Sara Black Heirloom Tomato Review

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Quick Summary of Sara Black (Sara Chernaya)

  • 🌍 Origin: A highly regarded dark tomato circulated among Eastern European and Russian collectors (many trace their seed lines back to German or local Ukrainian/Russian sources).
  • 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, but generally on the shorter side. Depending on whether it’s grown outdoors or in a greenhouse, growers report heights ranging from 1.3 m to 1.8 m (4.2 to 6 ft). The vines are often described as neat or somewhat thin/wispy.
  • 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Dark brown-burgundy to red-brown fruits. The shape varies from perfectly round to oblate (flat-round). They are medium-to-large, typically weighing 200-350g (7-12 oz).
  • 👅 Flavor: The standout feature of this variety. It is universally praised for being exceptionally sweet, often described as a “dessert” tomato.
  • 📈 Yield & Care: Very productive. It performs well in both greenhouses and open ground. Pro Tip: Ensure consistent watering, as rare but heavy watering can cause the fruits to crack late in the season.
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Ladoga (Angela) ⭐ Pro Grower (1,816 posts)
📍 Russia

Sara Black has a not very tall bush, about 1.6m (5.2 ft) or slightly higher, very productive. The fruits are dark brown-burgundy, weighing 200-350g (7-12 oz). It ripens early, doesn’t crack, is meaty and juicy, and most importantly!!! it is very sweet, a dessert type. Seeds from Popenko (Germany).

Edited January 24, 2015 by Drosera

Sara Black tomato bush loaded with dark fruits
Ripe dark Sara Black tomatoes on the vine

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Galina Mikhailovna ⭐ Pro Grower (2,464 posts)
📍 Dacha 40 km from Nizhny Novgorod (USDA Zone 4)

For me, Sara Black grew taller than 1.6 m (5.2 ft), but the fruits were smaller, slightly elongated, and very, very sweet. A productive variety, there were about 50 fruits on the bush. It’s just a pity that by the end of summer they started to crack, but that’s my own fault — watering was infrequent but heavy….

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Amira-12 (Raisa) ⭐ Pro Grower (2,247 posts)
📍 Russia

“Sara Black”, I liked it very much. 😊 The bush is small, thin, covered with fruits of the same size.
The fruits are red-brown, round, weighing 200 g (7 oz), very sweet and tasty.
Seeds from Marina Sochi. 🌺

Basket full of red-brown Sara Black tomatoes

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Yaroslavna (Natalia) ⭐ Pro Grower (6,273 posts)
📍 Northern Yaroslavl Region (USDA Zone 3-4)

A tall, productive variety… I grew it in closed ground conditions (greenhouse), kept it to 3 stems…
The fruits are even, oblate, quite large with dense, tasty flesh…

Three large Sara Black tomatoes on a scale

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Ladoga (Angela) ⭐ Pro Grower (1,816 posts)
📍 Russia

I found another photo of Sara. The large ripe fruits on the lower truss have already been picked. It’s in my plantings for this year. Good variety.

Sara Black tomato bush with green and ripening fruits

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Fotinia (Svetlana) ⭐ Pro Grower (8,948 posts)
📍 Tambov (USDA Zone 4-5)

Quote by Amira-12:

“Sara Black”, I liked it very much. 😊 The bush is small, thin, covered with fruits of the same size.
The fruits are red-brown, round, weighing 200 g (7 oz), very sweet and tasty.
Seeds from Marina Sochi. 🌺

An amazing little tomato! ❤️ But why does the color differ?

Basket full of red-brown Sara Black tomatoes

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Ladoga (Angela) ⭐ Pro Grower (1,816 posts)
📍 Russia

Quote by Fotinia:

An amazing little tomato! ❤️ But why does the color differ?

If you meant why it differs, then most likely because it’s Dnepropetrovsk. The climate is different. The color turns out richer.

A
Apio (Natasha) ⭐ Pro Grower (2,223 posts)
📍 Perm, Western Urals (USDA Zone 3)

Grew it for the first time, really liked the variety!
The bush is about 1.6-1.7 m (5.2-5.5 ft), neat. My fruits weren’t super huge, but 200-300 grams (7-10.5 oz) were the biggest ones. The color is interesting, I picked them green and saw all the stages of ripening indoors.

Sara Black tomatoes ripening indoors
Sara Black green and dark ripe tomatoes

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Elena 62 ⭐ Pro Grower (2,063 posts)
📍 Russia

Really liked the variety. 👍 Grew in the greenhouse, bush up to a meter and a half (5 ft). One of three “blacks” planted. Tasty, 😋 but in second place after Black Icicle 🍅. But it’s so huge. Kept it to one stem, 3-4 large fruits on each truss. Absolutely perfect for our zone!!! Charming Sara Black. Will repeat.

Large ripe Sara Black tomato

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Lana_s_Kavkaza (Svetlana) ⭐ Pro Grower (19,262 posts)
📍 Pyatigorsk (USDA Zone 6)

Liked it, productive, tasty. Grew in the greenhouse, height was 1.8 m (6 ft), kept it to 2-3 stems.

Beautiful dark red Sara Black tomato

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Lena Vanyushka (Elena) ⭐ Pro Grower (628 posts)
📍 Russia

My Sara was from Sofia in Yessentuki. A miracle, not just Sara))) large, dark (ripened indoors at home). There weren’t many fruits, but I don’t feed my tomatoes much, need to fix that))). But a great variety!!! I recommend it)))

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Olvia (Olya) ⭐ Pro Grower (1,829 posts)
📍 Russia

It wasn’t tall for me, about 130-150 cm (4.2-4.9 ft) approximately. But the fruit load is very good. The tomatoes were up to about 200g (7 oz), tasty, sweet.

I’ll try to compare it with Qingdao this year, and I’ll keep one of the two.

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