Heirloom Tomato Varieties & Reviews | Tomat-Pomidor
Honest reviews of global tomato varieties from a 15-year-old growers community.
🍅 Quick take: Beauty Queen is a stunning striped bicolor indeterminate beefsteak bred by Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms. In this thread, Russian growers fiercely debate the differences between Beauty Queen and its sibling variety, Beauty King. While some experienced identical plants, others note that Beauty Queen produces slightly smaller, more orange fruits with … Read more
🍅 Quick take: Brown Flesh is a mid-season, mid-tall variety that produces heavy yields of stunning, dark maroon beefsteaks with green stripes. Weighing up to 14 oz (400 g), these oblate slicers are praised for their dense, meaty crimson flesh and an outstanding, sweet fruity flavor profile. Full summary ↓ Growers’ Notes and Photos O … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Beauty King 🌍 Origin: A legendary modern heirloom bred by Brad Gates at Wild Boar Farms in California. It is a cross between Big Rainbow and Green Zebra. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). Known for being a bit wimpy and spindly in the seedling stage, but it vigorously stretches to 6-6.5 … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Izumrudnye (Emeralds) 🌍 Origin: Grown from seeds originally sourced from China. The Russian working name translates to “Emeralds”. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. A very vigorous plant that throws a lot of suckers, but uniquely, it sets fruit very well on those unpruned suckers. It has distinctive, heavily serrated foliage. 🍅 Fruit … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Indian Zebra 🌍 Origin: An American heirloom discovered by Clyde Burson. It is considered a larger, striped cousin of the famous Indian Stripe (which itself is closely related to Cherokee Purple). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). Grows well outdoors, reaching around 5.5 feet (1.7 m) in open ground. Very productive. 🍅 … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Green Zebra 🌍 Origin: A legendary American variety bred by Tom Wagner (Tater Mater Seeds) in 1983. It is arguably the most famous green-when-ripe tomato in the world. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. Can be a bit of a slow starter and sometimes grows spindly outdoors, but yields are generally reliable. It … Read more
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Quick Summary of Starburst Nebula 📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Starburst Nebula 🌍 Origin: A stunning and somewhat rare bicolor variety. Known in the Russian heirloom community as Zvezdnaya Tumannost (which literally translates back to Starburst Nebula). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall vine). Mid-season ripening. Vigorous plants that easily reach 5 ft (1.5 m) and keep … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Yellow Striped Boar 🌍 Origin: A famous American novelty variety bred by Brad Gates at Wild Boar Farms (California, USA). It is widely grown and traded among Eastern European and Russian heirloom collectors. 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). A mid-season producer that performs very well in greenhouse environments. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Dwarf Firebird Sweet 🌍 Origin: Developed by the all-volunteer Dwarf Tomato Project. It was selected from the “Beauty” family (a cross between Beauty King and Dwarf Wild Fred) and officially named by Craig LeHoullier in 2013. 🌿 Plant Habit: Tree-type dwarf. Reaches about 28-36 inches (70-90 cm) tall. Features the classic … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Yellow Fire 🌍 Origin: A beautiful striped novelty variety bred by the legendary American tomato breeder Tom Wagner (famous for creating the Green Zebra). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), though some growers note it can occasionally terminate its own growth early. A strong bush that performs very well both outdoors (reaching … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Jalpa 🌍 Origin: A beautiful striped paste tomato popular among Eastern European collectors. 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate. Grows as a very sturdy, compact tree-type bush (shtamb), typically reaching about 24 inches (60 cm) tall outdoors. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Elongated, red paste tomatoes with striking yellow stripes. Length is about 4-4.7 inches … Read more
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Dragon Eye (Glaz Drakona) 🌍 Origin: A highly decorative novelty variety circulated among Eastern European collectors (popularized by sellers like V.D. Popenko). 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). A mid-season variety that performs well even when grown outdoors in open ground. 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Small, cocktail-sized tomatoes that range from oblate (flattened-round) … Read more