King of Siberia (Korol Sibiri) Tomato Review & Photos

King of Siberia from the old forum catalog. My seeds were from SibSad. It’s supposed to be an oxheart, but mine came out round. Plant is 4 feet (1.2 m) tall out in the dirt. Pretty heavy fruiting. The fruits are yellow-orange, juicy, nice mild sweetness, but I’ve had better. They are all about the same size, 5-7 per truss, no heavier than 7 oz (200 g). I have a really strong feeling that this is an off-type and not the real King of Siberia. I saved seeds, but I’m honestly debating if I should even bother growing it again.

Last year I grew what I consider the real deal, a true oxheart. But this year I tried sowing a commercial packet from SibSad. I got early, round tomatoes. Overall they weren’t terrible, smaller than yours, but definitely not the true King. I didn’t even bother saving seeds.

Well damn. Where are we supposed to get the real one now?

I ordered some from V. Redko for next year, if everything goes well I’ll see how they turn out.

I bought a tomato from some local gardeners at a market back in 2011 for a salad and ended up saving the seeds. Grew them out in 2012 and it looked very much like the official King of Siberia. By 2013 I was growing from my own saved stock. The size wasn’t quite as massive as 2012 (when my biggest one was just over 1.3 lbs / 600 g), but the plant was loaded with a lot more fruit.

I absolutely love King of Siberia. Last year I had ones weighing 2.2 lbs (1 kg) and more, and it actually out-yielded my Bull’s Heart. Looking at Svetlyachok-plus’s photo, that really looks more like Honey Salvation (Medovyi Spas). The true King is lighter, closer to a pale lemon-yellow color, at least that’s how mine turned out. I got both varieties from a private collector and was happy with both, though I’m done growing Honey Salvation, I’m kind of bored of it.

plohih2007 wrote:

I absolutely love King of Siberia. Last year I had ones weighing 2.2 lbs (1 kg) and more, and it actually out-yielded my Bull’s Heart…

Elena! King of Siberia has been my favorite variety for probably 13 years now. I originally got the seeds from the Adonis seed company. I even have a photo of my granddaughter holding a tomato that weighed 2.8 lbs (1.3 kg)! She was 11 then, she’s 20 now. Over time I decided to refresh my seed stock and bought packets from various commercial vendors, but none of them were right. I lost the true variety… It’s such a shame. If it’s at all possible, would you be willing to share some of your saved seeds (I’d love to trade, I don’t just want to beg!).

I bought several different batches of King of Siberia from SibSad over the years, but they always grew out as yellow plum tomatoes. I really wanted the ones like in your photo. I guess I’ll have to order from a private vendor.

Irina Antonova wrote:

I bought several different batches of King of Siberia from SibSad over the years, but they always grew out as yellow plum tomatoes…

Irisha, my seeds from Aelita gave me some completely weird, unproductive plum tomatoes. But right now, thanks to a wonderful lady on this forum, I have the real deal growing in my garden! If God willing I manage to grow it out and save seeds, I will totally mail you some, we can message each other later. Why bother buying them? I’ll try to hook you up, I’m dying to taste it myself.

Here is my King of Siberia:

Galina Mikhailovna wrote:

If it’s at all possible, would you be willing to share some of your saved seeds (I’d love to trade, I don’t just want to beg!)…

Just saw your message, I hadn’t logged in for a bit and didn’t think to subscribe to this thread. I’ve mailed out seeds to everyone who sent me a private message. So sorry for the delay, let’s PM and figure it out.

This is what mine looks like right now.

Alena, isn’t it supposed to be striped?

Why would it be striped? It’s a solid yellow oxheart.

tomatinka wrote:

Why would it be striped? It’s a solid yellow oxheart.

Well, that means I got crossed seeds or an off-type.

If it has stripes, it’s 100% an off-type.

I took a picture of mine, I’ll post it later.

Here is my “king”. I had two plants. One of them produced tiny fruit, almost half the size of this one. And honestly, even the one in the photo is far from huge…

This variety was incredibly prolific for me. It didn’t start ripening until early August, but then a ton of them ripened all at once. The flavor seemed a bit bland to me, though.

