Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Bulgarska Hala 🌍 Origin: A magnificent heirloom from Bulgaria, highly prized by seed collectors. The name translates to “Bulgarian Hala” (in Balkan folklore, a Hala is a mythical dragon—a fitting name for such a monstrously large tomato!). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, but widely praised for having a very tidy and manageable … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Bolgarskoe Chudo (Bulgarian Wonder) 🌍 Origin: A highly prized heirloom circulated among Eastern European and Russian seed collectors (like Kulik and V. Redko). Translates to “Bulgarian Miracle”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. A tall, powerful, and vigorous plant that easily reaches the roof of a greenhouse (2+ meters / 6.5+ ft). It … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Baba Nadya (Grandma Nadya) 🌍 Origin: A Russian/Latvian “folk selection” (family heirloom). It was popularized in the tomato community by the well-known breeder and collector Valdis Pulins. The name translates to “Grandma Nadya”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. Reaches about 1.4-1.6 meters (4.5-5.2 ft) in height. Recommended pruning is to 2 main … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Bolshaya Medveditsa (Ursa Major) 🌍 Origin: A Russian commercial and heirloom variety (circulated by commercial vendors and private collectors like Kulik). The name translates to “Ursa Major” or “The Great Bear.” 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. A tall, vigorous vine that reaches 1.8m to over 2m (6 to 6.5+ ft) depending on … Read more
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📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Grosse de Christophe 🌍 Origin: A large European variety. The name translates from French as “Christophe’s Large”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Produces a sturdy, robust plant. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Raspberry-pink beefsteaks. The fruits are shiny, uniform in shape, and relatively smooth with slight ribbing. They are consistently large, typically ranging from 300–500 … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Mamie Brown’s Pink 🌍 Origin: A family heirloom from West Virginia, USA. It was introduced to the Seed Savers Exchange (SSE) in 1995 by Alice Brown-Mattes. The seed traces back to her grandmother, Mamie Brown, who grew it in the 1930s. The Russian lineage of this seed often traces through American … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Grosse des Marais 🌍 Origin: A rare, endangered old French heirloom from the Champagne region (specifically the Reims area). The name translates to “Large of the Swamp,” as it was historically cultivated in the marshlands. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, tall, and vigorous. Regular leaf. Unlike many oxhearts or heirlooms, it has … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Buran 🌍 Origin: A Russian family heirloom passed down through a forum member’s mother. The name “Buran” translates to “Blizzard” or “Snowstorm.” Note: There is also a commercial Dutch F1 hybrid called Buran; growers debate whether this heirloom is a stabilized, dehybridized version of it or a completely separate family seed … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Chianti Rose 🌍 Origin: An American heirloom, reportedly developed from a cross between the legendary ‘Brandywine’ and an unknown Italian heirloom variety. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, Potato Leaf (PL) foliage. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Large pink beefsteaks, oblate (flat-round) in shape. They are quite massive, typically weighing between 300-500g (10.5–17.5 oz). 👅 … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Cherokee Rosse 🌍 Origin: A unique novelty release bred by the famous Brad Gates (Wild Boar Farms, USA). 🌿 Plant Habit: Appears to act as a semi-determinate or compact indeterminate. Grown outdoors, it reaches just over 1 meter (about 3.5 – 4 ft) in height. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Oblate (flat-round) beefsteaks … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Cleota Pink 🌍 Origin: An old, relatively rare family heirloom from Tennessee, USA. It is highly prized by heirloom collectors for producing massive pink fruits on potato-leaf vines. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, Potato Leaf (PL). 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Large pink beefsteaks. They are exceptionally meaty but retain a very juicy flesh … Read more
Quick Summary of Black Mountain Pink 🌍 Origin: A massive old heirloom tomato originating from Kentucky, USA. Highly prized by Russian collectors who often translate the name to “Chernogorskiy” or “Pink from Black Mountain”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, vigorous, and tall. Growers note that it can be a bit slow to start in the spring … Read more