Plan 9 from Outer Space Tomato Review & Photos

Indeterminate, tall, mid-season exotic slicer.

The fruits are flat-round beefsteaks, medium-sized striped beauties weighing 3.5 to 5.3 oz (100-150 g), bright yellow painted with red-orange striping.

The taste is good and fairly well-balanced with both tartness and sweetness, though it lacked that special punch of top-tier sugar for my palate, likely because the plant was tucked into a shady corner. Low-maintenance variety with solid greenhouse yields; did not drop a single flower during mid-summer heatwaves despite growing in a partially shaded bed.

Edited September 5, 2016 by Drosera

In my greenhouse, it grew as a tall indeterminate reaching 6.5 ft (2 m), solid producer, mid-season maturity.

Fruits were medium-sized, round-to-oblate, yellow-pink bicolors with red striping. Delicious, meaty, and sweet, with a refreshing touch of acidity.

Grew it in the greenhouse, pruned to 2 main stems. Turned out very productive despite ending up in a less-than-ideal bed.

Grew it in the greenhouse: tasty, eye-catching tomatoes. Trained to 2 stems and it set every single flower cluster on trusses 1, 2, and 3 without dropping anything. 👍

First year running this variety, seeds from Popenko. What a looker!

Orange-yellow globes splashed with random crimson streaks, and when sliced open, it is the reverse: yellow and orange flame streaks bleeding through ruby-red flesh. Didn’t hit the advertised 14 oz (400 g) mark, averaging right around 7 oz (200 g) for me.

Seedlings stretched a bit under lights, but once in the greenhouse it showed moderate climbing vigor, nothing crazy like Golden Canary. Reached the ceiling by season end and called it a day.

Very tasty. Has a subtle tang that actually makes the flavor pop. Average yield. Definitely planting again, gotta blow the neighbors away with this kind of visual stunner!

Why are everyone’s tomatoes running so small? My biggest striped globe tipped the scales at nearly 25 oz (700 g)!

And the flavor: packed with sweetness! 😋 Total eye candy, crazy productive, full marks across the board. Sticking this one on my permanent grow list.

My tomatoes on this variety were quite large as well. Seeds were from Popenko. Planning on repeating it this season from a different seed source to compare.

Magnificent variety! Fruits run 7 to 14 oz (200-400 g). The flavor is intense, with bold sweetness and balanced acidity. High yielder. Definitely growing again for both the flavor (it is rare that a tomato hits my palate this perfectly) and the productivity.

Very heavy producer. Just ate a fruit that finished counter-ripening indoors: delicious, sweet, huge, a single tomato was an entire meal! Big props to Svetlana (Svetikk) for the seeds! 💐

Plan 9 from Outer Space.

Gorgeous and delicious! Yield was a solid 4 out of 5 for me. Last season, with little heat and sun, the fruit looked slightly different, but tasted just as sweet.

Adding a couple more shots:

Ran a single vine, yielded very well with plenty of direct sunshine. Definitely repeating it.

Unbelievably gorgeous variety: sweet, meaty, and high yielding.

Grew this variety again, and once more it delivered on all fronts: yield, looks, and superb flavor! 👍

Plan 9 is so handsome! Solid yielder, with fruit weights pushing up to 14 oz (400 g).

The very first ripe fruit was frankly quite tart, but somehow still delicious. Subsequent fruits picked up far more sugar. Really enjoying this variety.

Edited August 8, 2019 by Irina Fedorova

Agreeing with everyone above! First year growing it. Hasn’t ripened yet since our summer was only two and a half weeks long, but what an absolute looker! Hovering around the vine like a bee waiting for it to turn. Even my husband, who is normally totally indifferent to tomato varieties, keeps eyeing it and asking when we get to slice it open! 😄

Love at first sight! Total looker, super delicious! Earning a permanent spot on my grow list!

Plan 9 from Outer Space.

A truly outstanding variety! Mid-season indeterminate, reached about 5.6 ft (1.7 m). Grew in the greenhouse trained to 2 main stems. Regular foliage. The beefsteaks weighed 10.5 to 14 oz (300-400 g) and were intensely sweet! Great yields, strong disease resistance. A magnificent bicolor, highly recommended!

Edited June 18, 2020 by Elena Aleksandrova

Elena Aleksandrova said:
A truly outstanding variety! Mid-season… trained to 2 stems. Beefsteaks weighed 10.5 to 14 oz (300-400 g). Very sweet!

ElenaN said:
Fantastic beefsteak tomato with a gorgeous interplay of yellow, orange, and red… beautiful inside and out!

Here is how Plan 9 performed in my Siberian greenhouse:

Mind-blowing! Pure sunshine! Hands down one of my all-time favorite tomatoes.

Grew it two years in a row, took a brief hiatus, and immediately put it back in rotation. Can’t get enough of it! 😋 I would forgive it even if it yielded poorly, but while other varieties struggled in that bed this season, Plan 9 held strong. Zero blossom end rot (BER). Yield was average for me this year, though I know it is capable of much more, so any shortcomings were definitely on my end.

My Plan 9 from the 2024 season. As always: gorgeous and delicious, and sizing up even larger than usual.