📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Krasnyi Karlik (Red Dwarf)
- 🌍 Origin: A Russian commercial micro-dwarf variety popularized heavily by the Russian seed vendor Valery Medvedev. Some experienced growers suspect it might simply be a renamed “Red Robin”.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: True micro-dwarf. Stays extremely compact, usually under 16 inches (40 cm) when grown in natural sunlight. Perfect for small pots, balcony boxes, or growing indoors under grow lights during the winter.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Tiny, perfectly round red cherries. Average weight is about 0.3 oz (10 g), with the absolute largest maxing out at 0.7 oz (20 g).
- 👅 Flavor & Yield: Yields between 1-2 lbs (0.5-1 kg) per bush, which is excellent for its tiny footprint. The flavor fluctuates between sweet-tart and purely sweet, highly dependent on sunlight and temperature. They tend to taste the sweetest when grown indoors at a stable 64-68°F (18-20°C).
A very compact determinate container variety, reaching up to 16 inches (40 cm) under natural lighting.
The bush gets densely covered with tiny red marbles.
Average weight of the tomatoes is 0.3 oz (10 g), the larger ones get up to 0.7 oz (20 g).
Yield is about 1-2 lbs (0.5-1 kg) per bush.
I bought the seeds from V. Medvedev back in 2017. Since you really can’t find this variety anywhere else except from him, there’s a strong suspicion that the original source was actually Red Robin. It mimics it perfectly in every single way, they are basically twin brothers.
Krasnyi Karlik 70 days from sowing.
The bush at 103 days.
June 30th (120 days from sowing).
The tomatoes range from sweet-tart to sweet (depending on the weather).
They consistently turned out undeniably sweet for me during the winter months when I grew them down in the root cellar at a stable temperature of 64-68°F (18-20°C).
However, keep in mind that under artificial grow lights, the bush won’t stay quite as compact.
Pavel brings up a fantastic point about growing micro-dwarfs indoors during the winter. When grown under artificial LED or fluorescent grow lights, even genetically stunted micro-dwarfs will “stretch” and become taller and leggier than they would if they were baking under intense, direct outdoor summer sunlight. If you plan to grow Krasnyi Karlik (or Red Robin) indoors on a windowsill, keep your grow lights as close to the canopy as safely possible to keep the plant compact and stocky!
