EM-Champion Siberian Oxheart Tomato Review

A large-fruited slicer variety for open ground, characterized by a very high yield.

Determinate, short, 60-70 cm (24-28 inches) tall, requires a little pruning (suckering) only at the beginning of planting in the ground. The fruits are heart-shaped, large, and meaty. The skin is medium-thick, closer to thin. The taste is a solid 4 out of 5! Very good for making tomato juice.

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Oh, what a beauty !!!!!!

Yes, it’s a high-yielding variety, the whole plant is hung like lanterns. But it does not store at all, and during transportation, you practically can’t even touch it. It is very delicate and soft. It would be priceless if it had a better shelf life, but it is excellent for processing into juice or paste. 😋

I agree that during the transportation of ripe EM-Champion fruits, they get bruised. Therefore, I never leave them to ripen completely on the bushes.

And I forgot to add for information — the bush has very sparse foliage, so you can plant them closer together, and don’t overdo it with pruning the leaves.

Elena, I support you in everything said above. You rightly noted, there are very few leaves, and the fruits are large. For some reason, their shape reminds me of the ‘Vova Putin’ variety 🙂

It’s short, about 60 cm (24 inches), but very productive.

And how does it handle frosts, or just a cold rainy summer and Late Blight?

P.S. I want to try this variety next season… 😳

I can’t say about frosts, but even in such a bad summer, the variety was one of the best!

In the photos the fruit is very large, I wonder how many grams it is, looks so appetizing.

My fruits were from 150 to 300 grams (5.3 – 10.5 oz).

Regarding frosts – it’s like all regular varieties. As for Late Blight – I removed the bushes of this variety from the open ground last of all; the variety tried hard to fight off the blight. After all, the varieties from Sibirskiy Sad (Siberian Garden), it seems to me, are very low-maintenance and resilient 👍.

ElenaN wrote:
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Wow!!! What awesome ones! 🎉

ElenaN wrote:
The taste is a solid 4 out of 5!

Elena, and who, in your opinion, pulls a solid 5 out of 5 for taste?

Alexander! After all, in the Tomato Varieties Catalog, it is not customary to go off-topic and talk about other varieties, unless it’s in comparison with a specific variety 😉.

But the most successful for me in terms of taste in 2013 were Sladkoye Chudo (Sweet Miracle), Australiets (Aussie), Dacosta Portuguese, Yellow Stone Bi-Color, and Medovyi Spas (Honey Salvation). But I haven’t found the absolute gold standard yet, so next year I’ll be looking for it among 150 new varieties! 😵

I think it’s a very valid question, so an answer about other varieties is quite appropriate.

After all, to understand why you rate EM-Champion a 4, we need to know your taste preferences 📝

Svetlana! I agree with you 🌺.

Alexander! Then please ignore the first paragraph of my message 😞!

ElenaN wrote:
Alexander! After all, in the Tomato Varieties Catalog, it is not customary to go off-topic…

Elena, forgive me generously! I am still inexperienced here with you guys 😉

ElenaN wrote:
But I haven’t found the absolute gold standard yet, so next year I’ll be looking for it among 150 new varieties!

Wow!!! 150 new varieties!!! That’s amazing! Thank you for sharing your preferences 😉

Elena, I want to ask you. Are 3 bushes of EM-Champion enough to plant outdoors for a trial?

Olga! Of course, it’s enough! This year I grew exactly 3 bushes, although I planned to plant 10. Just plant them on the very edge; it seems to me they are more productive in full sun. I planted the bushes densely – 30 cm (12 inches) apart.

ElenaN wrote:
The distance between the rows is about 40 – 50 centimeters. The bush of EM-Champion is not wide at all, it has very few leaves… I think this trick (dense planting) won’t work with other tomato varieties, especially those with dense foliage.

Thank you, Elena! But to keep this in mind, you have to know every variety as well as you described EM-Champion 🌺

So I slowly started collecting information 😉

Elena. How long did EM-Champion yield for you? All at once, or over a long period?

Elena! In 2012 — out of ignorance, I pruned (suckered) EM-Champion. The fruits ripened all at once, among the very first compared to other varieties, and the bushes terminated (topped themselves) early.

In 2013, I didn’t remove the suckers, so EM fruited almost on par with indeterminates. The tomato is a flexible plant; I always try to turn a determinate into an indeterminate by letting it run on its suckers.

Once again, this variety confirmed its title – Champion. With minimal care, a mass of beautiful, meaty, and tasty fruits. But in my opinion, you really need to thin out the fruits in the truss. I don’t know if I have some wild line (up to 25 flowers in a tomato truss), or if the variety itself is just like that. Anyway, to get large fruits, you should leave 6-8 set fruits. Otherwise, I end up with a messy pile, and the last tomatoes are small, about 80 grams (2.8 oz).

