Flaschentomaten (Bottle Tomato) Review & Photos

Galina, how tall did your plant end up getting after it bounced back from the frost?

yalena (Lena) said:
Galina, how tall did your plant end up getting after it bounced back from the frost?

Elena, it was about 5’3″ to 5’6″ (1.6-1.7 m), reached right up to the top of the low tunnel hoops. I bet it grows taller under normal conditions.

Galya-64 (Galina) said:
As you’ve probably figured out and as we’ve discussed here, Flashentomat isn’t exactly a variety name, but rather a group these types of tomatoes belong to. There’s a thread about it somewhere (Alexander, please chime in, you explained it to us)

Galina, folks on the forum were actually talking about this German classification here long before I joined. Flaschentomaten literally means Bottle Tomatoes, it’s a group of varieties with elongated, often hollow fruits that are less juicy and have higher dry matter content. They’re used in cooking because you don’t have to boil them down forever. Think San Marzano, De Barao, Amish Paste, and various plum and pepper shapes.

Valera Zonn got this particular tomato by growing out a German hybrid called Corianne F1 (a San Marzano type). He found that some of his plants ended up yielding heavier and producing larger fruits than the original Corianne F1, which throws fruits about 1.5 inches (4 cm) long with a dimple on the end. For some reason, he just slapped this generic group name on it. When I asked him what generation it was (F2, F3, F4, F6?), he dodged the question. Guessing it was probably only an F3.

Galina, you got lucky that your plant turned out so productive. The variety clearly hasn’t stabilized yet, which is why your fruits have that pointy beak. Several ladies on another forum grew it out from Valera’s seeds too, but were totally disappointed — small, poor yields, bad BER. The original Corianne F1, grown side by side, outperformed it.

You definitely need to save and share seeds from that specific plant.

I also grew out seeds from Valera in Germany 👍 Super interesting variety, survived all the frosts and still managed to push out great trusses in our short summer season 📝 Yeah, saw a little BER, but just isolated cases, didn’t really put a dent in the overall harvest 😳. The fruits aren’t hollow, they’re sweet, an absolute joy to sun-dry. Only downside is it produces barely any seeds 😛 Next year I’m absolutely planting it again 👍👍👍👍 I trained it over the trellis wire right under the roof, so it reached about 6.5-7.5 ft (2-2.3 m) for me 🙈

Alexander, thanks for the explanation. I agree about saving seeds, I saved a ton since there’s huge demand for it, and I’ll process all the remaining fruits for seeds too. 😄

Sasha, I’d love to send you some to trial, DM me your address.

I would love to trade my seeds for the version Angelina has. Mila, if you got yours from the same source, can we trade? 😳

Are Auria and Eros from a totally different group then?

Nelli said:
Are Auria and Eros from a totally different group then?

Nelli, Auria and Eros are way bigger.

Mila, for some reason I can’t see your photos. What size were yours?

Nelli said:
Are Auria and Eros from a totally different group then?

Nelli, same family, just different sizes (Auria, Eros are large, others small/medium). Taste is similar, all of them are Flaschentomaten. When breeders throw pink ones into this category, the taste improves, those are good for fresh eating, and pink ones are tastier when sun-dried too. For canning, there’s no difference, it’s just about the visual shape.
Just my two cents, of course.

Zulya, this is for you.

I would love to trade my seeds for the version Angelina has. Mila, if you got yours from the same source, can we trade? 😳

Galina, looking at the photos, it seems like yours and Mila’s tomatoes are very similar! You really need to trade with Angelina. Especially since she only has 3 seeds left! Angelina, you should share with Galina. She’ll grow them out and share with the rest of us! 😄🙏

Galya-64 (Galina) said:
Mila, for some reason I can’t see your photos. What size were yours?

Galina, check out my garden journal on pages 33-34, the photos are there 📝 Typing from a tablet, can’t drop the link easily.

Photos:
https://www.tomat-pomidor.com/newforum/index.php/topic,1777.msg356161.html#msg356161

Edited October 20, 2014 by Drosera

Here’s the size 😄😄😄😄 My Flashen is more bottle-shaped than Galina’s 👍

Mila, I saw your beauties in your thread, and honestly it looked to me like ours are the exact same shape, yours are probably just a bit bigger. Weird, but I still can’t see your photos here in this thread (the links are broken).

