Olviya: I support Yulia. My dacha is in the same area, near Alexandrov.
It’s not excluded that it just completely disliked our location. Something to do with the climate, perhaps.
I think each of us has tomato varieties that just don’t work out. The reasons can vary. For me, Yaponka performed at 100%. She delighted me with her beauty, taste, and yield.
Olviya: The color of my Yaponka was red.
It shouldn’t be red, it should be pink. Dark pink or light pink depending on whether the fruit was in the shade or sun, and the degree of ripeness, but definitely not red.
Maybe you got a crossed seed (off-type)?
Yulya: It’s not excluded that it just completely disliked our location. Something to do with the climate, perhaps.
Or maybe it didn’t like the soil composition. For example, black/purple tomatoes are demanding of sun, heat, and certain microelements. Maybe Yaponka was just lacking something too.
Oksana Evgenievna: Or maybe it didn’t like the soil composition.
Possibly. Black Pyramid was growing in the exact same garden bed. But on the other hand, the soil in both greenhouses is the same, I fed everyone with the same fertilizer. In this very same bed grew ‘Renegade’, which was veeeery tasty, a brown tri-color. ‘Wine Jug’ also pleased me a lot with its taste.
I am leaning towards the thought that I failed to give it something it needed, did something wrong. Maybe my crooked hands are to blame, but I won’t repeat it, there are too many other untested varieties.
Oksana Evgenievna: Or maybe it didn’t like the soil composition.
Doesn’t add up. All my other varieties — I plant 60-80 varieties, among them wonderful blue, green, black, yellow, and red ones too — all are tasty.
Oksana Evgenievna: It shouldn’t be red, it should be pink… Maybe you got a crossed seed (off-type)?
More likely I got confused with the color, didn’t look closely. The seed collector is trustworthy, all other varieties matched perfectly.
My Yaponka grew in the greenhouse. I received it from two sources as a gift from Evgenia and Yanina, thank you girls for the seeds. They turned out perfectly identical, both elegant in plant structure and fruit shape. I was just crazy about the little “beak” on the end of the fruits!
Nadezhda 69: They turned out perfectly identical, both elegant in plant structure and fruit shape. I was just crazy about the little “beak” on the end of the fruits!
Funny how the tomato shape varies depending on the conditions. I mean, it is an oxheart shape, but mine didn’t have such long pointy beaks. Just chubby hearts that sharpened toward the nose.
I have been growing Yaponka for the third or fourth year now. I don’t like bland tomatoes, but Yaponka absolutely does not fall into that category. In my conditions, at least. Black Heart with a Beak from Borisovna is also very tasty! Also not bland at all.
This summer, girls from the forum came to visit me, and we did a tasting of the Black Heart. Everyone was delighted!
My Yaponka grows both in a high tunnel greenhouse and outdoors in open ground. And it has a wonderful taste in both places.
For me, Yaponka sets fruit better than any other variety this year. Pruned to 2 stems. Two bushes are growing; the one near the greenhouse entrance, in the sun, has more fruits. The second is in the middle row, shaded by the first row of tomatoes — it has fewer fruits and they are smaller.
My Yaponka is from V. Redko. Only one seed germinated. My new powerful grow lights raised the seedlings very fast, and as a result, they became overgrown. After transplanting into the ground, Yaponka immediately set 4 tomatoes without even having time to get stronger. I thought the plant wouldn’t grow anymore and would spend all its energy on these fruits. But it slowly but surely grew into a beautiful, lacy Eiffel Tower and continued setting fruit at the same time.
In the photos, you see the seedling and the plant itself without the first truss — we ate them. At first, I wrote “without the first, largest truss.” But on this plant, all the fruits are about the same size.
Initially, I grew it in 2 stems. But the second stem only produced a flower cluster with a single flower. I realized the plant was struggling, so I pinched off the second stem. I only let it grow back once the main plant had gotten taller.
So far, not much sweetness. Yaponka set fruit nicely compared to others. I will keep watching. The beginning of summer was quite cold.
