Dyadya Stepa (Uncle Stepa) Tomato Review

Uncle Stepa (seeds from a Siberian Garden / SibSad packet).

I sat here doubting for a long time whether to even write about this variety or not 😛, because what I got was a blatant off-type. I had 3 plants and they all turned out exactly the same. But then I decided – people who buy SibSad seeds shouldn’t get upset when they see the wrong tomatoes on their bushes. They should mentally prepare themselves in advance that instead of giant long fruits, they might get standard cherries. And sometimes you get a lucky off-type, like in my case – it’s totally the luck of the draw 😂

On the SibSad packaging, the tomato looks like a long pepper. But mine was indeterminate, pink, shaped like a large plum, sometimes a bit cubic. The taste was very good, yield average, needs to be pruned to at least 2 main stems. The stem is soft, not thick, very vine-like, doesn’t throw out a lot of suckers, is very easy to manage and compact. Shape-wise it reminded me of “Yellow Rocket”.

P.S. Personally, I renamed my off-type “Auntie Stepanida”.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Drosera

I have this one too. I got it from Altay-Semena last year. I’ll just hope for the best…

They sent me the exact same pink off-type of Uncle Stepa! They write that it’s supposed to be very sweet, tasty, and have thin skin 😋

I ordered my Uncle Stepa from Valentina Redko. I’m going to plant it this year.

Uncle Stepa. Very delicious! Meaty, sweet, very few seeds, and high yielding. Extremely good for sun-drying. The fruit sizes vary – the very first ones are the largest, then they get smaller… but unfortunately late blight ate much more of the harvest than we did this year 😫

I can’t seem to upload my photo 😊

Edited October 29, 2013 by LyutikNN

When you get a lucky off-type, you can at least rejoice. But my “Varvara” (which is supposed to be a thin cigar-shaped tomato with a beak) grew out perfectly round without a beak. I renamed her “Varka”, but she’s going straight into the trash packet, because despite a decent yield, the taste was mealy and starchy.

Here is the photo.

I was really pleased with the taste, but the yield was below average. My fruits were chubby, similar to Cherry/Olya’s, looking kind of like the “Raketa” variety.

I won’t be planting it again.

Quote from LyutikNN:
Here is the photo.

Lyuda, to me, yours looks exactly like Jersey Devil from Popenko.

Oksana, Lyuda, what interesting fruits! They look just like hot peppers 👍.

External plant description: Mid-late season, sprawling.
Fruit set: No skipped trusses, finishes its harvest completely.
Height: Outdoors in open ground, it reached 3.3 feet (1 m) by mid-August.
Trusses: 2-4 fruits per cluster.
Overall yield: Average.
Fruit: A long, red, firm plum (the very first fruit looked more like the Auria variety).
Density of ripe fruit: High.
Flavor: Meaty, firm, slightly on the dry side, but tasty. I give the sweetness a 4.5 out of 5.

First impression: This is a tomato meant for processing and canning. Looks beautiful in jars. The main downside is the average yield. My ratings: seedlings – 3, bush – 4-, fruit – 4.5, overall variety rating – 4.

I agree completely with Alena’s description 🙏 But man… he is gorgeous, the rascal.. 😂

Edited March 22, 2016 by Drosera

Planted it in 2015. I also grew out “Auntie Stepanida” (the off-type). By July 25th, it was 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, had 17-20 pink fruits. Tasty, lots of seeds, not super productive, and it cracked. I might try it again someday, I’m not totally writing it off.

Grew it again from my own saved seeds – tasty, meaty, sweet, and highly productive 👍

My seeds were from Kulik. When I took these to an exhibition, people genuinely mistook them for peppers! 😂 The weight of the fruits was over 7 oz (200 grams). Flavor-wise – sweet. Meaty. The variety turned out to be very productive.