Quick Summary of Petukh (Rooster)
- 🌍 Origin: A Russian collector’s variety with somewhat mysterious origins. Known simply as “Petukh” (Rooster), it is likely named for its resemblance to a rooster’s comb.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, very tall and vigorous (reaching 2 – 2.5 m / 6.5 – 8 ft). Some growers note it has the classic “wispy/weeping” foliage typical of many oxheart varieties.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Highly variable depending on the strain and growing conditions. Fruits range from smooth, plump raspberry-pink hearts to deeply ribbed, bright red “cockscombs” or fangs. They are large, typically weighing 300-500 g (10-18 oz).
- 👅 Flavor & Texture: The defining feature of this tomato is its incredibly dense, “watermelon-like” flesh. It is almost entirely solid meat with practically zero seeds or gel. It holds its shape perfectly when diced, making it an ultimate salad and processing tomato. The flavor is sweet and rich.
- 💡 Pro Tips for Growing & Tomato Sleuthing: As seen in the fascinating forum thread below, there appear to be at least two distinct “strains” circulating among collectors—a smooth pink version and a ribbed red version. Both are highly prized, but do not be surprised if your “Rooster” throws variable shapes on the same plant!
Description:
Tall, indeterminate 2-2.5 meters (6.5-8 ft), mid-season tomato variety. The fruits have a beautiful heart shape, resembling a rooster’s comb, fangs, and little hearts. Bright red color, weighing 300-500 grams (10-18 oz), meaty, with “watermelon-like” sweet flesh. The flesh can be diced into pieces and it doesn’t lose its shape. Ideal for salads and processing/canning. There are practically no seeds in the fruits.
I planted it last season, in 2020. For the first time. It grew next to Summer Sun. The yield was not great. But that’s not the Rooster’s fault. As I found out later, Summer Sun chokes out its “neighbors”. Perhaps this affected both the yield and the taste. The taste was a bit bland.
I also grew Rooster this past season. The seeds from Lena @stolin had been sitting for three years, waiting for their turn. Two bushes grew in different greenhouses in the farthest and not very successful corners of the greenhouse. The bushes were powerful, incredibly tall. Yield was good. The tomatoes are large, solid with small ribs. Tasty.
In the fruits that were ripened indoors off the vine, there were hollow cavities. But I still liked the variety, I will repeat it.
Innochka, your Roosters and mine are completely different. Both in color (yours are redder, mine have a raspberry tint) and in structure. Mine have almost no seeds, you had to try really hard to find them, whereas yours are arranged in a “flower” pattern around the core. My Rooster can be diced or sliced into circles, it doesn’t lose its shape and doesn’t leak juices. You probably wouldn’t be able to do such manipulations with yours. I think these are two different varieties sharing the same name.
Girls, what are your seed sources?
On 1/24/2021 at 10:47, TatyanaSh said:
what are your seed sources?
Tanya, I wrote above that the seeds are from Lena Stolin from Belarus. But where she got them from, I don’t know. Lena’s catalog stated that the tomatoes are bright red, in the shape of bizarre, diverse hearts. Basically, I grew exactly what I wanted – unusual hearts. The fruits are large, beautiful, red and festive – real roosters.
On 1/24/2021 at 10:47, TatyanaSh said:
Girls, what are your seed sources?
Tanya, mine are from Olga Lobodina from Pyatigorsk. She’s a blogger. Her channel and website are called “Tasty Beds” (Vkusnye Gryadki).
On 1/24/2021 at 13:40, Yulyashka said:
Tanya, mine are from Olga Lobodina from Pyatigorsk. She’s a blogger…
A blogger. Well, you have a regular heart-shaped tomato, what does a Rooster have to do with it? @Inn@’s tomato looks like a rooster’s tail, and your tomato reminded me of “Yaponka” (Japanese Girl variety), only Yaponka is pink. We need to call @tomatinka, she is a specialist in variety lookalikes.
Here is Olga’s Rooster, and in the variety description she writes why it has such a name – it looks like a comb. And it’s not strictly necessary that all tomatoes will grow into the exact shape that Yulya showed.
There are many heart-shaped varieties, but we distinguish them by their names.
On 1/26/2021 at 22:11, Galiy said:
A blogger. Well, you have a regular heart-shaped tomato, what does a Rooster have to do with it? @Inn@’s tomato looks like a rooster’s tail, and your tomato reminded me of “Yaponka”…
You’d be better off calling Olga Lobodina and asking her directly if this is Rooster or not. If a person runs a YouTube channel and has her own website, do you think she just palms off Yaponkas to people instead of Roosters?
