ft) in height. Generally displays good disease resistance. Note: Growers report both Regular Leaf (RL) and Potato Leaf (PL) strains circulating in the seed-saving community.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Stunning, heavily ribbed (pleated) and flattened red beefsteaks. Typical fruits weigh around 300-400 g (10-14 oz), but with good care, they can produce giant tomatoes up to 950 g (2.1 lbs).
- 👅 Flavor & Use: Very juicy with a classic, old-fashioned, good tomato flavor without any exotic undertones. Excellent for fresh eating, but also holds up beautifully when sliced or canned whole in jars.
- ⚠️ Growing Tip: Like many heavily ribbed Italian varieties, it can be susceptible to Blossom End Rot (BER) if grown in acidic, unlimed soils lacking available calcium.
🍅 Grown this variety? Click here to add your own photos and review below!
A productive variety with a potato leaf (PL) type of foliage. In the greenhouse, it was over 2 meters (6.5 ft) tall. The fruits are ribbed, juicy, with a regular/classic taste. Because of unlimed (acidic) soil, some fruits got blossom end rot (BER).
In the greenhouse, it was 1.7 m (5.5 ft) tall. Productive, the taste is regular good, nothing exotic. It didn’t get sick (good disease resistance). I want to grow it again. I don’t have a photo of the tomato on the bush, only in a canning jar :))
I grew it in the greenhouse – indeterminate, regular leaf (RL), the fruits are flat, heavily ribbed, red, weighing 300-400 g (10-14 oz), the maximum fruit grew to 950 g (2.1 lbs).
