Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Granny Cantrell’s German Red is a legendary indeterminate heirloom beefsteak renowned for its robust, perfectly balanced, old-fashioned tomato flavor. Originally hailing from the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, this heavy-yielding vine produces stunning, meaty red slicers that typically weigh between 10 oz and 1.5 lbs, though they can occasionally reach massive proportions. It … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Missouri is a mid-late season determinate paste tomato highly praised for its firm, thick-walled fruits that don’t get rubbery or “rock-hard” like some commercial canning types. The bushes grow up to 3-4 ft (1-1.2 m) tall and produce heavy yields of mildly sweet, low-acid red tomatoes perfect for processing, juicing, or eating … Read more
🍅 Quick take: A very productive, compact indeterminate variety that pumps out massive dark/black beefsteaks. While yields and size are incredible, flavor reports are highly mixed, ranging from rich to completely bland. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 4) E ElenaN (Elena) Pro | 28,513 posts 📍 Kostroma (USDA Zone 4) Original … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Reckless Driver Vils is a mid-late season pink tomato of American origin. Plants seem to stay relatively compact at around 3.3 feet (1 m) tall but are best grown pruned to two stems. It produces 7-9 oz (200-250 g) meaty, juicy fruits with a sweet flavor that has a unique kick to … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Ferris Wheel is an indeterminate American heirloom that produces massive, sweet pink beefsteaks. However, some growers have discovered two completely different foliage types circulating in the market under this name. While the true historical strain should have Regular Leaf (RL) foliage, a highly productive Potato Leaf (PL) off-type is widely grown and … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Joe’s Pink Oxheart 🌍 Origin: A highly sought-after heirloom from the Ozark Mountains, USA. Popularized and distributed by the well-known American collector Dale Thurber (Delectation of Tomatoes). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. Vigorous, healthy vines with the classic “wispy” regular foliage common to many oxheart types. An early-to-mid season producer (around 75 … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Dora 🌍 Origin: A legendary USA variety bred by Keith Mueller. It is the result of a deliberate cross between two iconic heirlooms: Brandywine and Cherokee Purple. Keith named this potato-leaf beauty after his grandmother, Dora. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. Mid-season. A solid producer that reaches about 5 feet (1.5m) when … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Giant Belgium 🌍 Origin: A legendary American heirloom originating in Ohio in the 1930s. This is the original standard strain (not the later “Pink” specific selection, though the original also ripens to a dark pinkish-red). It is famous in tomato lore for being so sweet that commercial growers used it to … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): German Johnson 🌍 Origin: A legendary American heirloom hailing from Virginia and North Carolina. It is incredibly famous in the US for being one of the four parent varieties used by Radiator Charlie to breed the legendary Mortgage Lifter tomato! 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), vigorous vine with classic Potato Leaf … Read more
🍅 Blue Beauty Tomato: Grower Scorecard & Quick Summary 🌍 Origin: A famous American anthocyanin variety bred by Brad Gates (Wild Boar Farms). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (though some stems can occasionally self-top outdoors), regular leaf. Reaches 4 to 6.5 ft (1.2–2 m) in height depending on growing conditions. Most growers recommend pruning it to … Read more
Quick Summary of Dark Galaxy 🌍 Origin: Originally bred in the USA by Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms. He released this variety into the world at an early stage (F3/F4 generation), warning that it was slightly unstable. This forum thread is a fascinating deep-dive into how Russian growers stabilized different lines of it over … Read more
Quick Summary of Stan Ley 🌍 Origin: A bit of a mystery! Cultivated and popularized by Russian seed collector Alexey Kulik, who lists its origin as the USA. The name is likely a transliteration of “Stan Ley” (or Stan Lee). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, but on the shorter side. Outdoors in open ground, it reaches … Read more