P.S. I wasn’t too lazy, I went to YouTube, found the video where Olga cuts the tomatoes. She cuts the Rooster at the 10:48 minute mark. Compare my Rooster with Olga’s and Inna’s.
On 1/27/2021 at 10:28, TatyanaSh said:
And it’s not strictly necessary that all tomatoes will grow into the exact shape that Yulya showed…
Tanya, thanks for the support. I have been ordering seeds from Olya from Pyatigorsk for two years in a row. You can trust her. I’ve never had a mislabeled variety from her. She herself orders varieties from the “top-tier” collectors, possibly from here on the forum too. My friend grew Rooster just like I did, and she had fruits of different shapes on the same plant – fangs, hearts, combs.
The situation in the thread has taken a not very pleasant turn. I shouldn’t have posted in it. It would have been better to just leave only the first post.
Innochka, what are you talking about, everything is fine. The conclusion just begs itself that there are 2 different Roosters? And both have something rooster-like about them. Or maybe it’s just one strain, but the growing conditions are different, it will be very interesting to see further. Someone else will plant it and show us.
Oh, Yulya, you have no idea how much mislabeling (cross-pollination/mix-ups) happens even from the “top-tier” collectors. I’ve had it happen to me.
On 1/28/2021 at 04:14, Inn@ said:
The situation in the thread has taken a not very pleasant turn. I shouldn’t have posted in it…
Innochka, you are mistaken, there are no unpleasant turns. It’s just a discussion. We are looking for the truth, and it’s out there somewhere. When I created the topic, I wanted you to share your Rooster too. Yes, they are different. But this does not mean that one of them is a different variety entirely. After all, there are different Sgt. Peppers (Red and Blue hearts), Blush (round and elongated), Flaschen, San Marzano (with or without pointy tips). Why can’t a Rooster be both smooth and ribbed?
Actually, I haven’t found the origin of this variety anywhere. There is a variety called Red Rooster (Krasniy Petukh), but simply Rooster is not listed anywhere.
On 1/28/2021 at 06:06, TatyanaSh said:
Oh, Yulya, you have no idea how much mislabeling happens even from the “top-tier” collectors…
I don’t argue with that. I was saying that I hadn’t received any mislabeled seeds from Olga. But did she receive one?
Well, here I am too… about the Rooster that I grew this season. My Rooster (or non-Rooster) reminded me very much of the Krivoguzova family heirloom – Grebeshok (Cockscomb). The structure of the bush is exactly the same. A flimsy, rather thin stem, long and weeping leaves, fruits of various shapes: both elongated-curved and sort of double hearts of a bright red color. Dense, solid meat, very tasty (for me), with noticeable sweetness. Yield is average. By the way, the Grebeshok from Krivoguzova also produces an average yield in my conditions, but I have been repeating it for several years now, precisely because of the taste.
On 1/27/2021 at 23:19, Yulyashka said:
You can trust her… My friend grew Rooster just like I did, and she had fruits of different shapes on the same plant…
I didn’t think or intend to attack anyone. You can’t even ask a question anymore. There’s no need to be so nervous. It’s just that for me, the word “blogger” is like a red rag to a bull. I’ve seen so much nonsense from them. They pretend to be a jack of all trades, master of none. And everything is fake/edited, you can just see it. So I bring my apologies if I offended you inadvertently.
On 1/28/2021 at 06:06, TatyanaSh said:
it will be very interesting to see further. Someone else will plant it and show us.
I agree that this discussion needs to be resolved empirically! I am waiting for @Yulyashka’s Rooster. I am ready to plant it next to @Inn@’s Rooster for comparison and then publish the photos with a description.
This year I grew Rooster from Yulya @Yulyashka. Yulichka, thank you!
A very beautiful, meaty, and tasty tomato! The shape of the fruits are uneven, ribbed raspberry-colored hearts. There are very few seeds (from the large one in the photo, I collected only 10-12 seeds). On the cut – raspberry-red marbling, very picturesque. I liked the taste.
By the way, keeping in mind the disputes in this thread, I planted the Krasniy Grebeshok (Red Cockscomb) variety next to it. Outwardly, the fruits are very similar, but the “insides” are completely different and the taste is different.
