Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): L’Espagnol Lefebvres (Lefebvre’s Spanish) 🌍 Origin: Originally an heirloom from Spain, likely introduced to the broader seed saver community through France or Quebec given the French name. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indet. Mid-season. A tall but slender plant that sets fruit very reliably even in cold, wet summers. Needs adequate potassium to … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Ildi 🌍 Origin: A widely known European commercial heirloom. It is famous for carrying the multiflora gene, which causes it to produce massive, complex flower clusters instead of standard tomato trusses. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indet. Seedlings can be deceptive, as they grow very slowly and look like compact dwarfs early on. … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Toffee (Iriska) 🌍 Origin: A natural cross between Amarillo Cherry and Everett’s Rusty Oxheart, discovered and stabilized by breeder Bill Jefferson. Also known in the Russian community under its translated name, Iriska. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indet. A highly productive plant that can be pruned to 2 or 3 stems. Typically reaches … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Intuition F1 (Intuitsiya F1) 🌍 Origin: A commercial Russian F1 hybrid, primarily released by the seed company Gavrish. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indet. An incredibly vigorous, disease-resistant plant. It sets fruit reliably in any weather (hot or cold) and keeps producing right up until the first hard frost. Growers highly recommend pruning … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Italian Hearts (Italianskie Serdechki) 🌍 Origin: A variety circulated among Russian tomato collectors under the name “Italianskie Serdechki”. The exact pedigree is unknown, but it is a widely grown, stable open-pollinated oxheart. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indet. An early-season variety known for being highly adaptable. It sets fruit reliably without dropping blossoms … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Imperator Chu Fu (Emperor Chu Fu) 🌍 Origin: Circulated in the seed market as a commercial heirloom of Chinese origin. 🌿 Plant Habit: Mid-season, indeterminate. A very resilient plant that performs well outdoors in open ground. Growers note it recovers easily if topped or damaged during the seedling stage. 🍅 Fruit … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Verace 🌍 Origin: Heirloom from Italy. It is famously grown there specifically to make a traditional, extremely thick sauce of the exact same name. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indet. A very tall and vigorous vine that easily reaches 6.5 feet (2 m) and keeps climbing. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Massive crimson-red beefsteaks. These … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Ikra Chernaya (Black Caviar) 🌍 Origin: Dark cherry tomato variety originating from Ukraine. The Russian name translates to “Black Caviar”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indet. An absolute monster of a plant. It is incredibly vigorous, tall, and highly disease resistant. It sets massive, sprawling trusses and keeps producing straight through to October. … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Ibiza Elena’s Plum 🌍 Origin: A specific plum-shaped selection/variation of the known Ibiza variety, stabilized and circulated by a Russian grower named Elena. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indet. A highly productive workhorse with a long fruiting season. Growers recommend running it as a 3-stemmer for optimal yields. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Beautiful plum/paste … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Irish Liqueur 🌍 Origin: A Russian commercial green-when-ripe (GWR) variety. Initially released by seed companies like “Sortsemovosch” and “Uralskiy Dachnik”. While sometimes commercially labeled as an F1 hybrid, it has been widely circulated as a stable open-pollinated heirloom among growers. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indet. Sturdy and relatively compact for an indeterminate … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Italian Stallion Giallo 🌍 Origin: A yellow mutation/variant of the classic red Italian Stallion heirloom. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. A robust, disease-resistant plant with a long fruiting season. It performs well in both greenhouses and open ground. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Bright yellow to lemonade-colored fruits. Like its red counterpart, it produces … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Italian Stallion 🌍 Origin: Heirloom tomato known for its incredible productivity. It also has a yellow sister variety known as Italian Stallion Giallo. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall vine). A true workhorse that sets fruit reliably without dropping blossoms, even when grown to 2 or 3 main stems. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: … Read more