Quick Summary of Yaponskiy Krab Zheltyi (Japanese Crab Yellow)
- 🌍 Origin: A Russian commercial heirloom originally distributed by breeder Alexandrov. The name translates to “Japanese Crab Yellow” due to its heavily ribbed, flattened shape resembling a crab.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate / Mid-tall. Usually grows to about 1.5–1.7 m (5–5.5 ft). Known for its extreme vigor and massively thick main stems (“as thick as an arm”). Performs incredibly well in both greenhouses and open ground.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Large, heavily ribbed, flattened beefsteaks. Typical weight is 200–250 g (7–9 oz), but can reach up to 600 g (21 oz / 1.3 lbs). Though classified as a yellow tomato, it frequently exhibits a gorgeous pink/red blush on the blossom end and a red marbling inside when fully ripe (acting as a bicolor).
- 👅 Flavor: Low acidity with a sweet, tender, and very sugary flesh. Highly rated for fresh eating.
- ⏳ Maturity: Mid-season, though many growers report surprisingly early harvests when grown outdoors. Outstanding yield potential.
I grew these tomatoes in a greenhouse. The plant showed itself as mid-tall, mid-season, and productive. I didn’t prune the suckers much (I simply didn’t have enough time to process my entire plantation), which, actually, I didn’t regret. The fruits were yellow, very tasty, sweet, and the flesh was sugary and pleasant. Because of the unpruned suckers, the fruits weren’t huge, around 200-250 g (7-9 oz). This variety became one of my favorites because of its yield and taste. In the photo, it is under No. 60.
I bought the seeds from Alexandrov. Here is how he describes this variety:
“Yaponskiy Krab (Japanese Crab) – ribbed, flattened yellow fruits. Up to 5 tomatoes per cluster, weighing up to 600 grams (21 oz) each. Excellent taste qualities, low in carotene. The flesh is tender and very sugary.”
Grew it in the 2012 season. Transplanted it to open ground between May 26 and June 2. I liked it!!! It didn’t get sick, had a good yield, the tomatoes were ~ 200 g (7 oz) and didn’t crack. It started ripening in early August (2 clusters fully ripened on the bush, I picked the rest green). Medium shelf life. Very productive and tasty. I saved it for seeds.
(Orange Giant from Aelita, grown in the 2011 season, set fruit just as abundantly, but was watery and got sick in August).
I got mine from the forum, don’t remember from whom… it’s flattened, don’t know the color yet. The plant is incredibly powerful, even though it was planted late, almost on April 1st. Outside, it’s bigger than all the others, probably 1.5 m (5 ft) tall, and the main stem is as thick as my arm…
Japanese Crab absolutely blew me away… I have never seen so many tomatoes on a bush, and such large ones, so early, and in open ground too… 👍
It ripens gradually, 2 pieces every three days… yellow… meaty… a bit lacking in acidity… the weight is roughly the same for all of them…
I liked Japanese Crab too. 👍 Mine is exactly like Nelly’s, yellow.
Nelly wrote:
I got mine from the forum… 😂
Oh, I didn’t mean that your specific seeds were from Alexandrov himself, Nel. I just meant that this variety originally comes from Alexandrov.
I want to show my Japanese Crab. Planted one bush, growing in the greenhouse. Height is no more than 1.7 m (5.5 ft). Seeds from Galina-64 (huge thanks to her for that 🌷)
Three days ago, these tomatoes started turning yellow.
And today we arrived at the dacha, and I discovered that my yellow Japanese Crab is not entirely yellow 😲, but VERY beautiful (I took the photo when I got home).
The weight of all the tomatoes is around 200 g (7 oz). Haven’t tasted them yet.
It is overripe.
Cut the tomato today. It turned out to be such a beautiful little bicolor, and very, very tasty 😋
Nelly wrote:
Japanese Crab absolutely blew me away… I have never seen so many tomatoes on a bush, and such large ones, so early, and in open ground too… 👍
Magnificent…..
Pity it’s yellow….
I get the feeling that Japanese Crab Yellow is a descendant of the German Goldene Königin.
Zulfiya wrote:
I get the feeling that Japanese Crab Yellow is a descendant of the German Goldene Königin.
Let’s not confuse them. The Germans only have small tomatoes under that name, purely yellow, 50-60 grams (1.7-2 oz) for Goldene Königin (see seed catalogs). The one with the red spot/blush on the bottom outside and red inside is the American Golden Queen USDA, which is large, also in catalogs.
