Quick Summary of Tyazheloves Sibiri (Siberian Heavyweight)
- 🌍 Origin: A commercial variety from the famous Russian seed company “Sibsad” (Siberian Garden). The name translates to “Siberian Heavyweight.”
- 🌿 Plant Habit (Take Note!): The seed packet claims it is a determinate (bush) tomato, but grower experiences vary wildly depending on the seed batch. Many growers report it acting like a tall indeterminate vine. Regardless of height, the plant exhibits classic oxheart “wispy foliage”—the stems are thin (pencil-like) and the leaves look droopy/wilted even when healthy, requiring very careful staking to support the heavy fruit.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Deep pink, oblate-heart-shaped tomatoes. Size is highly variable. Some growers got disappointing small fruits due to commercial seed mix-ups, while others easily grew massive 700-750 g (1.5-1.6 lbs) heavyweights from true lines.
- 👅 Flavor: Classic sweet tomato flavor with a slight tang. The flesh is delicate, dense, and not overly juicy, making it perfect for fresh salads and excellent for making ketchup.
- ☀️ Adaptability & Yield: This variety divides opinions. While some growers rejected it due to low yields (1-3 fruits per cluster), growers in extreme heat zones (like Krasnodar) praised it for pulling through harsh weather and yielding up to 6 kg (13 lbs) per plant from saved seeds.
Description from the seed packet:
Early ripening large-fruited variety for open ground. The fruits are deep pink color, oblate-heart shape. The tomatoes are tasty, perfectly suited for salads and winter preserves. It is possible to grow the variety without pruning (removing suckers).
Photo author: Svetlyachok-plus
It’s in my planting plan for 2015.
Jot down some notes about the taste and growth, those who have planted it already… 📝
Rok5 said:
Jot down some notes about the taste and growth, those who have planted it already… 📝
Tasty. Low-growing (determinate).
It was very similar to Alsu, Velmozha, and other pink heart-shaped determinates from Sibsad.
I liked the taste 😋 👍, for me both the bush and disease resistance are much better than Alsu. Quite productive. Plant it, you won’t regret it 👍.
Rok5 said:
Jot down some notes about the taste and growth, those who have planted it already… 📝
Seeds from Sibsad. The packet says DET (determinate), large-fruited. It grew in open ground, acted as an INDET (indeterminate), a twin brother to all the other “hearts” from Sibsad.
Pani Tomat said:
Seeds from Sibsad. The packet says DET, large-fruited. It grew in open ground, acted as an INDET, a twin brother to all the other “hearts” from Sibsad.
I have been growing it in open ground for several years now. It always behaves like a tall indeterminate, productive, early, tasty, the taste actually differs slightly from other SibSad hearts. But in 2014 it died from the extreme heat, all I managed to pick was one or two clusters before the heatwave (up to +50°C / 122°F), but when the summer is not so hot, the yield is always top-notch.
Since the Siberian Heavyweight bush itself is flimsy (wispy foliage), every cluster has to be tied up, because they break off from the weight.
I tried growing it myself, and my grandmother in the Kurgan region also tried growing it (and her gardening experience is huge, lived in a village her whole life…). IMHO, the variety is indistinct, the internodes are long, usually 1-2, well, maximum 3 fruits in a cluster. 😕 The fruits seem large, but the overall yield did not please me – clearly below average. At the same time as Siberian Heavyweight, I planted Danko, which is interesting because their stated characteristics are similar. I liked Danko much better, out of the low-growing heart-shaped ones I settled on it.
But it’s one thing – me, an amateur, maybe I did something wrong, let our professional test it, I thought. So, for my grandmother, in the absence of those varieties that we couldn’t find in our city based on her order, we slipped her these two. Especially since she likes heart-shaped and larger ones. Grandma, not knowing the catch, also planted both Danko and Siberian Heavyweight the following summer – both varieties were new to her. Summer passed, autumn passed, somehow we didn’t touch on this topic. But in winter, when we called each other about which variety seeds to buy for her in Yekaterinburg, she gave her unequivocal verdict – I’ll plant Danko again, she says, but I don’t need Siberian Heavyweight anymore 😄
In open ground the bush is flimsy, but long, it’s a hassle to tie it up. The tomatoes were small, nothing special. Maybe it was a wrong seed mix-up (crossed seeds), or maybe it just didn’t like me.
Chelovek s Urala said:
In open ground the bush is flimsy, but long, it’s a hassle to tie it up. The tomatoes were small, nothing special. Maybe it was a wrong seed mix-up…
Hello! Which manufacturer were the seeds from?
Anastasiya.B said:
Hello! Which manufacturer were the seeds from?
Siberian Garden (Sibsad).
I have been growing Siberian Heavyweight for a very long time, I grow my own saved seeds now in open ground. I always remove suckers up to the first cluster, then it forks the main stem. I don’t terminate the top because it’s never taller than 60 cm (2 ft). Matches the variety description, sweet taste with slight tartness, if grown in a shaded spot it’s more tart. The flesh is dense, doesn’t run (not watery) in salads. In 2016, the largest ones were about 700-750 grams (1.5-1.6 lbs).
Of course, you don’t get a bucket from a bush from 2 branches half a meter tall, that’s unrealistic, but you can plant them denser.
The bush is flimsy – pencil-thin even as a seedling, the leaves are droopy, thin, sparse, in general, such heavy boots hang on liquid blades of grass. Of course, you have to put up forks, boxes, jars, or lay down newspapers folded in several layers underneath them. If you pick them at the breaker stage (blushing), they store for about 3 weeks, never noticed any cracking. Apparently I was lucky that year to buy the true variety and not a mix-up. 😋
Determinate, bush height up to 1.2 m (4 ft). Seeds from SibSad. Grew in open ground. As written on the packet, you don’t have to prune it, but I pruned it up to the first cluster, and even after that it produced few suckers, quickly terminated on its own. The fruits are oblate heart shape, deep pink color, the flesh is the most delicate crimson color, sweet. Lots of seed cavities, but they are small, the seeds are not large and there are not many of them.. I really liked the taste, a classic tomato taste with predominant sweetness. Good for salads, and it will also make very tasty ketchup. I’m keeping it on my permanent grow list.
Planted Heavyweight for the second time. Liked it very much. The fruits are not small. The first year it grew in partial shade, and the seeds were from a Sib Sad packet. This year I used my own saved seeds. It gave 6 kg (13.2 lbs) per bush. There were flaws in my agricultural technique, of course, and it was hit by hail. Conclusion: I will always plant it, because not every variety performs like this in our Krasnodar heat.
