Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 3-5 Experience)
Lentyayka, a new release from SibSad. The description on the seed packet says: XXL fruits. No sucker pruning required, meant for growing outdoors! A new low-growing, large-fruited variety. One of the earliest, most productive, and beautiful large-fruited varieties for open dirt. The bush is low and compact. Tomatoes are bright red, perfectly smooth heart shapes, averaging 10.5 oz (300 g). Fruits on the first truss can weigh up to 1.3 lbs (600 g).
I grew it outdoors, and it really required minimal care. It grew about 2.3 ft (0.7 m) tall. I didn’t get any 1.3 lb fruits, though maybe if I hit it with synthetic ferts it would have sized up more. Good yield overall.
Has anyone else grown this? I’m really curious about the taste!
I grew it outdoors this year. Extremely delicious, just absolutely wonderful 😋 It was also very productive. But it threw out so many suckers that I got completely tangled in the stems 😁
I planted three Lentyayka bushes from SibSad. One bush was an off-type and grew something that looked like red truffles. The second bush grew exactly as described, red hearts around 10.5 oz (300 g). But the third bush pumped out 21 fruits, and 14 of them weighed over 1.3 lbs (600 g) each! Grown outdoors. The taste was a bit bland for my liking though.
Mine was so tasty that we ate the red ones before I even had a chance to snap a picture 😁
I’m bad at describing flavor profiles so I won’t even try. Weight-wise, most of mine were around 9-10.5 oz (250-300 g).
I also grew it this year. Planted outdoors, set 8 trusses. On the first 5 trusses the tomatoes were in the 10.5-12 oz (300-350 g) range. The later ones got smaller. The variety is an absolute workhorse, incredibly productive. Fruits are meaty, great for processing and canning. But the flavor didn’t impress me at all.
Just like Irina’s, mine were red hearts. Very meaty, and the earliest to ripen. I actually found the taste to be very pleasant. I had read that the main yield comes from the suckers, so I didn’t prune and ended up growing three massive tumbleweeds that were so thick I couldn’t even stick my hand inside. Very disease resistant, fruits were 7-10.5 oz (200-300 g). I’m definitely repeating it.
This variety gave me a very nasty surprise. Maybe I got an off-type batch again, I’ve been having terrible luck with commercial seed packets lately. The bush was flimsy, but unlike other weak plants, this one completely lived up to its name “Lazybones”. I had 2-3 tomatoes across three plants, plus a ton of skinny little suckers – basically a messy broom. Don’t even remember the taste, it was probably nothing special because if I had liked it, I would have saved seeds to try again. At least the foliage and bush size matched the description on the packet 😞
Late May vs Early July. The photos aren’t great, but you can see three tomatoes clustered in one spot. It’s hard to photograph because I really did grow a giant tumbleweed. I have a better photo of the whole mess on my phone at home, but these are the only ones I have on me right now.
I’ve realized that you absolutely MUST prune and shape this plant, otherwise it turns into a giant ornamental bush in full glory… Which naturally leads to a loss in yield and terrible airflow. It is genuinely tough against diseases though, even growing in that messy state.
During our rainy, cold summer (it rained every single day through June and half of July), this variety really made me happy with its yield. Grown outdoors. Truly a workhorse of a variety.
I ended up growing a Pink Honey clone. Flimsy bush, I did prune it, but if the fruits hadn’t been labeled I definitely would have confused them with Pink Honey. Haven’t tasted them yet, I’m allergic to them.
elja1968 said:
During our rainy, cold summer… this variety really made me happy with its yield. Grown outdoors. Truly a workhorse of a variety.
Elya, MIND BLOWN!!! 😲😲😲 Gorgeous Lentyayka!!! You have a serious green thumb! 😘😘😘
I planted SibSad seeds this summer outdoors. Reached a height of 3.3 ft (1 m). Lots of beauties, weighing around 14 oz (400 g), didn’t have any small ones. The flavor had zero acidity.