Taste is mediocre.

I like it, but regarding taste and color, as they say, to each their own 😄 😄 😄.

I also liked EM-Champion, but such yields like Svetlana has are something I can only dream of 👍 👍 👍

Well, I didn’t even have to thin the fruits, there were 6-7 fruits on the bush and that’s it. I’ll repeat it next year, maybe it will adapt a little.

Girls, maybe you pruned (suckered) it? Mine was also very productive. When I harvested most of the fruits, new ones started developing from the tips. And even now there are fruits on the bush. The taste, of course, is not excellent, and it is no champion in shelf life. You wouldn’t just eat it fresh. But it is suitable for juice and other preserves.

For me, it was a real champion 👍. It fed us, didn’t get sick, and delighted us with huge sizes in open ground.

This is the largest one 😳, the rest are a bit more modest…

And here is my handsome boy.

Tanya M wrote:
And here is my handsome boy.

That’s for sure, a handsome boy 👍 Tatyana, is it like this in the open ground or in a greenhouse? And if in a greenhouse, how tall will it be? 🌺

Edited July 27, 2015 by Drosera

Irina, in open ground, here is another one.

In the greenhouse, it stayed very short, no higher than 1m (3 ft).

The taste is absolute crap… don’t plant it at all.

Andrey_K wrote:
The taste is absolute crap… don’t plant it at all.

I liked it, it just grew and grew, and turned out quite tasty and early.

Lana_s_Kavkaza wrote:
I liked it, it just grew and grew, and turned out quite tasty and early.

I liked it too, I will definitely plant it again. Even though it says F1, I am saving seeds.

Tanya M wrote:
Even though it says F1, I am saving seeds.

In the State Register, EM Champion is registered as a stabilized variety (not an F1 hybrid).

Lana_s_Kavkaza wrote:
In the greenhouse, it stayed very short, no higher than 1m.

Aha, so either under low tunnels or at the very edge of the greenhouse 🌺

Andrey_K wrote:
The taste is absolute crap… don’t plant it at all.

And what was it, sour or bland? 😉

Tanya M wrote:
I liked it too, I will definitely plant it again. Even though it says F1, I am saving seeds.

Tatyana, on my packet it says it’s a variety, not an F1.

Yes, Irina — it is a variety, which is great! I must have confused it with something else, I apologize. This means we can safely save seeds. But mine is red, and here it says it’s pink 😳.

Andrey_K wrote:
The taste is absolute crap… don’t plant it at all.

To me, they are the tastiest. I don’t like bland tomatoes…

A reliable, hard-working variety for open ground – this is the third year in a row I am convinced of this. The taste is classic tomato.

The bush looked nice, didn’t push out too many suckers. And for my plebeian taste, it was the most delicious. But I like them slightly tart. Not sour, but exactly sweet-and-sour. I will plant it in the greenhouse next year.

Girls, has anyone planted EM-Champion in a greenhouse? I have tiny plants, 30 cm (12 inches) tall, completely covered with suckers, what should I do with them? Prune them or leave them?

Should I sucker (prune) it in the open ground (light hoophouse)? How many suckers should I leave? And do I need to prune up to the first truss?

No one wrote what company the seeds are from? Are they from Sibsad (Siberian Garden)?

I grew this variety last year in open ground. I did not prune the tomato, and there were a lot of fruits. Because there were so many fruits, it completely fell over out of the garden bed, I later had to prop it up with a bench. I want to plant it again next season. My seeds are from Larisa (larina).

It’s the only variety I have today that has set its first tomato. And the tomato is growing in volume literally before my eyes.

BUT. It pushes out suckers desperately, and the sucker immediately has a flower truss. The flower trusses immediately have 6-12 flowers. Is this vegetative overgrowth (nitrogen toxicity)?

A very good short (up to 60cm / 24 inches) early variety. Grew two twin bushes in the greenhouse, didn’t remove the suckers, requires good tying, otherwise it will fall under the weight of the crop. Completely covered with cute red hearts up to 200g (7 oz).

The bush is elegant, “weeping willow” type, the stems are thin and flexible, the leaves hang down and are not wide.

Seeds from Alexander (Syr-Daryinets).

Edited January 4, 2019 by Svetikk

We’ve been growing it for a long time. A good and tasty slicing variety. The only problem this year is the heat in the greenhouse, and it blooms almost all at once. The first truss is good, 7-8 large fruits, but a large part of the fruit set dropped off due to the heat in the greenhouse. I’ll see what happens next.

Poltava. Open ground. Bush about 60 cm (24 in). Fruits are large and medium hearts, meaty, juicy, tasty. I liked it very much.