My King of Siberia

I planted 1 bush. Yield was pretty decent, a bit above average. But I didn’t care for the taste at all, it was bland and just didn’t taste like a tomato.

Back in 2012-2013 I grew King of Siberia from Aelita seeds. It was insanely delicious, had this totally unique, indescribable flavor. It was practically the only tomato I ate. But due to some circumstances at the end of 2013, we didn’t save any seeds, so I had to buy from Aelita again. Big mistake! In 2014 I put up a greenhouse and planted a whole 4 bushes of my “favorite” tomato. What grew out was worse than supermarket tomatoes! Hard as rocks and completely bland. I didn’t eat a single one fresh. Good thing I can use them for canning, everything went into the jars. Aelita is selling a horrible off-type!

Alena, these grew from the seeds you sent, thank you! 2015 season:

I grew King of Siberia from “Semena Altaya” seeds. I liked the variety, but it is extremely similar to King of Giants (Korol Krupnykh), which actually gave me better yields.

It was a pretty heavy yielder for me (I had 15 large fruits by August 1st, and a few more sized up later). The taste was a bit bland at first, but now it’s really sweetening up nicely.

Mine were from Aelita.

A large yellow-orange oxheart – very plump and blocky, not long and pointy. The flesh is like marmalade. Very few seeds.

The flavor is an absolute favorite: it’s not just sweet, it’s vibrant with a really unique aftertaste.

It has a great shelf life and doesn’t turn to mush when it gets overripe, it just turns a deeper orange. Holds up well if you need to transport them.

The plant hit about 4 feet (1.2 m). Pruned to two stems, the yield was great.

I’ve grown it for three years in a row and will absolutely plant it again.

This year my King of Siberia grew out with a little pink blush on the blossom end, looking very dressed up! Before this, it grew for several years without the pink spot. But they are always beautiful and delicious, with that amazing buttery flesh. They are also quite early, starting to color up for me in late June, just slightly after my early determinates. This is 2013, 2015.

I could sing praises to this variety all day long. It sets fruit in any weather. Last year it was the only plant in my garden that kept setting fruit during our daily May snowstorms, which were immediately followed by daily downpours. For two years now, it has kept my spirits up during garbage weather. It’s early, a workhorse, tasty, and really responds well to a balanced fertilizer – it gets noticeably sweeter.

Just to add to my previous post.

As of today, my average yield per plant for this variety is 10.5 lbs (4772 g) without even counting the top trusses. In open ground, it’s doing about 8 lbs (3610 g).

Natasha, where are you growing it and how tall is it getting?

Galina, I have it growing both in the greenhouse and in the dirt. Height is about 4.2 feet (130 cm).

My King of Siberia is actually from Siberia. I got the seeds from @Mama Antona, who got them from @Alena Andreeva.

It’s a tall, incredibly vigorous plant. The cross-section is pure butter. It’s my husband’s absolute favorite variety. It didn’t let us down during this current scorching summer, nor during last year’s freezing, soaking wet summer. Top photo is last year, bottom is this year, 2018.

I’ve been planting this variety for several years. It perfectly matches the original description. Big, yellow oxhearts. It’s very low maintenance and doesn’t drop blossoms. Super tasty.

Early. Sweet. The yield isn’t blowing me away, but to be fair, this year has been a pretty poor harvest overall, just like 2020. Weights are around 7-10.5 oz (200-300 g). I really loved the flavor, and it showed great disease resistance, so it’s definitely going on the repeat list.

The most interesting part is that I have both oxheart and rounded tomatoes on the exact same plant. When they get dead ripe, a little pink blush appears on the bottom. The flesh is straight up buttery. Even though I usually prefer that sparkling, watermelon-like texture and a sharper flavor, I’m absolutely growing this one again next year.

Mostly hearts on the bush. When fully ripe, the color shifts from yellow to orange.

One of the very first yellow oxhearts to ripen. Decided to grow it again this year. I definitely don’t regret it.