Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 4-5 Experience)
Seeds from SeDeK. The packet says it’s an early-season variety, but for me, it turned out to be a mid-season. The plant is an absolute monster, getting up to about 6.5 ft (2 m) tall. The fruits are large, delicious, meaty, and pink. The clusters got so heavy I actually had to tie up the trusses for support. It has a really long harvest window. I absolutely loved this variety.
Mine grew into uniform barrel-shaped fruits 😕, exactly the right size for canning jars, and really meaty. The trusses were massive fan-shaped multiflora types. One huge downside, though – it is a total magnet for Leaf Mold. It was the very first plant in my garden to come down with it.
I tried not to strip the foliage too much, and I left the suckers on but pinched them back after the first leaf. Come August, I actually found some pretty decent tomatoes growing right out of those pinched nubs, even if full trusses didn’t set there.
Full Summary: Plant, Yield, Taste and Seed Mix-Ups
- 🌿 Plant: Indeterminate, mid-season. Produces highly vigorous vines that easily reach 6.5 ft (2 m).
- 📈 Yield: Exceptionally heavy. Both the large-fruited and small-fruited versions required heavy support for the fruit clusters. It features a long harvest window, producing well into the late summer.
- 🍅 Fruit Size & Shape (The Mix-Up): The true strain produces large, meaty pink beefsteaks/slicers. However, off-type seeds are circulating that produce small, meaty, barrel-shaped paste tomatoes on massive multiflora trusses.
- 🛡️ Disease Resistance: Very poor against fungal issues. Growers report it is highly susceptible to Leaf Mold (Cladosporium), often being the first plant in the greenhouse to catch it.
