Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
Quick Summary of Chernaya Galaktika (Black Galaxy) 🌍 Origin: A stunning commercial release from the Russian seed company SeDeK. Valued for its extremely high anthocyanin content. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), very vigorous, reaching up to 2 meters (6.5 ft) but with relatively sparse foliage. It is highly cold-tolerant, disease-resistant, and performs beautifully in both … Read more
Quick Summary of Chile Verde (Green Chile) 🌍 Origin: A very popular green-when-ripe variety in Eastern Europe, often sold by commercial seed companies like Biotekhnika and Siberian Garden, as well as private collectors. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), reaching about 1.5 – 2 meters (5 to 6.5 ft). Most growers report a Regular Leaf (RL), … Read more
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Quick Summary of Chernigovskiy 🌍 Origin: A classic heirloom variety hailing from Eastern Europe (named after the historic city of Chernigov). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), reaching around 2 meters (6.5 feet). Known for its excellent disease resistance and striking dark green foliage. Performs exceptionally well both in greenhouses and outdoors. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Classic … Read more
Quick Summary of Chernyy Russkiy (Black Russian) 🌍 Origin: A famous old heirloom variety, highly popular among Eastern European gardeners. Interestingly, it is considered a “folk” variety, as growers note it isn’t even listed in the official Russian State Register of Seeds. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), but its vigor heavily depends on the seed … Read more
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Quick Summary of Chinook Tomato 🌍 Origin: A gorgeous release from the renowned Canadian tomato breeder Karen Olivier. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (very tall) and vigorous. The vines are strong and easily reach the roof of a standard greenhouse (over 6.5 feet / 2 meters). It requires heavy-duty staking and tying due to the massive … Read more
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Quick Summary of Chernaya Russkaya Roza (Black Russian Rose) 🌍 Origin: A beautiful cross between Black Beauty and Russian Rose, bred by the famous Latvian tomato breeder Valdis Pulins. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). The bush reaches about 1.7 meters (approx. 5.5 feet) in height. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Oblate (flattened round) shape. The color is … Read more
Quick Summary of Borisovna’s Black Heart with a Spout 🌍 Origin: A legendary forum-born heirloom! Discovered by grower Natalya (Borisovna) from Karaganda, Kazakhstan, from a market tomato. It has since spread worldwide. Also known as Black with a Spout, Black Oxheart from Borisovna, or Chernoe Serdtse s Nosikom. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), reaching 1.5–2.5 … Read more
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Quick Summary of Cerise Noire du Layon 🌍 Origin: A French dark cherry variety (“Cerise Noire” translates to Black Cherry). Russian growers often note that it appears to be a twin of the popular Russian commercial variety Sladkaya Grozd Shokoladnaya (Sweet Chocolate Bunch). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall) and extremely vigorous. Growers note that you … Read more
Quick Summary of Chudo Zemli Orange 🌍 Origin: An orange variant/strain of the famous Russian heirloom “Chudo Zemli” (Wonder of the Earth). Some growers note a strong visual resemblance to the Fox Nose (Liskin Nos) variety, though they behave differently in the garden. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall) and extremely vigorous. When grown in a … Read more
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Quick Summary of Dwarf Black Wizard 🌍 Origin: A beautiful dark-striped variety from the dwarf tomato family (often circulated among Russian collectors as “Gnom Chernyi Volshebnik”). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate dwarf (tree-type). It has a very sturdy, strong central stem and light-green rugose foliage. Perfect for small spaces or large containers, though it requires some … Read more
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Quick Summary of Chernyi Shokolad (Black Chocolate) 🌍 Origin: A commercial Russian cherry tomato variety, most notably distributed by the “Poisk” seed company as part of their “Vkusnoteka” (Flavor Library) series. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). The bush is vigorous but has somewhat sparse foliage, meaning it doesn’t get overly bushy. Growers successfully prune it … Read more
Quick Summary of Ananas Noire (Black Pineapple) 🌍 Origin: A famous variety discovered in Belgium by Pascal Moreau (originally named Ananas Noire). It is widely grown by Russian collectors under the translated name “Chernyi Ananas”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), typically reaching 1.2–1.8 m (4–6 ft). It has regular leaf (RL) foliage. It is generally … Read more