Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 3-7 Experience)
Mikado Rozovyi (Pink Mikado).
Description from the seed packet:
Early season (96-102 days). Indeterminate plant, 5-6 feet (1.5-1.8 m) tall. Needs regular suckering/pruning. Fruits are pink, oblate, large, meaty, sweet, weighing 7-10 oz (200-300 g). Record fruit weight up to 2 lbs (940 g).
I’ve never seen those “record” breakers on this vine in all my years growing it. Mine top out at about a pound (500 g), but mostly hover in the 8-12 oz (250-350 g) range. I prune ’em to two or three stems. In my garden (even though I’ve changed my setup lately), this always turns out to be the absolute earliest indeterminate I grow. The fruits are highly aromatic with a rich, classic tomato flavor.
Photos by Sweet, Larek, amarant, Nadija, Galina P.
Edited April 22, 2019 by Pomidoroved
I’ve grown this variety for a long time, at least 10 years for sure. Seeds were originally from SeDeK. I started out growing it in the dirt outdoors, then moved it to the hoop house for 3 years (right before my full-blown tomato addiction started). It’s a solid variety with potato leaf foliage, and it truly is early. We pick the very first ripe tomatoes from this and Batyanya right around June 10. Outdoors the fruit weight is 10-17 oz (300-500 g), but inside the tunnel they hit 10 oz to nearly 2 lbs (300-900 g). The flavor is good, classic, no frills 🎩
Grew this one last summer. Absolutely loved it. Had it in both the high tunnel and outdoors in the dirt. The tunnel ones ripened before everything else, but outside I pruned them to two stems, let ’em set 4 trusses, and then topped them. The outdoor slicers actually got much bigger. Mikado is on the right in this pic. Outdoor grown.
Can someone explain what you mean by potato leaf? To me, Mikado has completely regular foliage. With decent care, the fruits get to a good pound (0.5 kg), and I bet if you watered and fed them constantly, they’d get even bigger.
Here’s what potato foliage looks like:
Nah, my leaves were a lot plainer. They’re huge, sure, but they don’t look like that. I guess in over 15 years I’ve never grown the real deal Mikado, even though I’ve used commercial seeds and seeds from friends. I actually saw leaves like yours (maybe even a bit bigger) on my Rozovyi Velikan (Pink Giant) vines this year.
Hey folks, need some advice. I’m growing Pink Mikado from Ural Dachnik this year (haven’t liked that seed company for a while now). The plant is an absolute monster, hitting 8 feet (2.5 m) tall with thick, tree-like stems and potato leaves. It turned out super late for me. The fruits are bumpy/ribbed, the yield is on the lower side, but they’re flat-round and the flavor is awesome. Is this a crossed seed, or is that just how Mikado behaves?
Is this a crossed seed, or is that just how Mikado behaves?
Sounds like the real deal to me. Mikado absolutely has to be potato leaf.
Pink Mikado has never been a PL variety. The fruits are supposed to be perfectly smooth, not ribbed or gnarly. If you just grab seeds from the very first fruit instead of picking the absolute prettiest, smoothest, fully ripe one, you’ll get issues down the line. If you keep saving seeds from ugly, misshapen ones, you’ll just get more of them in future generations.
Juicy, sweet tomato. Grew it under cover for the first time and really liked it. Averaged right around 12 oz to a pound (350-500 g), with some specimens even larger. Honestly, it was a bit tricky to tell when they were fully ripe at first because of the greenish-yellow shoulders around the stem area.
Pink Mikado has never been a potato leaf variety…..
I planted this for the hoop house this year. My seed packet didn’t mention the leaf type, so I hopped into this thread to check. Before Viktoria’s message, everyone here was saying it’s PL, and all 3 of my plants sprouted potato leaves. I was so relieved thinking I didn’t get crossed seeds, but now Viktoria is saying the exact opposite. So who’s actually right here?
Nadezhda, Pink Mikado has always been a potato leaf variety. I grow it every single year.
Nadezhda, Pink Mikado is definitely a potato leaf.
Awesome, that means I’ve got the correct Mikado growing!
Growing Pink Mikado this year too, and mine has potato leaves as well.
Planted it this year. Early, delicious, and a heavy yielder. No yellow shoulders, no BER at all. Definitely earning a permanent spot in my garden. But I did have one little issue. Some of the fruits developed dead, corky patches on the skin. I just peel it off when slicing ’em for salads. This only happened on this specific variety. Anyone else run into this?
Edited November 14, 2024 by skrupul
Full Summary: Plant, Yield, Taste and Controversy
- 🌿 Plant & Foliage: Indeterminate vine, reliably early season. The biggest talking point about Mikado Rozovyi is the foliage. While one user (Viktoria) insisted for years that it’s a regular leaf (RL) variety, the overwhelming consensus among Russian heirloom growers is that authentic Pink Mikado must have potato leaves (PL). It requires regular suckering and is often trained to 2-3 stems.
- 🍅 Fruit Size & Look: Pink, oblate, and large. Typical weights run 8-17 oz (250-500 g), but hoop house growers report massive beefsteaks pushing 2 lbs (900 g). A quirky trademark is a distinct ridge and dimple on the blossom end. Occasionally prone to yellow/green shoulders.
- 📈 Yield: Exceptionally high for an early variety. Performs brilliantly both outdoors (in the dirt) and inside hoop houses or high tunnels.
- 👅 Taste: Universally praised. Described as “meaty,” “aromatic,” and “sweet with a nice tangy kick.” A true old-school, classic tomato flavor.
The heated debate in this thread over whether Mikado is Potato Leaf (PL) or Regular Leaf (RL) is a classic tomato forum controversy. Commercial seed companies in Russia (like SeDeK or Ural Dachnik) frequently accidentally cross or mislabel seeds. However, historically, true Mikado lines are almost universally Potato Leaf. If you grow out a Mikado and get regular foliage, it’s highly likely you’re dealing with a crossed seed or a completely different pink beefsteak that got mixed up in the envelope. Also, the Batyanya tomato mentioned as ripening at the same time is another famous, super-early Russian pink oxheart.




