Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Make My Day is a mid-season, semi-determinate bicolor bred by celebrated American plant breeder Tom Wagner (USA). Vines top out around 4.6 ft (1.4 m) and produce high yields of 8-14 oz (225-400 g) oblate beefsteaks and blunt hearts swirled in orange, yellow, and soft pink. While visual appeal and seedlessness are … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Maglia Rosa is a celebrated semi-determinate artisan cherry tomato bred by Fred Hempel of Artisan Seeds in California. Plants form tidy, well-behaved bushes ranging from 2 to 4 ft (0.6 to 1.2 m) that require minimal to no suckering. It yields prolific trusses of elongated, pink-and-yellow marbled “bullets” weighing up to 0.9 … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Königin der Nacht (Queen of the Night) is an incredibly beautiful, anthocyanin-rich cocktail tomato originating from Germany. It grows as a compact semi-determinate plant that produces heavy yields of striped, dark-shouldered 2-3 oz fruits. While it is mostly grown for its jaw-dropping aesthetics, the flavor is generally sweet and pleasant. Full summary … Read more
🍅 Quick take: O-La-La is a semi-determinate pink tomato from the seed company Siberian Garden (SibSad). When you get the true authentic seed, it produces fantastic, highly uniform 6 oz (180 g) round fruits with a tiny pointed nub and incredibly sweet, juicy flesh. However, this variety comes with two major caveats: the commercial seed … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Pink Monisto is a cocktail-sized pink tomato that seed companies claim will produce massive trusses, but in reality, it often delivers much smaller clusters. While visually attractive and great for canning, growers report average flavor and a somewhat mealy texture. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 8 Experience) R … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Raspberry Rhapsody (Malinovaya Rapsodiya) is an excellent compact (semi-determinate) variety from the Russian seed company Aelita. It stays short—around 2.5 ft (80 cm) in a greenhouse—but produces impressive yields of beautiful, medium-to-large pink beefsteaks averaging 7-10.5 oz (200-300g). It is highly disease-resistant, starts producing early for its size class, and delivers a … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Lyolya F1 is a semi-determinate commercial hybrid from the seed company Aelita. It produces beautifully uniform, firm red tomatoes weighing 4.5-5.5 oz (130-160 g) that are absolutely perfect for processing and canning. The flavor is a standard, classic tomato taste. Growers should be careful when purchasing seeds, as another company sells a … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Reckless Driver Vils is a mid-late season pink tomato of American origin. Plants seem to stay relatively compact at around 3.3 feet (1 m) tall but are best grown pruned to two stems. It produces 7-9 oz (200-250 g) meaty, juicy fruits with a sweet flavor that has a unique kick to … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Loving Heart (Lyubyaschee Serdtse) is a semi-determinate oxheart variety that produces highly uniform, blunt-tipped pink and red hearts weighing between 7 and 17.5 oz (200-500 g). Growers praise it for its vigorous growth, heavy yields, and classic sugary heirloom flesh. It performs exceptionally well outdoors and boasts a long, extended harvest window. … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Strawberry Leopard is a US-bred, early-season semi-determinate variety that’s supposed to produce red tomatoes with distinct yellow “freckles.” While growers agree it is impressively early and produces good-sized slicers, multiple people in this thread report getting plain red fruits with zero freckles, heavily suggesting that a batch of off-type (crossed) seeds is … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Katinka is a highly resilient, semi-determinate orange cherry tomato. Reaching about 4 feet (1.2 m) tall, it sets massive, forked clusters of sweet, 0.5-0.7 oz (15-20 g) orange cherries. It is highly praised for its exceptional cold tolerance and its ability to resist splitting and cracking during heavy rains and temperature swings. … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Knyaz (The Prince) 🌍 Origin: Heirloom paste variety popularized by collector N. Ananyeva. The name translates to “Prince”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Officially listed as indeterminate (tall), but growers frequently report it acting as a semi-determinate by topping itself off around 3.3 feet (1 m). Standout feature: It is incredibly eager to … Read more