Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 4-5 Experience)
Grew KBX for the first time this year. Absolutely loved it! 👍 They say it’s an improved version of Kellogg’s Breakfast. KBX is potato leaf, indet, with a massive vine reaching over 6.5 ft (2 m). Hands down one of the best-tasting yellow varieties out there. 😋
I’ve seen this abbreviation – KBX – on the forum a few times now, and I still have no idea what it actually stands for.
Drosera wrote:
I’ve seen this abbreviation – KBX – on the forum a few times now, and I still have no idea what it actually stands for.
KB is Kellogg’s Breakfast, and the X probably stands for potato leaf somehow.
Lena, is it a late-season ripener? I have the seeds you sent me, and I’m itching to plant them so bad! 😀
Svetikk wrote:
KB is Kellogg’s Breakfast, and the X probably stands for potato leaf somehow.
It’s probably related, but potato leaf in English is “Potato leaf” so there’s no X there.
Drosera wrote:
I’ve seen this abbreviation – KBX – on the forum a few times now, and I still have no idea what it actually stands for.
KB obviously means Kellogg’s Breakfast, and X always stands for a hybrid/cross. Usually, the X is followed by whatever it was crossed with, but in this case, the second parent is unknown, so it just stayed KBX.
lenok wrote:
…in this case, the second parent is unknown, so it just stayed KBX.
Lena, so does that mean this is an F1 hybrid?
Tanya Kushnareva wrote that this variety is also known as Kellogg’s Breakfast Potato Leaf.
I’m pretty sure I read that somewhere else besides her site, too.
lenok wrote:
…and X always stands for a hybrid/cross…
I never would’ve guessed they actually put the multiplication sign right into the name, everybody just reads it as the letter X.
Folks, KBX is a stable heirloom variety, it’s NOT an F1 hybrid! 😉
Lena, then how do you decipher the X?
I honestly have no idea how it’s deciphered, never seen it explained. I just know the variety as KBX and that’s it 😉
Just picked another one, snapped some pics, and gutted it for seeds 😉
Lena, I’m gonna eat my monitor right now!!! 😀 😀 😀
Galina, I just finished eating the scraps left over from saving seeds and I already want more! 😋 😀 Such a successful and tasty variety, it’s 100% going on my grow list for next year. 👍
Based on the description, it seems like X implies a cross, a breeding line, or an off-type.
Gvozdika wrote:
Based on the description, it seems like X implies a cross, a breeding line, or an off-type.
X stands for “cross”. When Martha Hufford discovered a Kellogg’s Breakfast plant with potato leaves instead of the regular ones, she named it KBX (=Kellogg’s Breakfast Cross). Later on, it turned out to be completely stable. So it was most likely a natural mutation of Kellogg’s Breakfast rather than an actual cross (hybrid), but the name stuck.
Lena leo_leo_1 wrote:
Just picked another one, snapped some pics, and gutted it for seeds…
What an absolute miracle!
Tatiana’s TOMATObase wrote:
X stands for “cross”. When Martha Hufford discovered…
Tanya, thanks for the info! I got these seeds from Lena, really want to plant them now! 👍
Yes! Absolute dream! 👍👍👍
Kellogg’s Breakfast is actually a late-season tomato. Lena was tasting KBX on October 25th. For us up here, those timeframes are impossible. Even in a greenhouse, everything would freeze solid by then.
Galiy wrote:
For us up here, those timeframes are impossible. Even in a greenhouse, everything would freeze solid by then.
I would’ve babied it along to get a harvest.
Galiy wrote:
Lena was tasting KBX on October 25th…
Galina, Lena wasn’t “tasting it for the first time” on Oct 25th, she was just eating one then. I don’t know exactly when she picked her first tomato, but she started mailing out seeds for this variety ages ago, way before October 25th.
Galina P. wrote:
she started mailing out seeds for this variety ages ago…
We definitely need to clarify when it actually ripened for her.
Galiy wrote:
We definitely need to clarify when it actually ripened for her.
Lena wrote me that it’s an early variety! 😋😋😋
So wait, is it called KBX or Kellogg’s Breakfast?
Mila wrote:
Lena wrote me that it’s an early variety!
How can KBX be early if the original prototype Kellogg’s Breakfast is late-season?
Galina, you’re right, I got it mixed up with Orange Giant. So it is late. We can probably check Tatiana from Canada’s catalog for the exact stats on this one.
Mila wrote:
Galina, you’re right, I got it mixed up with Orange Giant. So it is late.
I didn’t plant Kellogg’s Breakfast this year specifically because Marinessa said it was a late variety. And I made the right call – with the summer we had, nothing would’ve ripened in time. I’ll have to try planting it in 2014; if it’s hot enough, maybe it’ll manage to ripen.
