Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zone 4 Experience)
SOFIA’S FIERY COMET.
The most beautiful variety of the season! 😘 Bred by Sofia Saakova, bless her heart. She hooks us up with gorgeous and delicious new releases every year, even if they might still segregate a bit later on.
Indeterminate, all the fruits have these long drawn-out beaks, very delicious 😋 Weights up to 7 oz (200 g), color is pink with stripes and antho.
One of my favorite varieties bred by Sofia. Absolutely beautiful and super tasty. Mine didn’t end up getting those long beaks, but it still looked spectacular in the greenhouse.
This variety was the crown jewel of the greenhouse this season. Gotta thank Sofia for all her hard work 🙏 The fruits weren’t just gorgeous, they were incredibly tasty too! At different stages, the tomato color shifted from dark burgundy to wine-red.
Edited November 18, 2025 by Mila
Full Summary: Plant, Yield, Taste and Characteristics
- 🌿 Plant: Indeterminate. Vigorous vines that perform beautifully in greenhouse environments.
- 🍅 Fruit Size & Shape: Up to 7 oz (200 g). Ideally displays a prominent, elongated beak, though some growers experience fruit variations where the tips are blunt or completely rounded.
- 🎨 Color: Highly ornamental. Features a base of deep pink/dark burgundy to wine-red, covered in stripes and striking anthocyanin (dark blue/purple) shoulders.
- 👅 Taste & Texture: Universally praised across the board. Every grower noted how exceptionally sweet and delicious it is, matching its visual appeal.
- 🌎 Who Reviewed It: Tested by members in USDA Zone 4 (Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod regions), proving it thrives in short-season areas.
Russian breeder Sofia Saakova is legendary in Eastern European heirloom circles for creating incredibly exotic, highly decorative anthocyanin crosses. Many of these artisan varieties are relatively new F-generations. When you grow them, you might occasionally get a plant that expresses recessive traits from its parentage—like Murka getting round/blunt fruits instead of the signature long beaks.
