📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Viking
- 🌍 Origin & Confusion: This thread discusses a large, red heirloom variety originally sourced from Sweden. Important Note: There is an officially registered Russian commercial variety also named “Viking,” but that one produces small yellow tomatoes. The Swedish “Viking” discussed here is completely different.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), reaching over 6.5 ft (2 m) in a greenhouse. The plant has a very distinct, slightly awkward structure with “drooping, wispy, lacy foliage” (similar to many oxheart varieties).
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Large to very large red beefsteaks, weighing around 10.5-18 oz (300-500 g+). The shape varies from rounded-conical (blunt heart) to flat-round with ribbed shoulders. Very meaty with few seeds.
- 👅 Flavor: The absolute highlight of this variety. It consistently ranks as one of the sweetest, best-tasting slicing tomatoes in growers’ gardens. Highly aromatic with a pronounced sugary sweetness.
- ⏳ Maturity & Yield: Mid-season to mid-late. It yields very well, especially when pruned to 3 main stems rather than the standard 2.
Indeterminate, mid-season slicer variety. Grown outdoors in open ground, the plant reached 4.2 ft (1.3 m) tall with average foliage cover. The fruits are medium to large, rounded-conical shape, red, meaty, and sugary inside. Extremely tasty with a very noticeable sweetness.
Out of all the tomatoes I grew in 2014, this variety turned out to be the absolute most delicious one 😋👍
Continuation. 1.2 lbs (545 g).
Very handsome looking 👍. Whose seeds are those?
A real beauty, especially the photo of the truss 👍
Thanks girls! 🌸
The variety is from Andersen, and he originally got it from Sweden. We also have a variety called “Viking” in the official Russian State Register, but that one is completely different—it produces small yellow tomatoes.
The only TRULY sweet variety out of everything I planted.
Just a very perfectly balanced sweetness.
The variety is delicious, but it’s not early… it’s a mid-season maturity.
I planted it last year. The taste didn’t impress me. Absolutely no acidity/tang to it at all. Very beautiful, though. Yield is above average. Didn’t save any seeds.
Mine turned out to be a very heavy yielder, and the tomatoes were huge. Taste-wise, I can’t say it was incredibly sweet – but it had a very pleasant tomato flavor, I liked it.
Viking worked out for me on the second try (the first seeds I started didn’t develop) – sowed on March 21. Seeds were from ElenaN 🌸
It started ripening by the end of August. The tomatoes all have a perfectly uniform round shape, very few seeds, and are meaty. Delicious.
I pruned it to 2 main stems, the foliage is lacy/wispy. The first truss had 5 massive tomatoes on it, and higher up they set individually. Definitely keeping this for 2016.
Photo taken August 26.
For the second year in a row, Viking is the most beautiful plant at the seedling stage with its weeping/drooping, wispy foliage 🙂
May 9, 2015
May 2, 2016
The tomatoes are large to exceptionally large (by my standards), rounded-blocky/conical, red, and deliiiicious. The bush is tall and moderately sprawling.
Seeds from ElenaN 🌸
Grew it in the greenhouse. Yield was average – pruned to 2 main stems, I got 12 fruits averaging about 10.5 oz (300 g) each. That was by early September (which is when I pull everything out of my greenhouse). It turned out to be a bit of a late-season variety for me. It was planted on the north side. Gave the flavor a solid 5/5. And I love the way the fruits look – beautiful, not misshapen or catfaced. Would love to repeat it – just plant it somewhere it gets more sunshine…
In terms of plant structure, it’s quite an unusual variety. It stands out with its slightly “crooked” stems, drooping/wispy lacy foliage, and very tall growth habit (up to 7.2 ft / 2.2 m).
Once again, I noticed that the plant pruned to 3 main stems showed a significantly higher yield compared to its neighbor right next to it that was pruned to 2 stems. In our region, it ripens in August, very uniformly, with several trusses ripening at once. The fruits are large (around 10.5 oz / 300 g), a beautiful blunt-heart shape, with juicy, delicious flesh dominated by sweetness.
Loved the variety; heavy yielder and tasty. It’s best to plant it in the center bed of the greenhouse or closer to the walkway to ensure it has enough room to grow.
My Viking variety turned out tall (6.5 ft / 2 m in the greenhouse), productive, and mid-late season. The fruits were huge, red, flat-round in shape, and slightly ribbed. Extremely tasty and sweet.
Planted “Viking” for the first time. I want to save seeds from it, but now I’m having doubts. Seeds came from the same packet and the plants are growing side-by-side. But now I’m reading the reviews here and looking at my own tomatoes… Both of my plants have ribbed fruits and are about 5 ft (1.5 m) tall, but one plant is sturdier with darker leaves, and the fruit color is different.
Edited Aug 26, 2021 by Marusha
The bush is a bit awkward-looking with drooping foliage, and very tall. The fruits are large, red, slightly ribbed, but completely solid inside with no hollow cavities. The flavor is a rich, intense tomato taste with noticeable sweetness.
.jpg.04137a706ff1fd42f0c40c9845310eef.jpg)
