Quick Summary of Tie Feen (Tiffan)
- 🌍 Origin & The Name Mystery: Known in Russian collections as Tie Feen (Ти Феен), forum members suspect this is actually a localized mispronunciation of the American heirloom “Tiffan”. Tatiana Kouchnareva’s database lists Tiffan as a potato-leaf pink beefsteak from Dorothy Beiswenger (MN).
- 🌿 Plant Habit & Genetics: Indeterminate, usually around 1.5m (5 ft) tall. Crucial Note: Growers report that seeds often segregate into two foliage types: Potato Leaf (PL) and Regular Leaf (RL). Both produce similar fruits, though some note the PL plants yielded slightly sweeter, larger tomatoes. It is known to have excellent disease resistance.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Dark pink, oblate (flattened) beefsteaks. While some commercial descriptions claim they reach 500g (1.1 lbs), most real-world growers report average weights of 120-300g (4-10.5 oz) unless heavily pruned and aggressively fertilized.
- 👅 Flavor & Texture: Highly rated for taste! Described as having a classic, delicious tomato flavor. The skin can be slightly thick, but the interior is meaty with very few seeds.
- 📈 Yield: A very reliable early producer. It is often one of the first to start setting fruit and does well even in less-than-ideal weather.
Description: Early-ripening indeterminate variety, height 1.5 m (5 ft), fruit weight 500g. Fruits are flat-round, deep pink, beautiful. Amazing taste. Potato leaf. Disease resistant. Sets fruit in any weather.
My variety grew in a very poor spot outdoors in open ground, so the fruits were small. But regarding the taste rating—I agree, the tomatoes are very tasty. I gave this variety a 5- for taste (the minus is because the skin is a bit thick). The tomatoes are a beautiful dark pink color, and there were almost no seeds inside. I will definitely grow this variety again, but next time in the greenhouse and in a sunny spot.
Season 2015 Open Ground:
Pani Tomat wrote:
Season 2015 Open Ground: [Photo]
Could we maybe get your personal review about the taste, yield, bush height, etc., for all the varieties you’ve grown and listed in your “Season-2015” catalog? And not just photos?! I’ve only seen you write actual descriptions for Flaschentomaten and Stan Leigh.
Or are we supposed to study your traits in your Seed Order forms or via email? 😳
You already grew this variety yourself, why do you need my opinion?
Pani Tomat wrote:
You already grew this variety yourself, why do you need my opinion?
??? 😳 Is the Variety Catalog on this forum untouchable and strictly reserved for the opinion of the one single person who grew a variety first? ???
Oh, excuse me, I won’t interfere with your seed-selling business.
Well yeah, why would she. A seller needs to sell, not freely share information on the forum about the taste, growth habits, and characteristics of the tomatoes they grew 👏
I completely agree with Lena, I would also like to know how the variety performed in different regions. Just by looking at a photo, it is impossible to judge the taste or yield…
Pani Tomat wrote:
You already grew this variety yourself, why do you need my opinion?
Dear Pani Tomat, this forum is not a free advertising platform for seed sellers to spam their signature links. Please treat forum members with more respect.
Pani Tomat wrote:
You already grew this variety yourself, why do you need my opinion?
I am also interested in your opinion. 🌹
I grew this variety for the second year. At the seedling stage, the plants segregated into ones with Regular Leaf (RL) and ones with Potato Leaf (PL).
If you ignore the leaves, I didn’t notice any particular differences in the fruits. The taste this year turned out to be a standard tomato flavor, and the yield was good. The bush with regular leaves grew outdoors, while the one with potato leaves grew in the greenhouse.
With Regular Leaf:
With Potato Leaf:
I grew this variety this year. Seeds were from Nadia. Out of 5 seeds, 4 sprouted, and they segregated into 2 with Potato Leaf and 2 with Regular Leaf. I can’t judge objectively (on June 19th, hail battered all my tomatoes and I had to resuscitate them, so everything was delayed by a month). On the regular leaf plants, the fruits were small and somewhat sour.
On the potato leaf bushes, the fruits were about 200 grams (7 oz), and quite sweet (despite filling out and ripening at the end of August).
The variety is indeed resistant to diseases. The fruits of my other tomato varieties showed signs of disease, but this variety held its ground (only the leaves were slightly affected). I liked the variety.
Girls, whoever grew Tie Feen, have you tried growing this variety from seeds saved from the regular leaf bushes? If so, I’d like to know how the variety behaved later on. Just in case, I saved seeds from both the regular leaf and the potato leaf plants.
Seeds were from Kulik (description was the same as ElenaN’s), I grew it in ’15. It turned out to be nowhere near “up to 500 grams”, and even if all ideal conditions were met, it still wouldn’t have reached that; the variety just doesn’t have that potential. I thought I got mixed-up seeds.
In ’16, I grew it again from Kulik’s seeds and from the girls on the forum. All 4 bushes were exactly the same: 120-200 grams (4-7 oz), maybe pushing up to 300 grams (10.5 oz) if you aggressively prune/thin the trusses.
My personal conclusions—this variety needs maximum balanced nutrition and should be grown without cloudy, cool days. But it does have a great advantage, at least for me over two seasons: the variety is highly productive and starts setting fruit among the very first.
Therefore, I recommend it only for a greenhouse, in a sunny spot, and feed it throughout the entire vegetative period, especially after the first truss fills out.
In Tatiana Kouchnareva’s database, there is a variety called Tiffan – 90 days, indet., Potato leaf plant with a good yield of 1-1.25 lb pink beefsteak fruits with very good taste.
MN BE D 02 (Dorothy Beiswenger, MN) via James Stokes.
(1-1.25 lbs is about 500-700 grams). So what are we to make of this 🙂
