Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
📖 Diary Highlights: In this diary entry, growers discuss the frustrating tendency of some bi-color tomatoes (like Rhodes Heirloom and Hawaiian Pineapple) to push massive vegetative growth with zero fruit set. PomiTa shares her quest to find the perfect bi-color/yellow tomato, praising Burracker’s Favorite and Golden Königsberg for taste, while showing off a highly successful … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Novichok is a classic, ultra-low-maintenance determinate bush that requires zero pruning. It pumps out firm, 3.5 oz red plum tomatoes that have a great sweet-tart balance. Known for being an incredible storage and transport variety that thrives even in partial shade. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 4a-8a Experience) … Read more
🍅 Quick take: A tall, indeterminate vine that produces heavily in the greenhouse. The large, heavy tomatoes have a unique shape—part heart, part barrel—with dense, sugary flesh near the stem. Excellent all-rounder for fresh eating, paste, and canning. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and Photos O Olya ⭐ Veteran Member (1,829 posts) I bought these … Read more
🍅 Quick take: The name Malinovka causes massive confusion in the tomato world because there are two completely different, unrelated varieties sharing the name. Strain 1 (Commercial “Russian Garden” brand): A short, 24-28 inch (60-70 cm) determinate bush that produces small 2.5 oz (70 g) crack-resistant, dark pink plum/paste tomatoes. Perfect for canning. Strain 2 … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Mom’s Love (Mamina Lyubov) is a vigorous, highly productive indeterminate red beefsteak from Russia. Treasured for its nostalgic, old-fashioned “real tomato” flavor, this variety produces beautiful, uniform red fruits generally weighing around 9-10.5 oz (250-300 g). The vines are powerful and require heavy-duty staking, as they often get weighed down by the … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Marusya is an early, highly productive determinate paste tomato from Russia. Producing incredibly dense, meaty, and dry red plum/egg-shaped fruits in the 2.5-3.5 oz (70-100 g) range, it is an absolute favorite for whole-peeled canning and making thick sauces. The bushes stay compact at around 20-32 inches (50-80 cm), require minimal pruning, … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Honey Drop (Medovaya Kaplya) is a fiercely vigorous Indeterminate , ultra-sweet yellow pear/cherry tomato. Growers praise its candy-like flavor and late-season blight resistance, but warn that it throws suckers aggressively and takes up massive space. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 3-8 Experience) V Vestochka (Elena) 🍅 Member (247 … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Minusinskoe Mango (Minusinsk Mango) is a mid-season, indeterminate heirloom from the famous Minusinsk region in Siberia. It produces large, oblate, pale yellow fruits with beautiful pink blushing at the blossom end, usually weighing between 7 and 16 oz (200-450 g). Growers rave about its sweet, honey-like, exotic fruit flavor and its buttery … 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: Legenda Tarasenko is a legendary indeterminate multiflora variety bred by the famous Ukrainian breeder Feodosiy Tarasenko. It is known for producing massive, fan-shaped trusses that can hold up to 30-40 small, red paste tomatoes weighing about 3.5 oz (100 g) each. The fruits typically feature a sharp little beak on the blossom … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Krasavets Primorya (Beauty of Primorye) is an indeterminate variety that proved highly resilient in less-than-ideal conditions. Grown in a dark greenhouse corner during a cold summer, it still delivered an exceptional yield. Growers highlight its fantastic taste and the impressive uniformity of the fruits from the bottom of the vine all the … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Kamennoe Serdtse (Stone Heart) is an indeterminate, mid-early to mid-season pink oxheart. Growers rave about its exceptional yields, reliable blossom set in fluctuating temperatures, and most notably, its extremely dense, heavy fruits that perfectly match the “Stone” in its name. It features a wispy plant habit ideal for greenhouse spacing. Full summary … Read more