Quick Summary of Lilac Plum (Sirenevaya Sliva)
- 🌍 Origin: Sourced from the famous Ukrainian tomato breeder and seed collector Aleksey Kulik. The name translates to “Lilac Plum”.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall) and extremely vigorous. Growers note that the bush is very powerful and can easily support being pruned to 3 main stems to maximize yield.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Bullet or plum-shaped tomatoes weighing around 70g (2.5 oz). They have a very distinct visual marker: a sharp, needle-like point (beak) on the blossom end.
- 🎨 Color Profile: Why “Lilac” if it looks pink? Growers clarify that the skin has a subtle purplish shimmer or moiré over a dark pink/raspberry base, giving it a unique lilac hue.
- 🥫 Culinary Use: An absolute workhorse for the kitchen. The dense, firm fruits are perfectly sized for whole-fruit canning and are highly recommended for making sun-dried tomatoes.
- ⏳ Maturity: Mid-late to late season.
🍅 Have you grown this variety? Scroll down to add your review and photos in the comments below!
Lilac Plum (Sirenevaya Sliva). Variety from A.I. Kulik. It grew outdoors in open ground, indeterminate. I sowed seeds for seedlings on March 11 (2015), which was too late, I will move the sowing date to the first half of February next time. The variety is mid-late season.
It set fruit without skipping any trusses. The fruits are very beautiful “bullets” with a small, sharp little point/beak, dark pink in color. It began to ripen in August; I want to move it into the greenhouse next year. I liked it very much, it stays in my permanent collection. I used it for canning and for sun-drying. 👍
Elena, it’s a very good variety. 🌸 But if it is pink, then why is it called a “Lilac” plum? 😕 😕 😕
Galina said:
If it is pink, then why is it called a “Lilac” plum?
Galya, it has a barely perceptible purple note, or a “moiré” (shimmer), as it is trendy to say nowadays 😉. It is not entirely pink.
Then it makes sense why it’s lilac. 😳 Elena, doesn’t it look like the De Barao Tsarskiy plum?
Galina said:
Doesn’t it look like the De Barao Tsarskiy plum?
It’s a bit smaller than the Tsarskiy, with a distinct beak, and the color is a little darker.
The variety is quite late. It didn’t drop any blossoms (good fruit set), I pruned it to 2 stems, but I really should have done 3, because the yield turned out a bit low this way. The bush is very powerful/vigorous. The taste is ordinary tomato flavor.
Special feature: a very sharp little beak on the bottom, like a needle.
To me, it looks very similar to the Slavyanka variety (weight is around 70g / 2.5 oz).
Thank goodness I didn’t get an off-type! I was looking closely to figure out why it was called “lilac.” But the color truly is beautiful, and the tomato itself is very good.
