Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Crimean Rose (Krymskaya Roza) is an indeterminate pink tomato that produces distinct, ribbed pear-shaped fruits weighing 4.7 to 10.5 oz (135-300 g). Originally developed for commercial hoop houses and home gardens, it boasts a very classic, rich tomato flavor. While officially listed as mid-early, some growers find it to be a late-season … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Kronprinz (Crown Prince) is an indeterminate, mid-season heirloom that produces massive multiflora-style trusses of firm, red tomatoes weighing 2.8 to 4 oz (80-110 g). It is highly prized for whole-fruit canning and is historically significant as one of the parent lines for the famous Tarasenko hybrids. Note that there is also a … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Korall (Coral) is an extremely compact, early-season tree-type (rugose) dwarf tomato. Maxing out around 12 to 18 inches (30-45 cm) tall, it produces a surprisingly heavy yield of small, firm, red plum tomatoes with a little beak, weighing 1.5 to 3 oz (40-80 g). Because of its tiny footprint and shallow root … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Caspar F1 is a famous, highly productive determinate F1 hybrid originally bred by the Dutch seed company Seminis. Known as an absolute workhorse paste tomato, it produces heavy yields of firm, red plum/cylinder tomatoes that are ideal for canning, pickling, and dehydrating. Though technically discontinued and replaced by the Hypeel series, it … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Kibic (sometimes spelled Kibitz or Kibis) is an early, very compact determinate paste tomato originating from Poland. Growing only up to 20 inches (50 cm) tall, it produces an avalanche of small, red, elongated plum tomatoes weighing around 1.7–2.5 oz (50–70 g). It’s highly praised as an ideal, trouble-free bush for outdoor … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Caucasian Liana (Kaukasische Liane) 🌍 Origin: Hails from the Caucasus region of Russia, though it became widely known among collectors through German seed catalogs under the name “Kaukasische Liane”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). An incredibly vigorous, creeping vine (liana) that some growers say grows as thick and strong as a … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Karacharovsky Mayak (Karacharovo Lighthouse) 🌍 Origin: An old amateur Russian heirloom from the historic village of Karacharovo. The name translates to “Karacharovo Lighthouse”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall) greenhouse variety. It is a very vigorous, heavily foliated vine with an incredible will to survive tough conditions. It responds well to being … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Krasavitsa Moskvy (Beauty of Moscow) 🌍 Origin: A reliable commercial Russian variety, originally distributed by the Sedek seed company. The name translates to “Beauty of Moscow”. 🌿 Plant Habit: A highly compact determinate (bush) variety. It stays extremely short, maxing out around 20 inches (0.5 m) tall. It requires absolutely no … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Kubiki (Cubes) 🌍 Origin: An unnamed Russian family heirloom that has been passed down and grown for over 25 years. The original name was lost to time, so the grower dubbed it “Kubiki” (Cubes) due to its blocky shape. 🌿 Plant Habit: A true determinate (bush) variety. It stays short, maxing … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Canadian Heritage (Canada) 🌍 Origin: The exact history is a bit murky, but it is widely believed to have originated in the US or Canada before becoming a highly sought-after collectible variety among Eastern European growers. Often sold simply as “Canada”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), reaching around 6.5 feet (2 … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Knyaz (The Prince) 🌍 Origin: Heirloom paste variety popularized by collector N. Ananyeva. The name translates to “Prince”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Officially listed as indeterminate (tall), but growers frequently report it acting as a semi-determinate by topping itself off around 3.3 feet (1 m). Standout feature: It is incredibly eager to … Read more
📌 Quick Summary: Koreyskiy Dlinnoplodniy (Korean Long) 🌍 Origin: An heirloom variety known in Russian collector circles. The name translates to “Korean Long-Fruited” (or simply Korean Long). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). The plant features a delicate, wispy “weeping” foliage structure common to many elongated/oxheart types. It easily reaches 5.5 to 6 feet (1.6-1.8 m) … Read more