📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Granenyi (Faceted)
- 🌍 Origin: A fantastic old Russian heirloom. The original breeder is unknown, but the seeds were preserved and passed down for over 30 years by a family in Pyatigorsk (Caucasus region, Russia). The name “Granenyi” translates to “Faceted” or “Ribbed,” perfectly describing its distinct shape.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). Despite its height, growers note that the plant has a slender, manageable profile and is not overly bushy or sprawling. Extremely disease-resistant.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Deep red, beautifully ribbed (faceted) beefsteaks. They have thick walls and can get exceptionally large, reaching up to 2.2 lbs (1 kg) under optimal conditions.
- 👅 Flavor: Sweet, highly aromatic, and perfectly balanced. The flesh is firm and moderately juicy, making it great for fresh eating and slicing.
- ⏳ Maturity: Late season. It requires a long, warm season to reach its massive potential, though topping the plant late in the summer can help ripen the fruits in shorter growing zones.
The original source of the variety is unknown. Got it from a neighbor. She’s been growing it for 30 years. It’s a late, large-fruited variety, fruits can reach 2.2 lbs (1 kg).
The bush in open ground got up to 5 ft (1.5 m), and in my greenhouse it grew to about 5.5 ft (1.7 m). It isn’t sprawling, pretty slender. The variety is a heavy yielder, fruits are delicious, sweet, with thick walls.
The first fruits were around 7-10.5 oz (200-300 g), but once the heat broke, they immediately started getting way bigger. Not a sickly plant at all.
Really loved this tomato. For me, everything about it is just right. Moderately meaty, moderately juicy, moderately firm. Very tasty, more on the sweet side, fragrant.
There are some small voids inside, but they don’t ruin it. Grew it in open ground, it got to about 4 ft (1.2 m) and I topped it. Thanks Svetlana for this one. It came to me from the gift exchange, thanks Lena.
Looks a lot like the “700-gram” variety, I had it from Galya (Esme) and grew it in 2014.
The resemblance is especially noticeable in the photos of Irina’s (Garmoniya) 700-gram…
In the second post, Olga mentions that she grew this tomato in Chelyabinsk (a very short-season, colder zone in Russia) and “topped it” at 4 feet tall. This is a crucial agrotechnical tip for northern growers! When you are growing a late-season giant like Granenyi in a zone with early frosts, topping the indeterminate vines (cutting off the main growing tips) about 30–40 days before your first expected frost forces the plant to stop putting energy into new foliage and blossoms. Instead, it redirects all its energy into sizing up and ripening the heavy fruit already hanging on the vine.
