Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Hartsack Yellow is an indeterminate, mid-season bicolor beefsteak originating from the US. It is highly praised for being one of the earliest bicolors to ripen, producing gorgeous gold, orange, and pink fruits that rarely crack. Growers love its juicy texture and complex, balanced sweet flavor. An excellent, heavy-yielding slicer, though fruits picked … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Great White x P20 F5 is an indeterminate anthocyanin cross that produces stunning butter-colored fruits with dark shoulders. Growers praise its incredibly sweet, acid-free flavor, crack resistance, and long shelf life. While it performs exceptionally well and sets fruit consistently for most, some note that it can be quite late to ripen, … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Green Sky Reacher is a mid-season, indeterminate green-when-ripe tomato bred by Tom Wagner. Growers highlight its outstanding reliability, as it sets fruit in every truss without dropping blossoms. The medium-sized, crack-resistant fruits feature a thin skin and deep green flesh that is prized for being incredibly creamy, tender, and sweet. Full summary … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Orange Elephant (Oranzhevyi Slon) is a determinate, mid-season commercial Russian variety from the Gavrish seed company. While the packet claims massive 1 lb (500 g) fruits, real-world growers consistently report neat, round 5-7 oz (150-200 g) slicers. The flavor is generally considered average to good, but it earns high marks for excellent … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Oranzhevoe Leto (Orange Summer) is a mid-season, indeterminate orange variety bred by the Siberian seed company Semena Altaya. It produces firm, bright orange-yellow fruits that range from 6 to 14 oz (170-400 g). Growers appreciate its sweet flavor, disease resistance, and exceptionally long shelf life, as it can be stored fresh for … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Ocean (Okean) is a vigorous, indeterminate Italian cocktail/cherry variety producing glossy red, globe-shaped fruits up to 0.8 oz (23 g). Known for its distinct, apple-crisp bite, sweet flavor, crack resistance, and exceptionally sparse canopy. Northern greenhouse growers report remarkable resistance to greenhouse leaf mold (Cladosporium), making it a reliable, heavy-setting producer that … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Lago Maggiore is a tall, indeterminate, mid-season variety that produces heavy yields of ribbed, pear-shaped and plum-shaped tomatoes ranging from 3.5 oz to over 1 lb. It’s highly crack-resistant in wet conditions. Flavor is universally praised, though growers report varying results regarding its shelf life and firmness. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Lampochki (which translates to “Lightbulbs”) is an early-season, indeterminate potato leaf (PL) cherry tomato. It produces gorgeous clusters of sweet, meaty yellow pear-shaped cherries. It was grown side-by-side with the famous commercial variety “Honey Drop” to see if it was just a renamed clone, but proved to be vastly superior—ripening earlier, tasting … Read more
📌 Quick Summary: Karamelka (Little Caramel) 🌍 Origin: A Russian commercial dwarf/patio variety bred specifically for container and balcony gardening. The name translates to “Little Caramel” (a hard candy). 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate (bush). Generally stays very short, sprawling, and compact. It requires no pruning or suckering. However, some growers warn that if planted in … Read more
📌 Quick Summary: Kimmeriec (Cimmerian) 🌍 Origin: A Russian commercial variety. The name translates to “Cimmerian” (referencing the ancient nomadic Indo-European people). 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate (bush). Very compact, topping out around 24 to 28 inches (60-70 cm). Needs plenty of lateral space and strong staking due to the massive weight of the fruit. Best … Read more
📌 Quick Summary: Kilechki (Sprats) Named after the famous tiny forage fish, this unique Russian heirloom is catching the eye of cherry tomato collectors. But is it just a novelty shape, or does it actually perform in the garden? 🌍 Origin: A Russian collector’s variety. The name “Kilechki” translates to “Little Sprats” (tiny fish), perfectly … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Kazabalykskiy Superearly 🌍 Origin: An older commercial variety that has circulated in Russian seed shops since at least the mid-1990s. The name is widely believed to be a slight spelling corruption of the Karabalyk district in Kazakhstan. 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate (bush). An absolute workhorse of a plant. Usually tops out … Read more