📌 Quick Summary: Kubyshka
- 🌍 Origin: A Russian commercial variety distributed by seed companies like Siberian Garden (SibSad) and Agros. The name “Kubyshka” refers to a traditional, chubby little clay pot used for hoarding coins—a perfect name for a short, stocky plant stuffed with fruit!
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate (dwarf). It grows as a sturdy, rugose “tree-type” bush. Because it stays so compact and well-behaved, growers can pack them into garden beds at extremely high densities.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Small to medium red tomatoes. While often advertised as round, they frequently grow out as chubby ovals or plums. The skin is strong enough to resist cracking but isn’t overly tough or chewy.
- 👅 Flavor & Use: A classic “workhorse” processing tomato. The flavor is a standard, traditional tomato taste. It truly shines as a canning variety and boasts fantastic resistance to Late Blight (Phytophthora) even in terrible, wet weather.
I came across some really good reviews for the Kubyshka variety (from SibSad) on another respected forum. I actually had the seeds, so I started them on soaking on March 21st. The germination rate turned out to be just average, but I managed to get three plants out of it.
The seedlings were beautiful, mainly because the plants turned out to be tree-type dwarfs (all three were completely identical). Just like it said on the packet, they were mid-early. The fruits are red, but the shape didn’t match the description at all. They weren’t round, they were distinctly oval, or plum-shaped if you prefer.
And they fell way short on weight (well, maybe just for me, maybe someone else will grow them bigger). Even though they were a bit on the small side, there were a ton of them on the bushes. The taste is your standard tomato flavor. Not bland, not overly acidic, but not sweet either.
And this one was probably the largest one I had. Unfortunately, I lost the photo of the sliced tomatoes. I didn’t actually can them in jars myself, but I think they would be perfectly fine for preserving.
My Kubyshka is from the Agros seed company. I absolutely love it!!! 👍 A total workhorse. I plant no less than 8 plants per square meter (approx 10 sq ft). The yield averages about 3.7 lbs (1.7 kg) per bush. It’s a highly successful option for winter canning. Like Eeyore used to say: “My favorite size!”
The skin doesn’t crack, but it isn’t tough like leather either. In this completely rotten, wet year, it was barely affected by Late Blight (BER). Less than 5% of the fruit got hit. 😉 I actually used this exact variety to conduct my Lunar Calendar experiment. Follow the link to see the growth dynamics of this variety’s tomatoes over time. 🙂
Planted it in 2017 and 2018 from different packets. Grown outdoors in open ground, they didn’t catch any diseases. Just your standard, ordinary tomatoes.
Karamel casually mentions planting no less than 8 Kubyshka plants per square meter (which is about 10 square feet). For American gardeners used to spacing their tomatoes 2.5 to 3 feet apart, this sounds absolutely insane (nearly 1 plant per square foot!). However, Eastern European gardeners frequently utilize this “high-density carpet” method with very specific genetics. Because Kubyshka is a “tree-type” dwarf that stays incredibly short, stiff, and compact, it can be packed tightly together like a hedge to maximize the yield-per-square-foot in small garden spaces without suffering from terrible airflow issues!
