🍅 Quick take: Oranzhevyi Gigant (Orange Giant) is an indeterminate, mid-season beefsteak. It boasts excellent heat tolerance, setting heavy trusses of firm, bright orange fruits that usually weigh between 8.5 oz and 1.3 lbs (250-600 g). The shape can vary depending on the seed source and truss position—ranging from perfectly smooth and round to flattened and ribbed. Growers love it for its reliability, massive yields, and sweet, classic flavor that only gets better during peak summer heat. Full summary ↓
Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 4-6 Experience)
I grow all my tomatoes in a high tunnel. High humidity, peat-based mix. Started my seeds March 10th. This one’s a mid-early (maybe even leaning early). Topped out around 5 ft (1.5 m). Pruned it to a single leader. Really impressed me by setting fruit right through the peak summer heat. Heavy yielder. Fruits are orange, smooth, firm, and no cracking at all. Tastes great. Most of ’em clocked in around 8.5 to 12 oz (250-350 g).
Gotta say, this variety just felt super reliable. Those heavy, loaded trusses were just a joy to look at.
Where’d you score those seeds, Sveta?
rastyuha wrote:
Where’d you score those seeds, Sveta?
Got the seeds from our very own Vera-tomatinka.
My daughter was just messing around with the camera 🤫 they’re just so pretty. Cream Sausage made a guest appearance in the photoshoot too.
Svetlana, those are absolutely gorgeous!!!!! 👍👍👍👍 And like always, you definitely won’t find seeds for these sitting on a rack at the big box stores.
My Giant totally lived up to its name last season 👍 Saved seeds from the biggest one of the bunch, we’ll see how it performs this year 😊
Looks like we’re growing completely different Giants here.
I don’t think they’re completely different. The lower tomatoes on the truss look just like yours, but when they start getting massive, they get all catfaced and misshapen 😊 The trusses higher up the vine looked exactly like the ones in your photos, and same goes for the other plants too:
Yulya, yours are way more rounded, almost perfectly round honestly. Mine were definitely flat-round.
Although… looking at the pics again, yeah, I guess I had some round ones too.
The truss structure is completely different though.
Although… looking at the pics again, yeah, I guess I had some round ones too.
The truss structure is completely different though.
I bought my seeds from Tsykalenko. Her description said round fruits, but looking at her catalog pics, my Giant looks way more like her Orange Ribbed—even though I’ve never seen that variety in any other catalogs 👀
Here’s a pic of her Orange Ribbed, looks identical to mine if you ask me. So go figure what I was actually growing 😳
Here’s a pic of her Orange Ribbed, looks identical to mine if you ask me. So go figure what I was actually growing 😳
I grew Orange Velikan (not Giant) from Aelita and it looks a lot like your Giants. First trusses had round fruits around 7-14 oz (200-400 g), but higher up they turned into heavy, ribbed flat-rounds, just fewer of ’em per truss. Sveta’s description matches it too. Straight out of the X-Files man… the truth is out there…
Hey folks, this is the Orange Giant that Lena Leo grew. She posted this in my thread, so I figured I’d move it over to the catalog here.
I remember Galya from Tula growing Orange VELIKAN, and she sent seeds to Lena. Maybe Lena just got the labels mixed up?
Wonder if some seed savers are just mixing up Giant and Velikan? Looking at Aelita’s seed packet for Velikan right now and it’s literally a picture of my tomato 😊
Sweet wrote:
I remember Galya from Tula growing Orange VELIKAN, and she sent seeds to Lena. Maybe Lena just got the labels mixed up?
Definitely gonna have to ask Galya about that 😳
Here’s the Orange Giant I grew… this is how it looked on the vine.. full shot of the second truss in late May.
My Orange Giant turned out beautiful this year. Color and shape were just like Sveta’s. Taste was a 4/5, honestly a little flat/bland for my liking. There are definitely tastier orange varieties out there. Plus, it didn’t set fruit very well. I’ll try sowing it again next year, maybe I’ll have better luck.
Surprisingly, mine pumped out a ton of fruit in the open garden 👍 Have to agree on the taste though, kinda bland if you eat it straight off the vine. But I tried one the other day that had been counter-ripening indoors and it blew my mind, turned out so much sweeter and tastier. Gorgeous fruits too 😊 Keeping this one in the rotation. The one in the pic got chewed on by snails 😳.
My Orange Giant reached the roof of the greenhouse. Sets fruit well. They aren’t exactly giant, but definitely a decent size. The one on the scale in the pic is actually the smallest, the big ones are still ripening. Taste is a solid 4. Wish it was a bit sweeter, it’s a little tart around the seed gel for me. Seed source was Russian Garden.
Gotta add a quick update! By late summer this turned into my absolute favorite. Once it ripened up in the extreme heat, the flavor was unbelievable! Sweet, perfectly juicy. Guess it just really depends on the weather. Also, the higher up the vine they grew, the bigger they got. Biggest one clocked in at 1.3 lbs (600 g).
One of the few varieties I grew again this season, and it sure didn’t disappoint 👍 Though while the fruits were still totally green, the massive vine managed to snap its twine and crash right into the aisle 😄 No biggie though, I hoisted it back up, strung it by the neck, and it ripened up perfectly.. 😆
Grew this from commercial Aelita seeds and was really surprised by the results. The tomatoes came out uniform with good flavor, and counter-ripening made them taste even better.
My Giants, which aren’t giant at all, but man they’re tasty and heavy yielding! Averaged around 8.5 oz (250 g), got bigger later in the season. The flavor stayed consistent all summer. Seeds from our lovely Oksana (cat) 🌹
This variety might be orange, but it’s not the most nutritious one out there. Its orange color comes from prolycopene, whereas the healthier orange ones are beta-carotene based. All that glitters ain’t gold, and not every orange tomato is packed with beta-carotene…
Full Summary: Plant, Yield, Taste & Stability
- 🌿 Plant & Growth: An indeterminate, vigorous vine that performs well in both greenhouses and open ground. It is noted for its exceptional heat tolerance, easily setting fruit during mid-summer heatwaves without dropping blossoms. The vines get extremely heavy and require strong support strings.
- 📈 Yield: A remarkably heavy producer. Growers frequently mention how reliable this variety is, rewarding them with full, dense trusses from bottom to top.
- 👅 Taste & Shape: Produces large orange beefsteaks/slicers typically weighing 8.5 oz to 1.3 lbs (250-600 g). Interestingly, the shape seems somewhat unstable depending on the seed source (like Aelita vs. private collections) and truss position. Some growers get perfectly smooth, round fruits, while others get flattened, catfaced beefsteaks. The flavor is universally described as sweet and delicious, though it needs plenty of heat/sun or a few days of counter-ripening to reach its peak flavor profile.
🍅 Grown Orange Giant? Did yours produce perfectly round slicing tomatoes, or big ribbed beefsteaks? Share your zone and how it did for you in the comments below, and add your photos!
