Quick Summary of Ultraskorospeley (Ultra-Early)
- 🌍 Origin: A commercial Russian variety from the “Siberian Garden” (Sibsad) seed company. The name translates to “Ultra-Early”. It was specifically bred for the cool, short, and often damp summers of the Leningrad (St. Petersburg) region.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Determinate (bush). It is genetically programmed to develop extremely quickly, but as a trade-off, it ages and dies back just as fast. It has zero heat tolerance—in hot weather, the plants easily burn up and drop all their foliage.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Small red tomatoes. Under stress, they tend to shrivel on the vine and develop a tough, hard skin.
- 👅 Flavor: Widely criticized by growers. In warmer climates or standard garden conditions, it is often described as extremely sour, tough, and unpalatable.
- ⏳ Maturity & Yield: Despite its name, many growers report that it actually ripens much later than other standard early varieties. Overall, it is considered a highly situational variety that only performs well in very cool, northern climates.
Seeds from Sibsad (Siberian Garden). Early ripening, I can’t deny that, it was the very first one with little tomatoes, right alongside “Lethal Force“. But it didn’t work out for us this year, no joy at all. It burned from the heat despite watering, all the little tomatoes shriveled up too, the appearance was unsightly, no one wanted to eat such tomatoes. I gave a bush to my neighbor, they showed it to me later—it also burned up and stood there with absolutely no leaves.
I recently read up on this variety. It is considered fast-developing and also fast-aging. The latter explains its wilting for us this year. The variety was created for the Leningrad (St. Petersburg) region. And this year we had heat without a single drop of rain for exactly 1.5 months. If it gets cooler, it will surely show its good side.
Elena said:
…The variety was created for the Leningrad region. And this year we had heat without a single drop of rain for exactly 1.5 months. If it gets cooler, it will surely show its good side.
Well, let it just grow… in Leningrad 😉
You can’t adapt to everyone’s climate 😄
I also had a total disaster with Ultraskorospeley. Not only was it 2 weeks later than Boni MM, and a week later than Pink Stella, but it also turned out extremely sour and tough. Terrible!!!
This variety was also a failure for me, I planted it in 2011 and 2012. It’s not “ultra” and not even early at all. And on top of that, not tasty.
