🍅 Quick take: Nicky Crain is an indeterminate, mid-season American heirloom tomato from Kentucky, famous for its wispy foliage and plump, medium-to-large pink oxheart fruits. All three growers here praise its reliable heavy yields, thin skin, and dense, meaty flesh that is almost completely seedless. Full summary ↓
Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 4-6 Experience)
Mid-season indeterminate slicer with wispy, regular leaf foliage. The fruits are plump pink hearts, medium to large, super meaty with very few seeds. Flavor ranged from a bit mild to really tasty and sweet. Great production in the greenhouse. This was my second year growing it. Back in 2015, the fruits didn’t have a single seed in them for some reason. Things were a bit better this year, though seeds were still scarce and only showed up in the fruits from the upper trusses.
Edited April 3, 2017 by ElenaN
Really liked this one too – heavy producer with very good flavor. Grew it for 2 years and it never let me down either time. Photo is from 2015.
Delicious, gorgeous beauties with thin skin. And completely seedless.
Full Summary: Plant, Yield, Taste and Seed Saving
- 🌿 Origin & Plant: Nicky Crain is an American family heirloom originating from Kentucky. It is a mid-season, indeterminate variety with classic wispy, droopy regular-leaf foliage typical of pink oxhearts.
- 🍅 Fruit & Seedlessness: Plump pink hearts, medium to large (typically 10-16 oz / 300-450 g), with thin skin and solid, meaty interior. Both ElenaN and Irina Volga highlight that the fruits are frequently 100% seedless, with ElenaN finding only a few seeds on the upper trusses in her second year of growing it.
- 📈 Yield: Very high and dependable. Both ElenaN and Sandr grew it for two seasons and praised its consistent production.
- 👅 Taste: Sandr and Irina Volga rate the flavor as delicious, while ElenaN notes it ranged from slightly mild earlier on to sweet and very tasty.
- 🌎 Who Reviewed It: Three growers across cool short-season climates (USDA Zone 4, Kostroma) and hot continental summers (USDA Zone 6, Volgograd).
🍅 Grown Nicky Crain? Share your zone and how it did for you in the comments below, and add your photos!