Hey folks, I’ll mail seeds of my ‘flashen’ to anyone who wants them. Just shoot me a DM with your address, don’t be shy.

Just wanted to give a huge shoutout to Galina (Galya-64) for gifting me seeds for this wonderful tomato! THANKS, Galina!!! 🙏🙏🙏 This Flaschentomaten turned out to be an absolute yield monster 👋 The vine hasn’t stopped growing, flowering, and setting fruit up to this very day 👍 Those massive clusters of dense, large scarlet “bottles” leave absolutely nobody indifferent once they see or taste them! Gorgeous tomato! 👏👏👏

Can’t boast about gorgeous trusses this season. My Flashentomaten suffered from BER and is still struggling with it. I did manage to save seeds from a few healthy fruits though, gonna repeat it next year. Surprisingly sweet flavor 🎩

I grew this beauty, massive trusses, surprisingly only had BER on a couple of fruits, though they were cherry-sized. But the weirdest thing is it just didn’t ripen for me, stayed totally green, only 2-3 of them turned. Picked them all green, it’s already cold here, nights are dropping to 35-40°F (2-4 C). 😲
My large beefsteaks ripened perfectly, my Rome got up to almost 1.5 lbs (700g), so I don’t get why the Flashen wouldn’t ripen. 🤷‍♀️

Mine turned out pretty small, a bit on the tough side, and takes absolutely forever to ripen 😳

Mine stalled out and wouldn’t grow for the longest time, like it couldn’t figure out why it was so cold. Hardly put out any suckers, just grew it to a single leader, though you could easily run 3 leaders on it. The fruits were tiny little fingers, didn’t set many trusses since it simply ran out of time. But those little fingers were the sweetest icicle types I grew all season. Not dry at all, juicy and meaty. No white cores or hard yellow shoulders. They took forever to ripen though, that’s for sure. I’m going to try them again, kind of want to try the version without the beak if I can find the seeds. Wanted to grow this exact size of finger tomatoes for a long time. The photo shows it next to a Legenda Multiflora for size comparison.

Galina, a huge thank you for the Flaschentomaten. I really liked it, even though it also ripened super slowly for me and got hit by BER (just one plant). Following advice from Alena in Latvia, I completely drenched the plants twice with a dolomite lime mix out of a watering can. It cleared it right up. Here are the last trusses.

I also absolutely loved this little tomato. Picked up a bit of BER too, but nothing major. Set fruit right till the end. Sweet flavor, but not overpowering. Seeds were from Galina (Galya-64), huge shoutout to her for that 😘🙏!

Thanks to Galina, I was also the lucky owner of a sweet Flashen 🤤

My seeds were from Tatiana (Tatunya). Most of my Flashens were beakless, just with a little indent like Auria has. Zero BER for me.

Grew mine from Galina’s seeds, thank you for this wonderful variety! 🙏 I had 2 vines growing in an old hoop house, probably pruned them to 3 leaders each. Flexible indets, I trained them horizontally right under the roof. Set a massive amount of trusses 👋, so they took a long time to ripen. Production went on forever, harvested an entire tray off the late trusses just because I had to clear out the greenhouse. Stored well and ripened beautifully on the counter, nice sweet taste 👍 Almost all the fruits had the beak, weighed up to 1 oz (30 g). Barely any seeds inside them, only the biggest fruits had any, the rest were just pure gel and undeveloped seeds 🤷‍♀️

Svetlana, that yield and size is absolutely killer! That’s what having a true green thumb looks like. Same seed source, basically the same weather, the only difference is the hands growing them! Like the saying goes: always be learning!
🙏

My Flashentomatens were from Galina, pruned them to 3 leaders, ripened right on the vine. Around 1.5 oz (45 g), with beaks, nice and sweet. Thanks, Galina!

Quick question, if you grow this outdoors in the dirt, when does it actually ripen? Judging by the reviews, it’s mid-late season? Anyone run it outdoors?

Lisa (Natalia) said:
Quick question, if you grow this outdoors in the dirt, when does it actually ripen? Judging by the reviews, it’s mid-late season? Anyone run it outdoors?

I grew it outdoors, like I mentioned before, it takes a ridiculously long time to ripen.

