Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Oranzhevaya Sosulka (Orange Icicle) is an incredibly productive, indeterminate orange paste tomato. Growers praise it for its firm texture, sweet flavor, and perfect size for canning. Interestingly, a few growers have reported the variety occasionally throwing off a determinate (bush) mutation, though the classic vine is known to be a massive, late-season … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Kuraga (Dried Apricot) is an indeterminate orange paste tomato. It produces meaty, very sweet 5 oz (150 g) plum-shaped fruits on skinny, wispy vines. While it can be grown outdoors, it performs much better and yields higher when given the shelter of a greenhouse. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Illini Gold (Zoloto Illini) 🌍 Origin: An American heirloom variety that is widely circulated in Eastern Europe as “Zoloto Illini” (Gold of Illini). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). Usually reaches 5-6 feet (1.5-1.8 m) in a greenhouse, and stays around 5 feet (1.5 m) outdoors. Standout feature: It has very “wispy”, … Read more
Quick Summary of Utenok (Duckling) 🌍 Origin: A highly popular Russian commercial and collectible variety. The name translates to “Duckling”, likely due to its bright orange color and the characteristic “beak” on the end of the fruits. 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate, dwarf (tree-type / rugose foliage) bush. Very compact, usually growing 35-50 cm (14-20 inches) … Read more
Quick Summary of Radunitsa 🌍 Origin: A highly regarded commercial variety from the famous Russian seed company “Siberian Garden” (SibSad). 🌿 Plant Habit: Highly versatile. It performs well in greenhouses, thrives outdoors in the open ground, and can even be successfully grown in a large pot (container gardening). Interestingly, growers report better yields outdoors than … Read more
Quick Summary of Palmira 🌍 Origin: A commercial Russian variety originally from the “Gavrish” seed company. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, tall (around 2 meters / 6.5 ft). Known for its incredibly thick, strong stems. Grows well both in greenhouses and outdoors. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Orange, elongated “icicle” or paste-type tomatoes. Very dense, firm, with a … Read more