Quick Summary of Palchiki (Little Fingers)
- 🌍 Origin: A classic Russian “family heirloom” (folk breeding) originating from the Rostov region. The original poster has maintained this variety in her family collection for over 20 years. The name Palchiki translates to “Little Fingers”.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). Outdoors in open ground, it grows to about 1.6–1.7m (5.2–5.5 ft), but in a greenhouse, it easily exceeds 2m (6.5 ft). Mid-season ripening. Pro Tip: It likes its space and does not like being crowded by neighboring plants.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Elongated, red plum/paste tomatoes that are slightly faceted (subtly ribbed). The skin is medium—neither too thick nor too fragile. Weight is around 80–90g (3 oz) if the plant is grown with 4-5 stems, but they will grow larger if pruned to 2-3 stems.
- 👅 Flavor & Texture: Unlike some paste tomatoes that can be dry, these are meaty yet juicy, with a classic, real tomato flavor.
- 🥫 Yield & Culinary Use: Phenomenal production! Growers describe the yield as a literal “wall of tomatoes.” They ripen beautifully off the vine if picked green/brown before the frost. Extremely uniform, making them absolutely perfect for whole-fruit canning and pickling.
“Palchiki” (Little Fingers)
I have had this variety in my collection for probably over 20 years now. It’s a variety of “folk breeding” (a family heirloom), so to speak. The seeds were saved from some tomatoes we really liked that were brought by relatives from the Rostov region.
The bush is indeterminate. Outdoors in open ground, mine was about 1.6–1.7m (5.2–5.5 ft) tall; in the greenhouse, it’s always 2 meters (6.5 ft) and higher. I would classify it as mid-season. It grew outdoors this year, and only 3 trusses managed to fully ripen on the vine. I harvested it from the garden very last, on September 15th, picking them brown and green, and they ripened off the vine indoors perfectly.
The fruits are elongated plums, slightly faceted. As for the yield, you can see for yourself—it’s just a wall of tomatoes. Moreover, the upper trusses fill out very well and don’t really shrink in size. I let it grow to 4-5 stems, so they weighed about 80-90g (3 oz), but I think if pruned to 2-3 stems, they would be larger.
The tomatoes are firm, quite uniform, and excellent for canning/pickling. The skin is medium: not thin, but not tough either. I love this variety.
It looks a lot like French Cluster (Francuzskiy Grozdevoy). It would be interesting to plant them side by side 😲
alvlad wrote:
It looks a lot like French Cluster. It would be interesting to plant them side by side 😲
And breed a new variety – “French Cluster Fingers” 😉 😄
I really liked this variety 😋😋. I tried to train it to two stems, the yield is very good, it has a real classic tomato flavor, and the fruits are not dry, but juicy!!!!
I realized that it doesn’t like being crowded by neighbors—give it space, and then it will reveal its full potential 👍👍👍 Galochka64, thank you for the seeds 💖💖💖
Galya-64 wrote:
I have had this variety in my collection for probably over 20 years now. It’s a variety of “folk breeding” (a family heirloom), so to speak.
Galina, all of your family heirloom varieties are always super productive! 📈👍 I’d love to see it sliced (in cross-section) too.
