Ukrainian Wonder of the Earth (Chudo Zemli) Giant Oxheart Tomato

I want to open a thread about my absolute favorite variety. For my taste—it is the ideal tomato. The yield is beyond praise. The appearance is excellent. With my standard three preventative sprays, it doesn’t get sick. I tried growing the SibSad (Siberian Garden) version of Chudo Zemli—and it doesn’t even come close. I planted 20 bushes. I will report back as they grow. I didn’t take pictures in previous years, so for now, here is a photo from the net. Mine looked exactly like this.

And here is the description:
A tomato with very beautiful fruits. The plant is 100-150 cm (3-5 ft), with sparse foliage, requires pruning (suckering). Early ripening variety. The fruit is large, pink-colored, up to 500-600g (1.1-1.3 lbs) on the first harvest, and up to 300g (10.5 oz) on subsequent ones, resembling a heart shape. The variety is resistant to cracking and a whole complex of diseases.

Edited December 1, 2015 by Sweet

A very beautiful tomato! The description is intriguing too.

Yesss! I really liked these long hearts too! 👍

In 2013, my Mazarini looked very similar to the photo and description of this Wonder of the Earth.

The variety is tasty, I liked it. It was already ripening in early July, but then it cracked because of the rain. However, the weight didn’t quite reach the claimed 600g.

Galina Mikhaylovna said:

In 2013, my Mazarini looked very similar…

Galina, these tomatoes seem more elongated than Mazarini.

mopsdad1 said:

For my taste—it is the ideal tomato… I tried growing the SibSad (Siberian Garden) version of Chudo Zemli—and it doesn’t even come close.

I think this is Mazarini.

Danko said:

The variety is tasty, I liked it… However, the weight didn’t quite reach the claimed 600g.

And this tomato looks like Kozje Vymechko (Goat’s Udder).

Ninulia said:

Galina, these tomatoes seem more elongated than Mazarini.

Well, last year mine were exactly like this—some elongated, and some not so much on the very same bush, just like in the photo. And the description is very similar. But the SibSad’s Chudo Zemli is completely different—the bush is sturdier, and the tomatoes are denser and of a different shape (though it also turned out to be very tasty).

Lidiya said:

And this tomato looks like Kozje Vymechko (Goat’s Udder).

Lida, it was sent by Tamara from Ukraine, from an experienced grower. We’ll see what grows this year from my own saved seeds.

Danko said:

Lida, it was sent by Tamara from Ukraine…

Elena, the real Chudo Zemli is a ribbed, large beefsteak tomato. Mine was just like the SibSad one.

Mine was like that too.

The real one is exactly like in the photo. It is an Institute-bred variety.

Yes, it looks like Mazarini both by the fruits and the description, although Mazarini is not early at all and the yield is average for me in open ground… but I couldn’t see the leaves clearly. Mazarini has highly dissected leaves that often curl into a “boat” shape, and the bush has very sparse, weeping foliage (I call them “snotty” leaves). I would really love to get seeds of this Chudo Zemli and plant it next to Mazarini for a side-by-side comparison.

vikysia said:

Yes, it looks like Mazarini… I would really love to get seeds of this Chudo Zemli and plant it next to Mazarini for a side-by-side comparison.

I grew Mazarini from Biotekhnika and the Ukrainian Chudo Zemli. They are absolutely different hearts—both in color (Chudo Zemli is more raspberry/pink) and in shape. Biotekhnika’s Mazarini didn’t impress me, but Chudo Zemli was magnificent. The largest tomato weighed slightly over a kilogram (2.2 lbs). I posted a picture in my grow log.

Irina, is the Ukrainian Chudo Zemli really that huge too? I thought only the regular (flat-round) Chudo was large. 😲

I have Chudo Zemli seeds from Lidia and from Elena Danko (labeled as Ukraine), I’ll grow them and compare…

Eva77 said:

Irina, is the Ukrainian Chudo Zemli really that huge too?

Yes, Tanya, large hearts. The one fruit that weighed a kilogram was a fused blossom (megabloom), but the other tomatoes grew quite large too.

This year, Ukrainian Chudo Zemli behaved strangely. Taste and yield—everything was super, but 98% of the fruits were completely seedless. I barely scraped together enough seeds from one fruit for planting, just so as not to lose the strain.

