📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Kumquat Pink Opal
- 🌍 Origin: A stunning Russian stabilization project. It was selected out of a segregation of the Indigo Kumquat variety by breeders Mira Almakaeva and Olga Degtyareva. Currently at the F5 generation and showing excellent stability.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate but tends to be on the shorter, bushier side, ranging from 3 to 5.2 feet (1-1.6 m) depending on greenhouse vs outdoor growing. Grower Warning: It is insanely vigorous and will push an endless amount of thin suckers. Stay on top of pruning!
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Gorgeous, gemstone-like grape/cherry tomatoes. They ripen to a deep pinkish-cherry color with heavy, glossy purple/black anthocyanin shading on the shoulders. Extremely low seed count.
- 👅 Flavor & Use: Sweet, firm, and crunchy—often described as “tomato candy.” Thanks to their dense structure, they boast a phenomenal shelf life and hold up very well in storage without getting mushy.
Kumquat Pink Opal.
The forum got introduced to this gorgeous and tasty variety thanks to Mira Almakaeva. She found and selected this incredibly beautiful segregation of Indigo Kumquat to stabilize it out of many other variations. Mira and Olga Degtyareva are still working on it today. Right now it’s at the F5 generation of stabilization, but it’s already quite stable. The fruits have very few seeds.
The variety was named Kumquat Pink Opal because of its stunning fruit color that looks like gemstones. The fantastic shape, flavor, and incredible yield make it a must-have for any tomato enthusiast.
I grew my Pink Opal in the northeast corner of my polycarbonate greenhouse. It turned out to be a bit later than my other cherries. Super prolific and delicious. It holds up really well in storage without losing quality. Huge thanks to the ladies for this wonderful variety.
Yulia, how tall did this variety get for you? I read somewhere that it’s on the shorter side, almost like a determinate. I’m trying to figure out if I should plan to put it out in the dirt or in the greenhouse.
TatianaSh wrote:
Yulia, how tall did this variety get for you? I read somewhere that it’s on the shorter side, almost like a determinate. I’m trying to figure out if I should plan to put it out in the dirt or in the greenhouse.
Mine grew in the corner of the greenhouse. It hit about 4.5-5 feet (1.4-1.5 m) tall. Olya grew hers outdoors under a low tunnel (you can see her pics on her social media). The plant wasn’t very tall. It performs really well outside. Olya actually recommends growing it in open ground. She did try it in the greenhouse her first year.
I got my seeds from Olya. Reached about 3.2-4 feet (100-120 cm) in the greenhouse. Yield was fantastic, and they taste super sweet. Mid-season maturity. The fruits are absolutely gorgeous in both color and shape.
Kumquat Pink Opal
This was the absolute crown jewel of my greenhouse this season. Comparing these charmingly beautiful tomatoes to gemstones is spot on!
Long, sweeping trusses with dark cherry-colored, glossy fruits covered in heavy anthocyanin shading decorated all my plants. I planted several of them together in the corner of the greenhouse (my mistake). You really should only plant one per spot! The plants are insanely vigorous and will push a ton of thin stems and an endless amount of suckers if you don’t stay on top of pruning.
Every single sucker ended in a flower truss, so my plants eventually looked like a giant purple cloud of ripening tomatoes! The yield and beauty are just mind-blowing! They grew pretty tall in the greenhouse, reaching around 5.2 feet (1.6 m). There was a ton of fruit, but you couldn’t find seeds in all of them. The fruits can hold up in storage for quite a while, staying just as firm and tasty – like little crunchy candies!
Huge thanks to our ladies, Mira and Olya, for creating such beauty! It’s a wonderful variety!
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The story behind this tomato is a perfect example of grassroots heirloom breeding! When you grow an unstable hybrid or a cross, the seeds from that plant will “segregate” in the next generation, producing offspring with vastly different traits (colors, shapes, sizes). Russian growers Mira and Olya spotted an exceptionally beautiful, gem-like cherry plant among a patch of Indigo Kumquats. They saved those specific seeds and grew them out year after year, selecting only the plants that matched that exact look. By generation F5 (the 5th year of doing this), the genetics are mostly “locked in,” meaning the seeds will now consistently produce these stunning Pink Opal tomatoes!
