Quick Summary of Santa Cruz
- 🌍 Origin: Often circulated by Russian seed collectors (like V. Popenko). It is widely positioned in the community as an “improved De Barao” (referencing the legendary Eastern European canning variety).
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (very tall), easily reaching 2.5 meters (8+ ft). Growers describe the bush as a “monster”—very vigorous with giant leaves, though the foliage is somewhat sparse. It performs best in a greenhouse, though it can still yield well outdoors.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Red plum/paste tomatoes. They are exceptionally uniform and perfectly sized, typically weighing 60-90g (2-3.2 oz). They feature thick walls and do not crack.
- 👅 Flavor & Usage: This is a top-tier canning tomato. It holds its shape perfectly when pickled or canned whole, never becoming mushy. It also has a good, solid flavor for fresh eating.
- 🛡️ Disease & Yield: Highly praised for its exceptional disease resistance, specifically showing near-immunity to Late Blight (Phytophthora). Growers describe the yields as “simply wild,” setting fruit consistently without skipping trusses.
- ⏳ Maturity: Mid-late to late season. It starts slow but aggressively packs on fruit clusters from August into late autumn.
Height up to 2.5m (8+ ft), plum shape 65-80g (2.3-2.8 oz), mid-late season for closed ground (greenhouses), train to 2-3 stems. Very productive, tasty. Resistant to diseases. It is positioned as an improved De Barao.
This year I grew this variety in open ground.
At first, it developed very slowly, but closer to August it began to rapidly build up trusses and swell the fruits, which proves its true place is in the greenhouse. But even outdoors in open ground, I managed to get a good harvest. The bush is very vigorous—simply a monster, the leaves are spaced far apart, but they are gigantic. I had 2 bushes and both were identical!
Photos are only from the middle of its development.
Edited February 2, 2015 by Drosera
A magnificent variety. A favorite for pickling/canning. It practically doesn’t get sick with Late Blight (Phytophthora). The yield is simply wild. Mid-late season.
Seeds from V.D. Popenko. Very productive, sets fruit without skipping trusses, regardless of weather cataclysms. The bush is vigorous, doesn’t catch any diseases, I trained it to 3 stems. Grew in open ground, ripened on the vine until the end of September, but I didn’t feed it, so the last fruits got smaller.
Looks like De Barao Tsarskiy (Royal De Barao), only red and smaller, 60-65g (2.1-2.3 oz). Very tasty when pickled/marinated, does not get soft/mushy, and you can definitely eat it fresh too. A wonderful variety.
My seeds are also from Popenko. A tall indet with an extended fruiting period, a cluster-type producer, an excellent, high-yielding variety! 👍 Grew in the greenhouse in 3 stems, mid-season. The fruits are of high quality, uniform, calibrated dense plums with thick walls, good taste, up to 90g (3.2 oz), average weight 60-80g (2-2.8 oz). They don’t crack, can hang on the bush for a long time, and store well. An excellent variety for jars.