I had it outdoors, it didn’t really love it. Got to about 5.2 ft (1.6 m) tall, fruits didn’t reach their full weight, but it did make seeds. The plant threw all its energy into making seeds, just trying to survive and leave offspring. Started ripening mid-August and went until the frost. Tasty, sweet variety. Thanks to Galina for the seeds.

kinnergard (Natalia) said:
Galina, a huge thank you for the Flaschentomaten. I really liked it, even though it also ripened super slowly for me and got hit by BER (just one plant). Following advice from Alena in Latvia, I completely drenched the plants twice with a dolomite lime mix out of a watering can. It cleared it right up.

Natalia, what ratio did you use for the mix?

Lantana (Raisa) said:
Natalia, what ratio did you use for the mix?

Just a reminder though, this is the variety catalog thread.

Looking at THESE photos makes it impossible to sleep! Those clusters are insane 👋, everyone’s look so gorgeous 👍. You guys rock! 👏👏 Ordered seeds, definitely adding this to the 2017 grow list! 📝
Gonna test it out in our latitudes.

My Flashen was beakless, had a little indent like Auria, but really small. I also have another variety called Severnaya Zvezda (Northern Star). Looked identical to the Flashen. So maybe what I had wasn’t Flashen? Maybe it was Northern Star…

Planted it two years in a row. Very demanding when it comes to heat. Yield was poor for me. Planted 1-2 vines across two greenhouses. Numbers were low. Not planning to grow it again.

Flaschentomaten variety – indeterminate. Absolute standout of the season! Fruit set, yield, taste – everything was top tier! So, so delicious! They store well, ripen off the vine without losing any flavor (accidentally snapped off a whole truss), and I bet they’d be great in jars since the skin is thick. You can honestly grow these instead of cherry tomatoes. Practically seedless, barely managed to scrape any together, definitely growing it every year. Svetlana (Svetikk) – thanks for the seeds! 🙏

Very tasty, sweet like candy, firm 👍 But got heavily hit with BER. Crossed it off my list.

Valentina said:
Very tasty, sweet like candy, firm 👍 But got heavily hit with BER. Crossed it off my list.

Valentina, I fed them with Brexil Calcium this season, didn’t see a single spot of BER 👍👍👍👍

Lyudmila, thanks for the tip. I’ll pick some up over the winter. 🙏

I saw the photos on the forum last year and of course really wanted to grow something this beautiful.
The fruits didn’t have the beak, no BER. Didn’t show the crazy yields like the photos that tempted me in the first place, but our summer was basically non-existent and it was growing in the second row of the greenhouse, so it didn’t get enough sun. Will I grow it again – not sure, too many new varieties to try and so little space.

Ornella (Svetlana) said:
Didn’t show the crazy yields like the photos that tempted me in the first place, but our summer was basically non-existent and it was growing in the second row of the greenhouse, so it didn’t get enough sun. Will I grow it again – not sure, too many new varieties to try and so little space.

Svetlana, Flashen hates being shaded or crowded by neighbors, I learned that much 📝

Mila (Lyudmila) said:
Svetlana, Flashen hates being shaded or crowded by neighbors, I learned that much 📝

Yeah, definitely. I figured that out too.

Grew flashentomat during this rotten summer. Wasn’t shaded, grew in the front row. Had BER, yield wasn’t great. Maybe it really just lacks heat here. 🍅

Diana, what shape was yours? Pointy like Galina’s? I had two vines – absolute beauties! Excellent yield, stored and ripened off the vine well (didn’t shrivel, didn’t dry out, the taste remained vibrant, we just finished the last of them in a salad with onions and unrefined sunflower oil a week ago). Next season I’ll plant the large ones from Angelina.

Di (Diana) said:
Grew flashentomat during this rotten summer. Wasn’t shaded, grew in the front row. Had BER, yield wasn’t great. Maybe it really just lacks heat here. 🍅

Diana, this variety is a heavy feeder to push out that much fruit mass. In my photos, the vines were growing in a hot bed inside the greenhouse, they performed incredibly well 👍

Mila (Lyudmila) said:
Diana, this variety is a heavy feeder to push out that much fruit mass. In my photos, the vines were growing in a hot bed inside the greenhouse, they performed incredibly well 👍

Hey Mila! 😘🙏 A huge thank you for this variety 🙏🙏🙏 Mine was definitely underfed though, so the tomatoes were tiny.. Yet I’ve never eaten anything so sweet. All my neighbors loved it, gave the tomatoes away for seeds….

Mila! Was your Flashen from Angelina?

