Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Medok (which translates to “Little Honey”) is an early-season, determinate red paste tomato. The compact bush maxes out around 2 feet (60 cm) tall, making it a great candidate for underplanting beneath taller vines. It produces sweet, meaty, finger-like “icicle” tomatoes that hold up well for transport and canning. While yields can … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Lisichka (Little Fox) is an ultra-reliable, early-ripening determinate bush that produces bright orange, icicle-shaped paste tomatoes. While a few growers find its fresh-eating flavor a bit bland, it is overwhelmingly praised as an absolute workhorse for canning and pickling. It thrives outdoors in the dirt, shrugs off late blight, and pumps out … 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: Kapiya Rozovaya (Pink Kapia) 🌍 Origin: A Russian commercial heirloom heavily circulated by companies like Gavrish and popular collectors like Valery Medvedev. The name “Kapia” usually refers to a famous elongated sweet pepper, hinting at the shape of these tomatoes! 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). The plant itself has a classic “wispy” … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Iskry Plameni (Sparks of Flame) 🌍 Origin: An Eastern European heirloom variety. The name translates beautifully to “Sparks of Flame”, which perfectly describes its striking red and yellow striped appearance. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), but generally has a compact footprint with slender vines. Grows to about 5 feet (1.5 m) … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Domate Piramida 🌍 Origin: A rare Eastern European / Balkan heirloom. The name “Domate Piramida” suggests Bulgarian origins (“Domate” means Tomato in Bulgarian, and “Piramida” means Pyramid). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. A tall, vigorous plant that grows extremely well in a greenhouse environment. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Long, red, elongated “icicle” or … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Gilbertie Paste 🌍 Origin: Heirloom paste tomato. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). Forum members report great success growing it in a greenhouse when pruned to two stems. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Red, elongated “icicle” shape, weighing up to 5.3 oz (150 g). The fruits are incredibly dense, meaty, and have a high … Read more
📌 Quick Summary: Varvara 🌍 Origin: A Russian commercial release from the GISOK-AGRO seed company. Entered into the Russian State Register in 2001. 🌱 Plant Habit: An indeterminate vine growing 5.2–6 ft (1.6-1.8m) tall. It features classic “wispy” or sparse foliage, allowing lots of light to reach the fruit. Standard Regular Leaf (RL). 🍅 Fruit … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Alpinog (Альпиног) 🌍 Origin: A fantastic yellow heirloom tomato. The seeds in this thread trace back to the collection of Evgeny Fech, a well-known tomato breeder and collector from Russia. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). An incredibly vigorous and powerful plant that can easily reach 2 meters (6.5 ft) in height. … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Coeur Fondant 🌍 Origin: A fantastic heirloom variety originating from France. The name translates beautifully to “Fondant Heart” or “Melting Heart”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). An extremely vigorous vine that can easily shoot up to 2–2.5 meters (6.5–8 ft). Grower Note: It may display physiological leaf roll early in the … Read more
Quick Summary of Matt’s Hornet 🌍 Origin: A beautiful artisan-style novelty tomato. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. It is a very manageable plant, reaching about 1.3 meters (4.3 ft) when grown in a greenhouse. Pro Tip: Growers recommend letting it branch out freely—after the first flower truss appears, you can completely stop pruning (suckering) the plant. … Read more
Quick Summary of Cherevichki (Little Shoes) 🌍 Origin: A Ukrainian heirloom popularized by breeder V. Syray. The name Cherevichki translates to “Little Shoes” or “Slippers,” perfectly describing the unique shape of the fruit. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate and very tall. Like many elongated paste varieties, it has “wispy” or weak-looking foliage (drooping leaves), which is … Read more