Mikhail, did you use Tomaton (blossom set spray)?

The thing is, I didn’t use it this year. Only boron treatments. Everything set fruit perfectly anyway. None of the other varieties did this. And it’s not the first time I’ve grown Chudo.

But you planted it before and everything was fine, right? Just curious to figure it out, the seeds are yours, right? Growing conditions haven’t changed?

Everything is as usual. The seeds are mine. I sent some to Zulfiya. It would be interesting to know how it did for her.

Mikhail, THANK YOU SO MUCH for the seeds! 🙏

Misha wrote to me that he sent the original breeder seeds of Ukrainian Chudo Zemli—in a white packet, not his own saved seeds. I PM’d him that I received the seeds, but almost all of them arrived swollen and covered in black mold. Misha explained that a year ago, on the way from the institute to him, the envelope got wet, and he didn’t realize he needed to open and dry them immediately; he advised me to disinfect them and plant them anyway. In the corners of the packet, I found 2 tiny seeds without obvious signs of rot and managed to grow the coveted variety! The plants germinated a bit weak, leaf tips constantly dried out, but I tried very hard to strengthen them.

The variety is finicky in our climate, it requires ideal conditions for fruit set—it loves heat but is not heat-tolerant (will drop blossoms). When it gets cold, it doesn’t set fruit either. In the greenhouse, it’s better to plant it near the aisle where there is a breeze. In our conditions, it needs to be trained to 1 stem, although we grow other large varieties in 2 stems. As for the taste—I absolutely loved the raspberry hearts! The fruits usually do not crack, they ripen evenly, ripen well off the vine, and store decently. I also had no viable seeds in the fruits from the first two trusses. Possible reasons: spraying during the cold with Epin-Extra (in our “summer” without it, the yield would be much lower), or spraying the blossoms with boric acid in the heat. I took seeds from the larger fruits from the 3rd and 4th trusses and shared them with those who wanted them. In terms of size (300g / 10.5 oz) and overall yield, my bushes fell short of the UCZ from Irina and Mikhail, so I didn’t brag about them much. Next year I plan to plant from Irina’s seeds for comparison.

Yes, I remember now. I sent you the institute’s seeds, just to make absolutely sure there was no cross-pollination or mix-up.

I grew the Ukrainian version. It ripened as one of the first, elongated.. heart-shaped, quite productive in open ground, very tasty, very few seeds in the fruits, I really liked it. The color in the photo didn’t come out right, in reality it is pink-raspberry-

Has anyone compared Ukrainian Chudo Zemli with Kosovo? Do they differ significantly?

mopsdad1 said:

For my taste—it is the ideal tomato. The yield is beyond praise. The appearance is excellent.

I agree! 🎩
I really loved the variety for its yield and taste 😋 It was my favorite in 2014 👍 Large hearts set even at the top of the bush, and they didn’t crack when fully ripe.

Zulfiya said:

Has anyone compared Ukrainian Chudo Zemli with Kosovo?

For me, Kosovo ripened later than UCZ in open ground, and the bush was, if memory serves, a bit more vigorous…
I consider UCZ a truly unique variety in all respects. It does not look like Mazarini at all—I can say that for sure…

Vika, whose seeds did you plant?

One of the tastiest tomatoes! Super productive, not late. Definitely in my favorites list 👍

And what if we compare Ukr. Chudo Zemli with Wolford Wonder?

Zulfiya said:

And what if we compare Ukr. Chudo Zemli with Wolford Wonder?

They are different. The shape is completely different. UCZ are large, while WW are more elongated and smaller. The plant structure is totally different too—Wolford Wonder has a very frail/weak bush.

Wolford Wonder fruits are more elongated, pointier, and are pure meat with very few seeds, whereas Ukr. CZ has more seeds. My Mazarini had a lot of fruits, but they were smaller and also had more seeds. All three varieties differ slightly from each other, but all are excellent 👍

In order: Ukr. Chudo Zemli, Wolford Wonder, and Mazarini:

Here are my records for this variety:

Chudo Zemli (Ukr.)
Pink heart-shaped
200-400 g (average weight 152 g / 5.3 oz)
Foliage is transparent/wispy
“Early and produces until frost”
Taste rating: 5
Fruits get smaller towards the end of the season.
Yield per plant:
2012…… 3.6 kg (7.9 lbs)
2013…… 3.2 kg (7 lbs)

Trained to two stems, seeds were from the “Vinograd” forum from Ukrainian members.

