Valentina Tomato Review

Valentina – A variety from “SeDeK”. Early season (95-98 days) for open ground. The plant is determinate, 24-28 inches (60-70 cm) tall. Potato leaf. Does not require mandatory pruning/suckering. The fruits are plum-shaped, red, weighing 2.8-4.2 oz (80-120 g), thick-skinned, and meaty.

With this variety, you will get a harvest regardless of the weather conditions. It is unproblematic, yields its crop all at once very reliably, tastes sweet, and the fruits don’t crack. Its main purpose is for canning and pickling.

Last year I pruned the suckers off Valentina. This year I didn’t prune her at all, and the harvest was much bigger. I planted her very late in mid-April, so the fruits didn’t have time to fully ripen on the vine, I picked them at the mature green/breaker stage. A variety with a very long shelf life.

A very worthy variety. People around here have really acquired a taste for it. The seeds sell out fast in the stores. Ideal for canning. The yield is beyond praise. For those who love determinate bush varieties—it’s simply a godsend. Do not prune the suckers. You’ll just lose yield if you do.

Ovechka (Ludmila) wrote:
The plant is determinate, 24-28 inches (60-70 cm) tall. Potato leaf.

I was tempted into growing this tomato too. My seeds are also from SeDeK, but the leaf is NOT a potato leaf 😲 All 10 plants came up with regular leaves 😢

Luda, does that mean I got crossed seeds or an off-type?

I don’t think I’ve seen Valentina mentioned in the Potato Leaf varieties thread, maybe there are different strains of it?

Elena, I didn’t post it in the “Tomatoes with Potato Leaves” thread. But all my Valentina bushes definitely had potato leaves.

I just looked up the official description in the State Register. There is not a single word about potato leaves.

“The leaf is regular, medium size, yellow-green, slightly rugose (corrugated), with stipules.”

Wow, well there you go, thanks Luda!! And here I was tempted by your specific description! 😞

So I understand the leaf is actually supposed to be regular?

Yes, its leaf is regular.

Then what did I grow? Not Valentina? 🤔 Mine definitely has potato leaves. I just found another photo from last year (this one was grown from my own saved seeds). It’s a potato leaf. The bush was literally falling over, every single branch was loaded with fruit.

Even if it isn’t Valentina, it’s still an incredibly productive variety. 👍

I had one that looked exactly like this with potato leaves, dense, sweet, and good shelf life—it was the variety ‘Vovchik’ from Aelita seeds.

Ovechka (Ludmila) wrote:
Then what did I grow? Not Valentina? 🤔 Mine definitely has potato leaves.

You have the genuine, real Valentina, complete with the potato leaf. I consider Valentina to be an absolute masterpiece of a variety. I prune all my determinate bushes right up to the first flower cluster. I have been growing this variety for many years.

“The tomato bush is sprawling, which means its stem must be tied to a garden support, because with a large number of fruits, their weight can simply break the stem. There are few leaves on the bush, but this does not mean that the seedlings are bad or the bush was grown in negative conditions. The foliage of this plant naturally has a greenish-yellow tint, which is the norm. The shape of the leaves is slightly corrugated/rugose and resembles potato leaves more than tomato leaves.”

That is the description from the Fermilon website. By the way, even on the SeDeK company photo, the leaf looks more like a potato leaf.