📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Delta 264
- 🌍 Origin: A Russian commercial variety bred by the Central Siberian Botanical Garden and officially added to the Russian State Register in 1995.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. Described officially as semi-spreading with medium foliage. Performs best in a greenhouse environment.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Smooth, glossy, firm red fruits. There is a discrepancy in size: commercial seed packets claim 6.3-8.1 oz (180-230 g), while the official registry and real growers note them being smaller, around 3.6-4.5 oz (102-126 g).
- 🧬 Genetic Quirk: Contains wild tomato genetics (Solanum peruvianum), which gives it a unique “loose” or extended flowering truss.
Description from the seed packet: A large-fruited, indeterminate tomato from the Siberian breeding program. Mid-season maturity. The fruits are round, smooth, and firm, weighing 6.3-8.1 oz (180-230 g). Forms up to 12 fruits per truss. The variety boasts high taste qualities and is perfect for fresh salads as well as all types of canning.
Growing tips: In a greenhouse, prune the plant to 1-2 main stems. In open ground, prune to 2 stems, making sure to remove suckers regularly.
Photo by vavladi.
Quote from ALIANNA on August 3, 2018:
Tomato Delta 264 from the “Semena Priobya” company.From the Russian State Register of Agricultural Achievements*: “Indeterminate plant, semi-spreading, weak branching, medium foliage. Simple inflorescence. The first truss forms above the 8-9th leaf, and subsequent ones every 3 leaves. Fruit is round, smooth, glossy, firm, and red. Has 5 or more seed chambers. Fruit weight is 3.6-4.5 oz (102-126 g). Taste qualities are excellent…” Originator: Central Siberian Botanical Garden. Added to the Register in 1995.
My experience: I grew a massive, powerful bush with good foliage coverage. It had a lot of trusses, and the fruits were round, slightly elongated, and red. Sets fruit really well. The skin is a bit on the thick side, and it has many seed chambers. It’s tasty – I liked it fresh, and I also used it for canning. It grew outdoors in the garden; I started out pruning it to 3 stems, but then I just stopped keeping track and let it go wild. A very productive variety.
Edited December 27, 2018 by ALIANNA
It turned out to be a complete dud for me. It’s supposed to be mid-season, but my local mid-season varieties performed much better. It was one of the lowest-yielding plants I grew, the flavor didn’t stand out at all, and the plant lacked vigor (probably because it is geared strictly towards greenhouse growing). The only reason we bought it was for its loose, extended truss structure, which it inherited from the Peruvian tomato*. But honestly, some breeders consider that trait to be a flaw…
1. The Russian State Register: Galina quotes the “Gosreestr” (State Register of Agricultural Achievements). This is the official Russian government database for approved crop varieties. Savvy Russian growers always check the Register because commercial seed companies notoriously exaggerate fruit sizes on their packaging to boost sales. As seen here, the packet claimed 8 oz, but the official science botanical data states 4 oz!
2. Wild Tomato Genetics (Solanum peruvianum): Artemiy mentions the “Peruvian tomato”. Solanum peruvianum is a wild species of tomato native to South America. Breeders often cross it with domestic tomatoes to introduce powerful disease-resistance genes. A side-effect of this wild genetic introgression is often a “loose” or elongated, branched flower truss, which Artemiy specifically bought this variety to observe!