The yield in my conditions is not super at all, just average.
I liked the Wolford Wonder variety better; the fruits are tastier, though the bush and yield are about the same.

Svetlana, if you ate them blindfolded, could you tell them apart by taste? For me, the most important thing is the best taste under identical conditions. Did you grow them in the same year or in different ones?

Fruit size is regulated by truss pruning, and the number of seeds depends not only on the variety. On the first truss and during hot weather, all of my meaty varieties have very few seeds.

In terms of taste, Wolford Wonder takes the lead, I could definitely tell it apart. I grew them in different years, as for the others in a blind tasting I can’t say—I just remember they were tasty and that’s it. I didn’t prune the trusses on any of them—WW and CZ produced large fruits on their own, but Mazarini should have probably been pruned, there were a lot of small fruits and many flowers in the trusses. All varieties were grown in 2 stems.

My notes are still at the summer house (dacha), but I found the packet, looks like Elena Danko’s handwriting…

Next season I will grow Kosovo, UCZ, and Wolford Wonder side by side for comparison.

Handsome tomato, but how is it with green shoulders? I gave up planting oxhearts precisely because of hard green shoulders, and so far nothing helps. I’m reading about this one and really want to plant it, but I still have my fears..

Galinka said:

Handsome tomato, but how is it with green shoulders?

In my conditions, there wasn’t even a hint of unripe green shoulders… completely even pink-raspberry color, very beautiful. 👍

Oh, I found a photo showing the greenery. Not much fit in the frame, lower tier, this is probably just an average yield, but it suits me perfectly-

vikysia said:

…looks like Elena Danko’s handwriting…

It’s mine, I confess! It was from Tamara from Priluki. Oh, how we miss her on the forum 😢 . It’s so beautiful, I need to plant it again 😉.

Elena, did Tamara send you just one strain of Chudo Zemli? I got two with this note: “Sending Chudo Zemli of my own saving, and from the Ukrainian collector Semikopnyi (these are not the same)”. I grew both types of Chudo Zemli. They indeed turned out to be different. One strain ripened earlier, but seemed less tasty to me. Unfortunately, the labels partially faded in the sun and I didn’t know which was Toma’s and which was from Semikopnyi. I shared seeds on the forum from the strain I liked better in taste, but as we know, to each their own. Next year I want to plant both strains of Chudo Zemli again and figure out which is which. So, even in Ukraine, things are not so simple with the Ukrainian Chudo Zemli.

[Moderator Note: The discussion about green shoulders has been moved to the thread “Green unripe shoulders – potassium deficiency”]

Mikhail forwarded institute-bred (original) seeds, so Toma probably got her seeds from there too.

This variety turned out to be not just a favorite for me, but an absolute mega-favorite 🙂

I wasn’t impressed with this variety. It set a lot of fruit, but the taste was cottony/mealy, with absolutely no juiciness. I had Mazarini and Batyanya growing nearby, and those were tasty.

One of the tastiest tomatoes this year and #1 in size!
I planted 3 bushes. All in the shade. Two of them only saw the sun in the morning, and one at sunset. But all three bushes produced giant fruits and even managed to build up sweetness! Juicy and VERY tasty! Seeds were from “Schastlivy Sad” (Happy Garden).

Excellent variety, even in our hot climate it produces tasty, fairly dense fruits. A favorite! I plant it every year in the greenhouse. This year I planted it out in early April, had to heat the air at night because there were frosts. Here are the beauties that grew

vikysia said:

Next season I will grow Kosovo, UCZ, and Wolford Wonder side by side for comparison.

I would really love to know the results of the comparison… Which variety turned out to be the tastiest?

An adored variety! Sweet, delicious little hearts gathered in cascading fans. Very few seeds, in some locules there are none at all. For canning and processing—it’s simply a dream. Forever in my favorites list.