Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Jaune Flammee (Yellow Flame) is a classic French heirloom. It’s a mid-season, indeterminate vine that produces heavy trusses of small, bright orange cocktail tomatoes (around 1-2 oz). Growers praise its outstanding disease resistance and thick skin, which makes it an absolute workhorse for canning and pickling. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Indigo Rose is a famous anthocyanin-rich, indeterminate/semi-determinate cocktail tomato bred by Dr. Jim Myers at Oregon State University. It produces stunning dark purple-to-black fruits that weigh 1.2-2.5 oz (35-70 g). In this massive thread, growers debate its merits. While everyone agrees the plants are gorgeous and highly resistant to late blight, opinions … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Golden Tiger is a mid-season indeterminate anthocyanin variety that produces stunning, small yellow cocktail tomatoes with fine purple stripes. Growers praise its juicy, sweet flavor and excellent shelf life. A major standout feature is its rugged disease resistance; it has proven capable of completely shrugging off severe outbreaks of late blight and … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Dwarf Shadow Boxing is a highly compact, rugose-leaf dwarf tomato bred by Tom Wagner, producing small anthocyanin fruits weighing roughly 2.5 oz (70 g). Because the seeds were released very early in the breeding process, growers here report extreme segregation in fruit shape (round vs. elongated plums) and color (heavy striping vs. … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Ocharovanie (which translates to “Charm” or “Fascination”) is an indeterminate, mid-season Russian variety that produces beautiful, apricot-looking orange fruits with a slight blush. Weighing up to 3.5 oz (100 g), they are firm, sweet, and perfect for canning. Greenhouse performance shows massive vigor and excellent late blight resistance, but growing it outdoors … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Lyubimyi Malyshik (Favorite Baby) is a mid-season, indeterminate Russian family heirloom promoted heavily by seed vendor V. Kolyakov. The vendor claims it produces incredibly beautiful, sugary fruits up to 7 oz (200 g) with great late blight resistance and massive yields. However, real-world grower experience tells a different story: poor yields, constant … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Labrador is a rugged, ultra-early determinate bush tomato that tops itself at about 1.6 to 2.6 feet (50-80 cm) and requires absolutely no pruning. It pumps out a heavy, concentrated yield of 2.5-7 oz (70-200 g) red slicers. Growers across cold climates praise it as the ultimate season-beater, famous for producing ripe … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Kameya is an ultra-early, incredibly rugged determinate bush variety bred specifically for outdoor growing in tough climates. The plant stays compact (under 20 inches) and requires zero pruning or staking. It produces uniform, small red tomatoes weighing 2-3.5 oz (60-100 g). Growers love it for its intense, punchy flavor reminiscent of cherry … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Kemerovets is a tough, cold-tolerant determinate tomato from Western Siberia. It produces firm, small red oxhearts weighing around 3.5-5.3 oz (100-150 g). Growers report excellent disease resistance and great performance both for fresh eating and canning. While the seed packet boasts up to 100 fruits per plant, forum members note that real-world … Read more
📌 Quick Summary: Kubyshka 🌍 Origin: A Russian commercial variety distributed by seed companies like Siberian Garden (SibSad) and Agros. The name “Kubyshka” refers to a traditional, chubby little clay pot used for hoarding coins—a perfect name for a short, stocky plant stuffed with fruit! 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate (dwarf). It grows as a sturdy, … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Izumitelnye (Amazing) 🌍 Origin: A Russian heirloom/commercial variety. The name “Izumitelnye” translates directly to “Amazing” or “Marvelous”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Appears to be semi-determinate or a shorter indeterminate, reaching about 4 feet (1.2 m) in height. It is highly valued by growers for its strong resistance to Late Blight. 🍅 Fruit … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Italianskie (Italian) 🌍 Origin: Sourced from various Russian seed collectors (like Petrov and Monakhova). Often compared to or suspected to be a strain of Super Italian Paste. 🌿 Plant Habit: Vigorous indeterminate (tall) vines. Growers recommend pruning to 2 or 3 main leaders. Highly resistant to Late Blight and Blossom End … Read more