📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Zolotoe Serdtse Ameriki (Golden Heart of America)
- 🌍 Origin: As the name implies, this variety likely traces its roots back to an American heirloom, but it was popularized and widely distributed among Russian seed collectors under the localized name “Golden Heart of America”.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). An incredibly vigorous grower that requires aggressive staking or trellising. In a greenhouse, it often outgrows its space, requiring growers to use the “lower and lean” method. Despite the strong growth, the foliage can sometimes appear frail or “wimpy”, which is typical for oxhearts.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Large, pale yellow tomatoes that occasionally develop a slight pink blush on the blossom end. Shape varies from blunt hearts to slightly oblate (flat-round). Typical weights range from 10.5 to 14 oz (300-400 g). They do not throw small fruits; size is consistently large.
- 👅 Flavor: Sweet, very meaty, and practically seedless. A fantastic fresh-eating variety with a mild, dessert-like profile.
Indeterminate, grows up to 5-5.5 feet (1.5-1.7 m) tall, mid-season. Large pale yellow fruits, weighing up to 10.5-14 oz (300-400 g), sometimes with a little pink blush on the blossom end. Sweet, meaty, and very few seeds.
I really liked the variety. The bush is incredibly vigorous, it just keeps pushing and growing. Sets a ton of fruit, and they are still hanging heavily on the vine even now. By August, it grew so tall I had to lower the vines. I let it grow out to 2 or 3 stems (maybe even more). Very healthy, not prone to diseases at all. It didn’t throw any small fruits, they were all large. This was my first year growing it.
Quote from Lana_s_Kavkaza: Indeterminate, grows up to 5-5.5 feet (1.5-1.7 m) tall, mid-season. Large pale yellow fruits…
Were the fruits heart-shaped or oblate (flat-round)?
I took a closer look at the photos of my bush. The fruits are blunt hearts, although a few of them were slightly oblate.
Growing this for the very first time. In 2020, I have 2 bushes growing in different greenhouses, but both plants look really weak and wimpy. It’s honestly amazing that they managed to set so much fruit. I planted them out late, and the seedlings were already overgrown and leggy. Today is August 6th and the fruits are finally starting to color up. I can’t wait for them to fully ripen. I attached a video.
In her post, Svetlana mentions that her plants grew so tall by August that she had to “lower the vines.” In American greenhouse growing, this is widely known as the “Lower and Lean” method. When indeterminate heirloom tomatoes hit the roof of the greenhouse (often reaching 8-10 feet), growers untie the support strings, drop the bare lower stems down to the ground, and lean the plant at an angle. This gives the growing tip several more feet of vertical space to continue producing fruit until the first frost!
