Quick Summary of Zelenyy Elf (Green Elf)
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Zelenyy Elf
- 🌍 Origin: A Russian Green-When-Ripe (GWR) variety. The name translates to “Green Elf”.
- 🌿 Plant Habit (Warning – Two Strains!): There are two completely different plant habits circulating under this name.
Strain 1: A compact, sturdy “tree-type” dwarf. Perfect for container gardening and small spaces.
Strain 2: A tall, vining indeterminate plant.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Both strains produce olive-green cocktail-sized tomatoes weighing around 2.8 oz (80 g). When fully ripe, the skin takes on a beautiful amber/yellowish blush that makes the fruit look like it’s glowing from the inside.
- 👅 Flavor: Excellent, sweet, and fruity. Highly addictive for fresh snacking right off the vine.
My seeds came from V. Redko. Here is what the description stated:
Seed Description:
A short, compact bush. Fruits are oblate (flat-round) and olive-colored, weighing 80 g (about 2.8 oz). Excellent taste, highly productive variety, very well suited for growing in containers.
I’ll add my own thoughts. I really loved this variety. The bush is a sturdy “tree-type” dwarf, and it was completely smothered in tasty little tomatoes. We ate them all fresh as snacks, none of them actually made it into the canning jars. 🙂
My Green Elf looks like this. It is an indeterminate (tall vine). When it reaches full ripeness, it almost looks like it’s glowing from the inside. I grew it for the first time a very long time ago. For the last two years, I couldn’t get my old seeds to sprout. I thought that was it, I had lost the variety forever. The seeds are tiny. But to my absolute joy, one finally germinated and grew out this year.
In Russian tomato terminology, a “shtamb” refers to what American growers call a “tree-type” or sturdy dwarf. These plants develop very thick, rigid central stems that hold the plant upright like a miniature tree, often requiring minimal staking compared to sprawling indeterminate vines.
As seen in this thread, there are clearly two different versions of Green Elf in circulation. If you are buying or trading seeds for this variety, be sure to ask the grower whether their line is the compact tree-type dwarf or the tall indeterminate vine! Both produce excellent green-when-ripe (GWR) fruits, but they require entirely different garden spacing.
