Quick Summary of Teplichnyi Temnyi (Greenhouse Dark)
- 🌍 Origin: A Russian heirloom variety, originally distributed by a well-known collector named Suvorov from St. Petersburg. The name translates to “Greenhouse Dark”.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), but growers note that it doesn’t aggressively shoot upward like some vines. The bush is quite sturdy. Interestingly, despite its name suggesting greenhouse cultivation, it performs very well outdoors in open ground.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Oblate (flattened), dark/black tomatoes. Forum members specifically note that it appears to fall into the “black-pink” category rather than the “black-red” category of dark tomatoes.
- 👅 Flavor & Texture: It has a good, classic dark tomato flavor profile (earthy/rich), though some growers felt it could use just a tiny bit more sweetness.
- ⏳ Maturity & Yield: Falls somewhere between early and mid-season. The yield is rated as quite good.
A variety from a St. Petersburg collector named Suvorov (and I received the seeds from our Irina from St. Petersburg).
Indeterminate, the bush is quite sturdy, but it doesn’t aggressively rush upwards. It is more mid-early than mid-season. The taste is fine, typical for dark-fruited varieties, but it wouldn’t hurt if it had just a little bit more sweetness. The yield is quite good.
It looks very, very much like Black Russian (Chernyi Russkiy). I opened two photos of them cut in half side-by-side and just gasped — they are identical! Both in shape and color!
Cherry wrote:
It looks very, very much like Black Russian…
Olya, maybe the taste is slightly different, and the bush is normal but not particularly massive. Although, I am growing mine outdoors in open ground…
Black Russian is a “black-red” tomato, not a “black-pink” one. And the shape of its fruit is more round, even when it gets large.
