Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 4 Experience)
Kleopatra. A raspberry-yellow striped plum, 2.8-3.2 oz (80-90 g). It’s a stout tree-type bush, extremely heavy yielder, up to 11 lbs (5 kg) per plant. Grows to about 28 inches (70 cm) tall. Planting spacing is 3 ft by 1 ft (90×30 cm), and I pruned all the suckers below the first fruit cluster.
In the photos: the ones with green stripes are unripe, and the ones with gold stripes are the fully ripe beauties. I highly recommend starting seeds in February. It was a bit late for me, so I’ll definitely grow it again but start it earlier.
Edited January 8, 2013 by Danko
Elena, how did you like the flavor on this one?
Galina P. said:
Elena, how did you like the flavor on this one?
Galina, it’s just your standard tomato flavor, definitely not sour though. I started the seeds a bit late, so I had to pick them slightly underripe and let them finish ripening indoors. If I had let them ripen fully on the vine, I bet they would have really shown their true colors.
I’m starting them in February this year. Loved the yield and the look of them, plus it’s a really sturdy tree-type plant. It has potato leaves too. Just a gorgeous little bush packed with stunning fruits!
Extremely rugged variety. By October everything else in the garden was dead and dried up, but this one pushed out a new sucker and managed to set about 5 more fruits. I even ate one of them. The fruits are incredibly firm, they literally crunch when you bite into them.
Serezha said:
Extremely rugged variety… The fruits are incredibly firm, they literally crunch when you bite into them.
And they stay super firm when canned too, the skins don’t split at all. Honestly, I’d almost prefer them to be a little softer 😉.
Full Summary: Plant, Yield, Taste and Vigor
- 🌿 Plant: Stout, tree-type dwarf with potato leaves. Maxes out around 28 inches (70 cm) tall. Produces beautiful raspberry-colored plum tomatoes with yellow/gold stripes, weighing 2.8-3.2 oz (80-90 g).
- 📈 Yield: Phenomenal for its size. Growers report up to 11 lbs (5 kg) per plant. It benefits from tight spacing (3×1 ft) and pruning just the lower suckers. Needs an early start indoors to maximize the harvest before the season ends.
- 👅 Taste & Texture: Has a standard, non-acidic tomato flavor. The most notable trait is its texture—the fruits are incredibly dense, bordering on crunchy. This makes them absolute rockstars for whole-fruit canning, as they won’t turn to mush or split in the jars.
- 🛡️ Vigor & Resilience: Unbelievably tough. Known to survive late into the fall when other plants have died off, even pushing out new growth and setting late fruit in October.
