📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Ivanych F1
- 🌍 Origin: A Russian/Transnistrian commercial F1 hybrid. Developed for ultra-early production and high marketability.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate (bush). Very compact, reaching only about 2.3 feet (70 cm) tall. Excellent for open ground or low tunnels.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Bright pink, round, and uniform. They average about 7 oz (200 g) and are known for being glossy, dense, and crack-resistant.
- 👅 Flavor & Use: Classic early-hybrid flavor—meaning it is highly productive but can be quite bland/mild, lacking complex sugars and acidity. Best used as a very early season slicer or mixed into sauces.
Description straight from the seed packet: A new ultra-early hybrid from the Transnistrian Agricultural Research Center, developed under the guidance of the wonderful breeder Yury Ivanovich Panchev. 90 days from germination to first harvest. The plant is determinate, compact, and grows to 2.3 feet (70 cm) tall. Trusses hold 5-6 fruits. Fruits are round, bright pink, large, weighing around 7 oz (200 g), dense, glossy, and ship well. Yield is stated as 3.7 to 4.1 lbs per sq ft (18-20 kg per sq m). Multi-purpose use. Valued for its high and stable yields, early and uniform ripening, excellent taste, marketability, and disease resistance. (Photo credit: Nadine)
How does this hybrid actually taste?
It might be “ultra-early” down south in Transnistria, but the Russian State Register officially lists it as an “early” variety. For me, grown under row cover (Agrotex), it acted like a mid-early. The flavor was quite bland (though to be fair, we are all totally spoiled by incredibly tasty heirlooms), and the yield was pretty average for a determinate slicer.
It is definitely crack-resistant, though. The flesh is too pale to make good juice or paste on its own; you really have to mix it with red varieties. For comparison, I grew a similar hybrid called Rozan F1 from Mashtakov, and it ripened faster, had a brighter color, and tasted slightly better. Maybe it performs better outdoors in the dirt in warmer climates.
I really didn’t like it. It’s a heavy yielder, but completely tasteless! I planted 2 bushes. I didn’t even bother using them for canning whole; I just tossed them into the processing batch mixed with other varieties. Definitely won’t be planting it again 👎
Wait, the State Register lists the yield for this hybrid as only 0.7 lbs per sq ft (3.5 kg per sq m) 🤨 So who are we supposed to believe? This isn’t the first time I’ve seen massive discrepancies between the yield claimed by the seed company and the official Register. Ladies, why do you think that is? Honestly, 3.5 kg is really low for a commercial hybrid. Could there be a typo in the State Register?
Wait, the State Register lists the yield for this hybrid as only 0.7 lbs per sq ft (3.5 kg per sq m) 🤨 So who are we supposed to believe?
I didn’t weigh them on a scale, but getting 7.7 lbs (3.5 kg) per plant seems totally possible. I had three bushes and they were absolutely loaded. The fruits aren’t small, very uniform, and they dropped their whole harvest very quickly. I got a couple of buckets off them.
For being the very first tomato of the season, the taste was fine. The color ended up being a pale pink – I wish it was a bit brighter. Flavor-wise, it is a bit mild/bland, lacking both acidity and sweetness. I grew it for three years and was perfectly happy with it as an early, heavy yielder 👍
My apologies! I just now read the actual description in the first post. The one I grew was an indeterminate, over 6.5 feet (2 m) tall, red, and produced right up until the fall with perfectly uniform fruits. My seeds were from Gavrish, but repackaged by a local vendor 🙈
Svetlana brings up a hilarious and universal gardening debate: seed packet claims vs. reality. In Russia, all commercial seeds go through the “State Register” (similar to official university ag-extension trials). The seed packet for Ivanych F1 boasted an impossible yield of nearly 4 lbs per sq ft (which implies a highly optimized, climate-controlled commercial greenhouse). Meanwhile, the State Register tested it in normal outdoor field conditions and recorded a modest 0.7 lbs per sq ft. Nadezhda solved the math mystery: 3.5 kg is likely the realistic yield per bush in a home garden!
Also, Olga’s final post is a classic forum moment – she realized her seeds were mislabeled by the vendor (a very common issue with commercial packers like Gavrish or Aelita) and she was accidentally reviewing a completely different indeterminate red tomato!
