Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 4-6)
Danko wrote:
A forum member Galya from Moscow shared this variety with me… The seeds originally came from a Polish seed swap.
Lena, who sent you this variety? I had it too, also from the Polish exchange. I sent seeds to a bunch of the girls here. It really is incredibly tasty. A guy named Yaroslav sent it originally; he hung around our forum for a little while.
galia wrote:
Yaroslav sent it originally…
Yep, Yaroslav sent it to me too, and I sent my own saved seeds to Lenochka.
Danko wrote:
I got my DPZ from Galya in Moscow… but it’s not about the sender. The real issue is that over 3 years, this Kozula line (*see Editor’s Note*) (and it IS a Kozula, a very unstable one at that) has shown massive segregation in both foliage and fruit color. It went from deep pink with yellow stripes to almost a dark ‘black’ tomato, turning dark pink with green stripes for me. The inside was almost completely dark with green gel in the seed cavities. The taste didn’t suffer at all, it remained delicious. The Ukrainian girls I sent it to got even prettier tomatoes than mine, with a proper tricolor interior. I have a couple of seeds left from Galya, so next year I want to grow all three generations side by side and observe them.The leaves are a total wildcard; everyone gets something different. There’s barely any info on this DPZ online. I found one source that listed it having ‘cattail’ leaves – they look a bit like potato leaves but aren’t quite the same. Maybe people are just mistaking that for potato leaf, hence all the confusion. It’s tricky dealing with unstable lines, but I’m not disappointed. It yields decently for me and always grows outside. Even this year, with terrible weather and a late April planting, 3 clusters managed to ripen fully on the vine. I grew both regular and potato leaf versions; the regular leaf plant was more productive and earlier.
Lana_s_Kavkaza wrote:
My Deep Pink Zebra was all over the place. One was round, red, 2.8 oz (80 g), and totally tasteless. Another was oblate, brownish-pink and mottled, but gorgeous on the inside (green and deep pink). The taste on that one was balanced with a nice tang; I really liked it. But the yield was just average; the intense heat and dry winds parched a lot of the flower trusses. In the greenhouse, the mottled one only reached about 4 feet (1.2 m) tall. The red one grew to almost 8.2 feet (2.5 m)!
The fruits, of course, are magnificent! But how do you even describe the color? A mix of deep pink and dark brown with bright pink striping over the top. Inside, there’s a deep pink core surrounded by juicy, tasty flesh. The first fruits started ripening in late July, and I left them hanging until they were fully ripe on the vine… It’s a very interesting and worthy variety, and it performed as a mid-season in the greenhouse. Definitely staying on my grow list for next year.
These specific fruits in the photo grew on the outdoor plant. The coloring is a bit more ‘washed out’ looking outside… The plant itself barely reached 3.3 feet (1 m), and I only kept the first 2 clusters.
Taste-wise, the first one was just a decent, standard tomato, but it was insanely productive – every single fruit set on the clusters. The second one was a sweet, delicious bicolor, but the yield was much lower. Seeds originally from Poland. The leaves seemed to be regular, definitely not potato.
ElenaPr wrote:
Valentina from the Stavropol region sent me my Deep Pink Zebra. Here is what I got…
Valya sent seeds to me too, huge shoutout to her 🌺! Her original seeds are Polish. As a result, I ended up with two different variants: one turned out exactly like yours, and the second was solid pink.
Full Summary: Deep Pink Zebra (Malinovaya Zebra)
- 🌿 Plant & Foliage: An indeterminate mid-to-late season variety with highly unstable genetics. Depending on the seed line, plants can range from compact (3.3-4 feet) to very tall (up to 8.2 feet in greenhouses). Foliage heavily segregates, with growers reporting regular, potato, and rugose leaf types all emerging from the same seed batches.
- 🍅 Fruit & Shape: A beefsteak type that exhibits extreme genetic segregation. The “ideal” pheno is a deep pink/dark brownish tomato with bright yellow, green, or pink stripes and a striking multi-colored interior. However, off-phenos are common, including solid red, solid pink, or yellow/pink bicolors. Size ranges from small (2.8 oz) to large beefsteaks.
- 📈 Yield & Health: Yields vary wildly based on the phenotype you get. Some strains are highly productive, setting every fruit on the truss, while others struggle with heat or produce lower yields. Best pruned to a single leader as secondary stems tend to lack vigor.
- 👅 Taste: When you get the true dark/striped phenotype, the flavor is highly praised as a bold, classic, deep-pink tomato taste with a nice acidic tang. Off-phenotypes (like the small round red ones) are often reported as tasteless or sour.
“Kozula” refers to Anna Jankowski, a famous Polish tomato breeder whose varieties (often just labeled with numbers, e.g., Kozula 137) circulated heavily in Eastern European seed swaps. Many of her lines were released early in their stabilization process, meaning they frequently segregate (break down genetically) in subsequent generations, producing wildly different leaf types, fruit colors, and sizes until they are stabilized by individual growers.