Folks, KBX ripened way earlier than regular Kellogg’s Breakfast for me. 👍 I grew both versions this year side by side. KBX was significantly earlier, especially considering I only bought the seeds at the end of April. It caught up and overtook the regular one, so it definitely wasn’t a late-season ripener for me! And very tasty! 😋 A beautiful, tall plant with potato leaves.
Lena leo_leo_1 wrote:
KBX ripened way earlier than regular Kellogg’s Breakfast for me.
Lena, thanks for the happy news about KBX, I’m putting it right back on my planting list! 📝📝📝
Poor Lena got totally bombarded with doubts over this delicious variety. 😀 😀 😀
Galina P. wrote:
Poor Lena got totally bombarded with doubts over this delicious variety.
Hey, at least the doubts got cleared up! 😀 😀 😀
Galina P. wrote:
Poor Lena got totally bombarded with doubts…
Galina, not bombarded at all. I just noticed the messages late, otherwise I would’ve answered sooner. 😉 I actually posted pictures of this variety in Alyonushka’s thread back in the summer. Extremely tasty tomato, my absolute favorite out of all the yellows. 👍
Looks absolutely mouthwatering! 😋
I’m growing one plant of this on trial this year too. Sowed it a week earlier than the rest of my greenhouse varieties.
(Later update from Nastya):
Honestly, I don’t understand the hype at all. I had one plant. It looked sturdy as a seedling, but it basically stayed at that seedling stage forever. By the end of summer, it pumped out exactly one tomato of mediocre taste. Grew it in the greenhouse. Maybe I just got a dud seed, but it totally killed my desire to try it again next year. And I had such high hopes after reading this forum! 😢
Heavy yielder, large fruits, healthy plant. The vine is vigorous. For me, it actually fell into the early category. Sowed seeds around March 20th, and the fruits ripened by late July. Taste wasn’t great, a bit bland, but honestly, all my yellow varieties turned out like that this year. Every single one of them!
It’s on my grow list for 2015!
Mine also ripened in July outdoors from an early March sowing. The taste even outdoors wasn’t particularly outstanding, but not bad either. Nice and meaty, but unfortunately shelf life is short and it’s better not to leave them hanging on the vine too long. Fruit color was light orange. I give it a solid 4 out of 5!
Danko wrote:
The taste even outdoors wasn’t particularly outstanding, but not bad either. Nice and meaty…
Lena, did you have other yellow tomatoes that actually tasted good this year? How did KBX compare to them flavor-wise?
trofi wrote:
Lena, did you have other yellow tomatoes that actually tasted good this year?
Lena, yes of course! Like I said, I’d give KBX a 4 on a 5-point scale. Beautiful, large, but the taste seemed a little bland to me. My orange varieties like Belgian Giant Yellow and Big Yellow Simpson had much bolder flavors. Simpson was sweeter, and the Belgian had a nice little acidic tang to it. I still remember exactly how they tasted.
I grew two vines. One got choked out by other tomatoes and didn’t produce as much. The other one got a prime spot with lots of sun 😀 Absolutely loved this variety for its yield, massive size, taste, and beauty! 👍
KBX 2015, grown outdoors:
Grew KBX in the greenhouse. It was really fussy, probably needed richer soil or a lot more heat. The fruits ended up with just a generic, average tomato taste. Yields were pretty disappointing too.
My KBX wasn’t fussy at all – vigorous PL indet vine, fruits were delicious and gorgeous. Big thanks to Olya (Zolushka) for the seeds! 🍅
Edited November 26, 2015 by Drosera
Performed really well in its first year “living” in my greenhouse. Sturdy plant, potato leaf. Sets fruit well, gorgeous tomatoes of an unusual salmon-pinkish color (definitely not purely orange!). Taste is a solid 4. Went great in salads and made excellent (and beautiful!) juice.
Full Summary: Plant Habit, Taste, Earliness, and Yields
- 🌿 Plant & Foliage: Indeterminate, potato leaf (PL). Very vigorous and tall vine, easily reaching over 6.5 ft (2 m). It requires staking and prefers prime, sunny real estate in the garden.
- 🍅 Fruit Appearance & Size: Produces massive, meaty beefsteaks. The color is glowing bright orange, though some growers noted a slight salmon-pinkish hue depending on soil.
- 👅 Taste: Highly subjective based on the growing season. For some (like Lena and PanIrina), it is a top-tier sweet orange beefsteak. Others found it lacked a bit of acidity or punch (rating it a 4/5), especially in cooler/wetter seasons where yellow/orange tomatoes often turn bland.
- 📈 Earliness & Yields: Despite the regular Kellogg’s Breakfast being known as a late-season tomato, many growers reported that KBX is actually quite early, ripening in July from a March sowing. Yields are generally very high, provided the plant isn’t shaded out.
