Growers’ Notes and Photos
Got my seeds from A. Kulik. In his catalog, this variety goes under the completely butchered name “Special TEX (JPS-Special C-TCV)”.
It’s a mid-season, medium-tall vine. The fruits are beautiful, slightly oblate beefsteaks in a gorgeous red-chocolate color. They are super meaty with a really good, perfectly balanced flavor, weighing up to 7 oz (200 g). Good yield, very low-maintenance plant. I grew mine in the greenhouse.
I really liked this variety too, super tasty and pretty productive 😋👍. I grew mine outdoors in the dirt in 2015, and the yield was above average.
Loved this variety, it gave me a really long harvest window. In the greenhouse, it hit about 5.2 ft (1.6 m) tall, and I barely pruned any suckers. Delicious and super meaty.
My Tex dropped some blossoms on a few of the trusses, but overall it ended up being pretty productive anyway. It grew to about 4 ft (1.2 m) in the hoop house. Fruits have a really pleasant flavor, nice and sweet.
Full Summary: Plant, Yield, Taste and Storage
- 🌿 Plant: A compact indeterminate (often behaving like a semi-determinate) that tops out between 4 ft and 5.2 ft (1.2-1.6 m) depending on the setup. It is very low-maintenance and doesn’t require aggressive pruning.
- 📈 Yield: Rated as good to above average. While one grower noted it can occasionally drop blossoms, it makes up for it by pumping out an extended, season-long harvest.
- 👅 Taste: Universally praised for its rich, sweet, and perfectly balanced dark-tomato flavor. The fruits are slightly oblate, meaty, mahogany-red beefsteaks weighing up to 7 oz (200 g).
- 🌎 Who Reviewed It: Grown successfully across multiple setups—including hoop houses, glass greenhouses, and open dirt—in climates ranging from the cold Moscow region to the milder Caucasus (Pyatigorsk).