Got introduced to Lentyayka for the first time this year. Very pleased with this variety, especially in such a harsh (weather-wise) season. Yield, flavor profile – everything is top-tier. I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t grown this workhorse yet. Who comes up with these names anyway?? 🙂
Well you guys are driving me crazy with these photos, I’ll buy it again this year, maybe I’ll get a better batch. I already threw the old packet away.
My Lentyayka turned out to be a ribbed heart. Grown outdoors. Very productive. Just waiting for them to ripen. Praying that nasty Late Blight doesn’t come visiting. Elechka (elja1968), thanks for the seeds! 😘
Edited August 5, 2018 by Inn@
I really liked Lentyayka – early, tasty, sweet. Exactly how I like them!
Seeds from SibSad.
Edited November 29, 2024 by Drosera
Grew it outdoors in 2019. Didn’t have a lot of fruit sets, but the ones that did set were around 1.5 lbs (700 g). The second half of the summer really let us down weather-wise. I’ll absolutely be planting this variety outdoors again in 2020.
Ludochka said:
Reached a height of 3.3 ft (1 m).
3.3 feet is getting closer to a semi-determinate – you definitely have to stake it, and it’s not going to fit under low hoops…
neLENtyayka said:
I really liked Lentyayka – early, tasty, sweet.
Could you please tell me, do you actually need to prune the suckers on this variety? At least up to the first flower truss?
Or did you have a different experience?
irinagudym said:
Could you please tell me, do you actually need to prune the suckers on this variety? At least up to the first flower truss?
I pruned my Lentyayka up to the first truss. And after that, I let it run into 3, 4, even 5 stems. Grown in the greenhouse.
I really wanted this variety but couldn’t find seeds anywhere.
Ariya said:
I really wanted this variety but couldn’t find seeds anywhere.
Found them, over at the Batatoviye Kuschi catalog.
Unfortunately, this variety just didn’t work out for me, neither outdoors nor in the greenhouse. Outdoors it gave me absolutely nothing, and in the greenhouse it threw out exactly one tomato. Completely lived up to its “Lazybones” name… You could think maybe I did something wrong, but all my other varieties produced excellent yields and are still fruiting in both spots.
Ariya said:
Unfortunately, this variety just didn’t work out for me… Completely lived up to its “Lazybones” name…
Mariya, I agree with every single word you wrote, it was the exact same for me. A true slacker. I guess it’s true what they say = names are destiny, and this one yielded accordingly.
Full Summary: Plant, Yield, and Taste
- 🌿 Plant: Determinate bush, usually stopping around 2.3 to 3.3 feet (0.7-1 m) tall. Originally marketed as a variety that requires zero sucker pruning, many growers found that leaving it unpruned turns it into an unmanageable, tangled mess with poor airflow. Most successful growers recommend pruning up to the first flower truss and then letting it run to 3-5 stems.
- 📈 Yield: Highly variable. For many, it’s a cold-weather workhorse that pumps out massive fruit early in the season. However, multiple growers reported getting off-type seeds or plants that completely failed to produce, living up to the variety’s “Lazy” name.
- 👅 Taste & Appearance: Produces large, bright red, smooth oxhearts. Average weights are around 9-14 oz (250-400 g), but several growers easily pushed it to 1.3-1.5 lbs (600-700 g). The flesh is very meaty. Flavor opinions are split—some find it incredibly sweet and delicious, while others felt it leaned too bland and lacked acidity. Excellent for canning and processing.
- 🌎 Who Reviewed It: Growers from across Russia (USDA Zones 3-5). It proved highly resilient to cold, rainy conditions and showed strong resistance to foliage diseases like Late Blight.
The name Lentyayka literally translates from Russian as “Lazybones” or “Slacker.” The breeder (Siberian Garden) chose this name as a marketing gimmick, implying the plant is so low-maintenance—requiring no pruning and thriving outdoors—that it’s meant for “lazy” gardeners. Throughout the thread, you’ll notice a running joke: several growers who got poor yields complained that the plant took its name too literally and decided to be lazy itself!