Galina Mikhailovna said:
Hey Mila! 😘🙏 A huge thank you for this variety 🙏🙏🙏 Mine was definitely underfed though, so the tomatoes were tiny.. Yet I’ve never eaten anything so sweet. All my neighbors loved it, gave the tomatoes away for seeds….

Hey Galina! I plant this variety every year, this season he had a neighbor right next to him in the bed and he absolutely hated it 😄😄😄😄 Giving it its own VIP section next year 😛😛

landysh17 (Lyubov) said:
Mila! Was your Flashen from Angelina?

Angelina and I got ours from the same source (Germany), planted them the same year 📝👍

Angelina has two Flashens. One like Galina’s and another one labeled LARGE.

Mila (Lyudmila) said:
Diana, this variety is a heavy feeder to push out that much fruit mass. In my photos, the vines were growing in a hot bed inside the greenhouse, they performed incredibly well 👍

Mila, don’t tomatoes fatten up (get too much nitrogen) in a hot bed? In the fall I loaded the greenhouse bed with a ton of green matter, now I’m worried – how am I supposed to plant tomatoes in there? There’s no way it’ll all decompose in time. Worried they’ll just grow all leaf…

My Flashen grew outdoors in the dirt, didn’t impress me with the taste, practically zero seeds..

cat2008 (Oksana) said:
My Flashen grew outdoors in the dirt, didn’t impress me with the taste, practically zero seeds..

Oksana, were the seeds big?

Oksana-pepper (Oksana) said:
Oksana, were the seeds big?

Oksana, the seeds were totally tiny… like most cherry tomatoes…

cat2008 (Oksana) said:
Oksana, the seeds were totally tiny… like most cherry tomatoes…

I had one variety that looked just like Flashen, but the seeds were absolutely massive. I was really surprised.

Grew it for the first time this year in the poly greenhouse in a prime spot. Got mixed feelings about this variety. Caught a decent amount of BER during our abnormally hot summer. Watering and spraying with calcium and ash didn’t help. Kept plucking about 10-15% of the little “black-nosed” fruits out of the trusses right till the end. The clusters filled out and colored up unevenly and very slowly, and the fruits turned kinda transparent. Also a potassium deficiency? Or is that just a variety trait? Ran it to 1 leader and the fruits were bigger, 2 leaders they were smaller, obviously. Sweet taste, but the skin is a bit too tough for fresh eating. Haven’t tried canning them yet. They store forever, don’t spoil, and basically sun-dry themselves. Ripened off the vine from green decently well. Wondering if I should try it one more time? Maybe I’ll get those massive trusses like the ones shown above? 👋

Tatiana, taking beautiful photos is a whole separate talent)) and it looks like the trusses on your Flashentomat were doing just fine 🙏

If it’s not a secret, where did your seeds originate from?

Loshadka said:
Tatiana, taking beautiful photos is a whole separate talent)) and it looks like the trusses on your Flashentomat were doing just fine 🙏
If it’s not a secret, where did your seeds originate from?

Got the seeds right here on the forum. The local Kemerovo ladies shared them. 😘 Originally from Galina (Galya-64). Huge thanks to her! 🎩

Mine were from Kulik. Yields were heavy, but the tomatoes were completely tiny, like cherries. Absolutely tasteless. Want to try it again, but from a different source.

Got mixed results with this one. I get the feeling the variety hates the heat. The first tomatoes were delicious and juicy. But as soon as the heatwave hit, the fruits started ripening incredibly slowly, lost their sweetness, and turned woody. The trusses just became crazy complex. Didn’t escape the BER either.

my seeds were from Svetlana (Svetikk). I really liked the variety, first time growing it, highly productive and tasty both fresh and canned. Size isn’t big, couldn’t manage to save any seeds, I feel like they just didn’t mature inside. I never get BER in my greenhouse on any tomatoes, probably because I always add wood ash when planting.

Ladies, I’m begging you, if anyone can spare some I really want to grow flashen. I’ll pay for the seeds and shipping. Just mail them in a regular envelope please.

Totally no-fuss variety. And stores for quite a long time.

ytanya (Tatiana) said:
Mine were from Kulik. Yields were heavy, but the tomatoes were completely tiny, like cherries. Absolutely tasteless. Want to try it again, but from a different source.

same here. 2 plants full of tiny stuff. In his photos they looked so tempting..

