Lee’s Sweet Tomato Review & Photos

Bought Lee’s Sweet directly from Lee Goodwin himself back in June. This is Lee’s own variety, named in his honor. The seeds arrived in gorgeously designed packaging, neatly packed with his business card and all the trimmings.

The seeds looked pristine, so curiosity got the better of me and I started them late in June. During the first week of August, I potted it up outdoors into a 2-2.5 gallon (8-10 L) container. Mine threw regular foliage instead of the advertised potato leaf, looks like the variety is still segregating and not fully stable yet.

By late September, it had finished flowering and set three full trusses. Because of the late season weather, I thinned it down to two clusters plus one lone fruit on the third cluster, stripping the rest. The plant looks vigorous and healthy, and the fruit are sizing up nicely.

Whether I will actually get to sample ripe fruit this season with nighttime temps dropping to 39-46°F (+4 to +8°C), I cannot say, but I am hoping. Here is how the vine looks as of October 9, 2015. Showing the second cluster, couldn’t squeeze the camera in to shoot the first one:

Edited October 11, 2015 by Alisa

Irina, did you ever run Lee’s Sweet again? How did the off-type taste after ripening in those cold fall nights?

Mine has potato leaf foliage… 🤔

Mine is potato leaf too, and it is a pretty solid variety! 🙂

I liked it a lot. Sure, it is not a giant 1-pounder, but it is right in my sweet spot for size 🙂

Irina, did you ever run Lee’s Sweet again? How did the off-type taste after ripening in those cold fall nights?

It wasn’t a rogue seed mix-up. It was just a young variety segregating back to regular leaf. Lee actually gave a heads up about that possibility. I was actually glad, because I personally prefer regular leaf over potato leaf anyway.

The shape, fruit color, and maturity days matched the description spot on. We managed to harvest and sample two full clusters that very same fall. Since it ripened late in deep autumn chill, the taste came out balanced and savory-sweet, with fruit easily clearing 9+ oz (250+ g). My guess is that if it had ripened under blazing summer sun, the sugars would have dominated completely.

It didn’t earn a spot on my annual grow list, but it will definitely be kept in my 4-year rotation for variety. We genuinely enjoyed it.

My Lee’s Sweet only developed true sweetness starting from the third cluster. Looks like early erratic weather kept it from bulking up sugars initially.

Productivity was solid, with medium-sized, dense, meaty fruit. Regular leaf foliage for me.

Ilya, where did your seeds come from?

Ilya, where did your seeds come from?

Seeds came from Boris over at chile-shop.

ilja: My Lee’s Sweet..

🤔 Perfectly round fruit? Mine came out slightly flattened oblate 🤷

Tatunya: Perfectly round fruit? Mine came out slightly flattened oblate 🤷

Mine looked a lot more like a small barrel or pouch.

Alisa: It wasn’t a rogue seed mix-up. It was just a young variety segregating back to regular leaf…

Hey folks, what is the actual official variety description for this tomato? Not a single post here has described the plant traits beyond whether the foliage is potato leaf or regular leaf 🤷

How tall does it get, what color and shape should the fruit be, what is its intended kitchen use, and where is it meant to be grown, in a greenhouse or outdoors?

Galina P.: Hey folks, what is the actual official variety description for this tomato?

Redko lists it as 10.5-17.5 oz (300-500 g), oblate beefsteak shape, potato leaf. My plant had regular leaf foliage. Guessing I ended up with seeds saved from an off-type split.

Galina, mine had potato leaf foliage, grew it inside the greenhouse. I wouldn’t call it an overly aggressive monster vine. Maybe semi-determinate? It definitely didn’t climb out of control. Seeds were from Redko.

ilja: Redko lists it as 10.5-17.5 oz (300-500 g), oblate beefsteak shape, potato leaf…

Thanks, Ilya! 💐 Only thing is, looking at your photo, your fruit doesn’t look oblate at all, looks way more like a pouch or purse 😳 From what I gather from the posts above, the segregated split was still oblate. You might have gotten a complete rogue seed mix-up 🙁

Galina P.: You might have gotten a complete rogue seed mix-up 🙁

Yeah, Galina, could easily be a mislabeled seed pack. Thanks!

Edited November 24, 2016 by Drosera

Hold on a second, folks! Take a closer look at Irina’s (Alisa) photo. Those fruit are definitely far from flat-oblate beefsteaks too 😉

Edited November 24, 2016 by Drosera

borchanochka: Take a closer look at Irina’s photo…

You’re right! Irina’s look much more heart-shaped 🤷 🤔

Found this photo on an overseas listing:

borchanochka: Hold on a second, folks! Take a closer look at Irina’s photo…

To my eye, Irina’s fruit even look slightly ribbed. A breeder note online describes the “true” fruit as a boat or heart shape, pink with green shoulders, and potato-leaf foliage.

Edited November 24, 2016 by voditsa

Here is a snippet from an interview with the breeder himself, Lee Goodwin, talking about Lee’s Sweet:

Lee’s is actually not an heirloom tomato. I crossed Pittsburg Potato Top and Chianti Rose and the second year I got one plant with heart-shaped fruit rather than beefsteak. This year I set out three which bred true and production was good. I was pulling 6-8 a week off each plant during most of the season until the freeze shut them down. It is a big plant and midseason, about 75-78 days.

Edited November 24, 2016 by ilja

So the true fruit for this variety 🤷 should be heart-to-pear shaped with dense beefsteak meat, and definitely not flat-round oblate 📝 That is a pretty critical detail for any variety description, in my humble opinion 🙂

borchanochka: So the true fruit for this variety should be heart-to-pear shaped…

Polina, haven’t grown it myself yet, just doing research. On the breeder’s site it says:

The true tomato has a boat or heart shape, color is pink with green shoulders, and foliage is potato leaf.

I grew Lee’s as well, originally from Redko’s seed stock. Foliage was potato leaf. The fruit were much closer to flat-oblate beefsteaks.

Here are the sources and shapes I tracked down for Lee’s Sweet across the web:

https://seeds.ca/seedliving/productDetails-129
https://jandlgardens.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=193
https://www.bonanza.com/listings/Lee-s-Sweet-tomato-seeds/23924576

Grew it in 2015 inside the greenhouse. Ran late for me, started ripening in late August. Very sweet. Seeds were from Redko.

Edited November 25, 2016 by Anela