Yaponka was one of the very first to start coloring up, alongside Borisovna’s Black Heart. (Among cherries, the first were Blush on June 24, and Summer Sun which I tasted on July 9).
The taste is classic tomato, balanced. For the first fruit, quite tasty and with some sweetness. Hope it gets even tastier with time. Slight yellow shoulders.
I wonder, is the flesh turning out tender for everyone? Either it’s the summer weather, or the variety itself. I’ve already eaten several fruits. All of them are so tender. Picked slightly underripe and fully ripe. The sweetness is showing through much stronger now.
Di: I wonder, is the flesh turning out tender for everyone?
Diana, I don’t know what kind of flesh it’s *supposed* to have, this is my first time trying Yaponka… But mine is also quite tender. Perhaps I let the first fruit hang on the vine too long, the skin even cracked.
Yaponka – a new variety for me, very beautiful.
Today is July 20th. Sown with all the other varieties at the end of February and planted in the greenhouse, Yaponka has shot up to nearly 2 meters (6.5 ft) but hasn’t flowered, and there are absolutely zero fruits or sets on it.
The rest of the tomatoes, despite three weeks of cold in June with night frosts and abnormally record-breaking July heat, have flowered, set a little bit compared to past years, and are starting to give a harvest. But Yaponka, along with Casanova, decided to go on strike. Therefore, I am putting a big fat cross over them — I don’t need varieties like that.
Planted 1 bush in the greenhouse for the first time this year. Transplanted late, the seedlings were overgrown, but right now it’s growing amazingly, shooting up like it’s on steroids and setting fruit without skipping any blossoms. If all of them ripen, I’m afraid even to count how many fruits there will be. Seeds are from Redko.
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And here is the tasting + cross-section of the first Yaponka tomato that grew for me in 2020.
Valeriy1968: …this variety is a real find for tomato lovers in the Northwest, and not just there… Both the ones planted in full sun and the bushes in the shade pleased me greatly… The taste is simply super! Not a hint of blandness… Juicy, sweet, flesh melting in the mouth, very few seeds in the fruits. The plant habit isn’t overly aggressive, but it’s not a “weakling” either… During the heat, with adequate feeding, it doesn’t drop blossoms; it produces and sets fruit right until the cold weather… doesn’t suffer when planted in cold soil in the spring…
Valeriy pointed out very important qualities of Yaponka. This variety is part of my “mandatory program” for the third year, primarily for its earliness. It comes right after (and sometimes right alongside) ‘June’ tomato, and continues producing until October.
Oksana Evgenievna: A highly productive variety, the fruits are large, no small ones at all… Pink, very tasty, sweet-and-balanced…
This year’s terrible “non-tomato” summer didn’t stop it from showing its best qualities once again.
Sown on March 17.
Poltava. Outdoors in open ground. The bush is slender, compact, pruned to 2 stems. Height is approximately 1.5m (5 ft). Fruits are pink hearts 100-300g (3.5 – 10.5 oz). Really liked the taste and structure for salads and juices. The skin isn’t thick, the flesh of the berry is excellent, not watery, and there were no dry/hard fibers inside.
Very decent. Very. And the taste is great. One plant in two stems, in the greenhouse. No giant fruits though.
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A wonderful variety! Very tasty, productive, and for me, it was one of the first to start ripening. Planted in the greenhouse, pruned to 2 stems, the fruits are very beautiful and medium in size. I will definitely keep this variety, it’s one of the best!
Planted it for the first time. June was cold and rainy, the tomatoes sat under spunbond covers for 3 weeks, then intense heat hit. Half of my tomatoes dropped their blossoms on the 2nd truss, mostly the oxheart types. But Yaponka withstood it and produced 4 trusses across 2 stems, with 4-5 pink tomatoes in each truss. Fed it only with green manure tea and wood ash outdoors, and the seedlings got Kristalon and Radifarm. Tasty, the fruits look like twins.