My Flashen. Stupidly sweet. Very delicious and productive. Barely any seeds. Grows great both outdoors and in the greenhouse. Does get BER sometimes. I plant it every year. For the taste.

Fantastic variety. However, absolutely zero seeds in the fruits this year. Growing it for the second year from my own saved seeds. Love it for the taste and yield. We can it in its own juice 👍

planted my last flashen seeds this year. Picked the smallest seeds. Grew exactly the same as in 2017. Absolutely not saving seeds from it.

Very thin, almost transparent vine, barely threw any suckers, on two stems it set 10 trusses with 20 tomatoes each, very beautiful uniform fruits, will definitely plant next year 🙂, seeds were from Nina, huge thanks to her!!!! Oh, and no BER.

I won’t repeat what’s been said about the yield. Excellent. But I wanted to ask about the texture. Mine didn’t turn out dense and dry, more like a gummy/marmalade texture – almost no free liquid inside the fruits, but the flesh isn’t dry. I was planning to sun-dry them, but they didn’t really fit the bill. Is there a different Flashen out there? A drier one, closer to Auria or Niagara in meatiness. I’d really love one like that – the size and yield are perfect for me. My Flashen was from Angelina.

Flashen grown from my own saved seeds didn’t disappoint for the second year in a row. (originally from Svetlana). Both yield and taste are there. Mine has the little beak 🙂

Planting it for the second year, my absolute favorite for flavor. If I could just find a large-fruited variety with this exact taste, omg, it would be priceless. My seeds were from Oksana Flerko, massive thanks to her! My little fruits are beakless, mostly just have a dimple.

Out of several seeds, only one survived. Planted this scrawny, pitiful thing outdoors in the dirt, covered it with a cloche. The seeds surprised me, totally microscopic. The plant bounced back, didn’t even notice how or when. Just grew on its own. Sprawling, a ton of suckers, growing in full blazing sun. Got BER, but nothing critical. Trusses are packed, fruits are medium to small. Haven’t tried them fully ripe yet. They don’t get the chance to ripen, the kids eat them all. Just like cherries… I’ll plant it again. Really like the staggered ripening on it.

Edited August 8, 2019 by Marusha

First year growing Flashentomat. Grew into an absolute monster of a vine. Pruned it to a single leader. Plant height was over 6.5 ft (2 meters).

Set 5-6 fruits per truss, but what fruits! Average weight was 5.3 oz (150 g), length 4 inches (10 cm), width 1.5 inches (4 cm). Dense tomatoes, no beak. The plant’s vigor is just incredible, right after I pruned it, it immediately pushed out new shoots loaded with blossom clusters.

Showed great yields and easily beat out the Auria growing right next to it. Pushed out its first ripe fruits in the first week of August, turned out to be a mid-season variety.

Didn’t catch BER, just like the rest of my tomato varieties.

No botrytis, but relatively susceptible to leaf mold.

Planted out in the poly greenhouse on May 5th, successfully survived multiple weather swings from winter back to spring, and our cold June.

From what I can tell, it’s great for canning and sun-drying.

One of the top candidates to grow again next year.
Highly recommend.

Edited August 29, 2019 by Sergey-EKB

Flaschentomaten

I grow this variety almost every single year, it’s totally unique, I don’t know anything else quite like it 👍 Indeterminate, very delicate plant habit. As a seedling it’s so wispy and pathetic looking you just want to hug it and cry. Total liana-type vine. I run it to 3 leaders in the greenhouse. And despite being so fragile it can push out a massive yield 👋 of the most delicious, beautiful, shiny, sweet, gummy red cherry-fingers weighing around 1 oz (25g), up to 1-1.5 oz (30-40g). Very few seeds inside for some reason, and they are tiny.

Edited September 25, 2019 by Svetikk

Updating my review from six years ago. Lost my seeds, so I regrew it from a store-bought fruit. I absolutely adore it. Looks like absolute garbage as a seedling. But once it gathers strength, it produces outdoors without breaking a sweat. Height is around 5.5 ft (1.7 m). And it just sets and sets and sets! Same downside as always – BER in the heat. But it sets so much fruit there’s still plenty left to harvest. Love cherries with a firm crunch, and that’s exactly how it grows for me. Very sweet. Grow it every year just so I can walk out in the morning and eat them right off the vine.

Edited August 13, 2025 by Marusha