Quick Summary of Chudo Zemli (Wonder of the Earth)
- 🌍 Origin: A very famous Russian heirloom/commercial variety. The name translates to “Wonder of the Earth”. Important Note: There are two distinct strains circulating under this name. The original Siberian strain (“SibSad” company) produces large, flat-round (oblate) pink beefsteaks. Meanwhile, a popular Ukrainian line produces beautiful pink oxheart (heart-shaped) tomatoes. Both are highly prized!
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Vigorous, tall indeterminate. In a greenhouse, it easily reaches 2 meters (6.5 ft) or more. Growers note it produces relatively few suckers, making it easier to prune and maintain.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Pink fruits ranging from 150 g (5 oz) up to massive 700 g (25 oz) or more, depending on how strictly the plant is pruned. The Siberian line is flat-round, while the Ukrainian line is heart-shaped. Both are very meaty with few seeds.
- 👅 Flavor & Texture: Highly rated! Consistently described as one of the best-tasting pink tomatoes, offering a rich, sweet, and perfectly balanced classic tomato flavor. It is also noted for being exceptionally juicy for a large-fruited variety.
- ⏳ Maturity & Health: Mid-season to mid-late. It can sometimes suffer from “yellow shoulders” (hard, unripened tops) during extreme heat waves due to poor potassium uptake, which can be mitigated with foliar potassium feeding.
Chudo Zemli (SibSad company)
I grew it in 2012 in a greenhouse. The seeds were from a SibSad packet. I had 4 plants and all of them turned out to be the true Wonder of the Earth 😉
Indeterminate, the plant is vigorous, the stem is sturdy, in the greenhouse it was over 2 m (6.5 ft). The tomatoes are large, pink, flat-round, slightly ribbed. The taste is super! In the 2012 season, Chudo Zemli and ‘Bezrazmernyi’ shared 1st place among pinks for taste. Oh, and it is probably the juiciest of the large-fruited ones!
I led it in 1 stem, the yield was average, in terms of ripening it turned out closer to mid-late season.
One of the best pink slicing tomatoes. Very tasty.
My yield was above average, it set fruit right until the end. It didn’t get sick with anything, which is a significant plus; the taste is an all-purpose salad tomato.
Yes, yummy, the fruits are beautiful and large, tall bush.
I had an average yield (led in 2 stems), in terms of ripening it is a bit late (late or mid-late), but this year I deliberately sowed it for seedlings earlier – and it ripened along with the mid-early ones! 😄
I agree with Elfa, it sets fruit until frosts.
Everything is the same for me, only the fruits are a bit small, about 150 grams (5 oz). I justify this by the fact that the year was far from the best. The variety is quite resistant to diseases. Anyway, I saved the seeds – I will plant it again!
Olya, is Wonder of the Earth (from Popenko) the same? I haven’t planted them, but I have them. I liked your description. Maybe someone has planted it?
Valyusha, I planted from Popenko. It matches the description. 👍
And for me, excuse me, SibSad’s Wonder of the Earth was a failure. Here are the records for 2009.
Chudo Zemli
Height on August 1………1.6 m (5.2 ft)
Yield per bush, kg…………..2.9 (6.4 lbs)
Average fruit weight, g ……..480 (17 oz)
Taste rating………………….3.0 (out of 5)
Despite seemingly decent yield, completely unsatisfactory taste, 25% of the fruit had yellow shoulders that go to waste, i.e., recalculated yield is 2.18 kg (4.8 lbs) per bush. I won’t grow it anymore.
Moscow region, sandy loam enriched with compost, unheated greenhouse.
Wonder of the Earth from Sib.Sad. Indeterminate, height about 2 meters (6.5 ft). Productive, extended ripening period. Rich tomato flavor – there is both sweetness and tartness, one of the tastiest 😋
🙂
Quote from Lidiya:
Yes, Miracle of Miracles, that’s what these tomatoes should be called. 👍👍👍
A very large, tasty tomato.
Quote from Lidiya:
A very large, tasty tomato.
😋 😋 😋 Yes, Lidochka, you know how to amaze us. 🌺 🌺 🌺
Galochka, this is not to amaze, but to express my opinion that this is a most worthy tomato. But for us here, it seems to me it’s meant for the greenhouse. Considering what kind of summer we had this year.
Of course not on purpose, but after looking at all sorts of tomatoes, my eyes naturally widened at your Wonder. Very handsome, and the cross-section is… 👍 👍 👍
Oh, we are writing in the wrong place again. Galochka, put this tomato in the greenhouse and you will have this wonder too.
It seems a bit small. But it’s beautiful, I don’t argue with that.
Quote from Sinyer:
It seems a bit small. But it’s beautiful, I don’t argue with that.
500-700 grams (17.5-25 oz) is small??? 😲 😲 😲
I hope the boss (Admin) deletes this and doesn’t scold us. 😄 I had it growing in the greenhouse, in a good spot you could say, but I didn’t have such a Wonder of the Earth. 😳
Quote from Lidiya:
500-700 grams is small??? 😲 😲 😲
Yes, it’s small. Here it grows up to 1500 g (3.3 lbs). And not just one per bush. You have to put the fruit in a net and tie it up.
Quote from Sinyer:
Yes, it’s small. Here it grows up to 1500 g…
Vitaly, you probably aren’t looking at what region this tomato is grown in 😛 😛 😛 For us (in Moscow region), it turned out very large indeed 😋
I am looking at everything and I have nothing against it. So you’re jumping on me for nothing… I’m just writing that it grows bigger here. Just trying to join the dialogue somehow.
Quote from Aleksander:
… 25% of the fruit had yellow shoulders that go to waste… Moscow region, sandy loam enriched with compost…
And Lida’s tomatoes are without yellow or green shoulders, it’s visible on the cross-section. Without a hard core under the skin. The secret is in the soil, fertilizer, watering; in a word, proper care.
Quote from Rodebielesumer:
And Lida’s tomatoes are without yellow or green shoulders… The secret is in the soil, fertilizer…
It also depends on the year, on the combination of weather factors. In some years, hard shoulders or something else appears for all or almost all gardeners. In the year I am writing about, many varieties had yellow shoulders.
For me, for example, the ‘Konus’ variety is prone to stem bifurcation, when you can’t distinguish the main stem from a sucker, but this manifests differently in different years.
Respect, Alexander, I agree.
Quote from Rodebielesumer:
… The secret is in the soil, fertilizer, watering; in a word, proper care.
There is no secret, I always add a lot of wood ash to the planting hole, and then I add more later. That’s the whole secret, I practically never have tomatoes with green or yellow shoulders.
Girls, it’s not just a matter of the soil. The sun also has a very strong influence. If there is too much of it, you get not only green and yellow shoulders but also cracks. And such bad ones that they ruin the appearance.
Verochka, (tomatinka) thank you. I will plant it.
Quote from Sinyer:
Yes, it’s small. Here it grows up to 1500 g…
Wonder of the Earth 1500 g (3.3 lbs). 😲 Allow me to doubt that. 😳 Can we see a photo?
I also really liked Wonder of the Earth. I don’t have a photo, but the fruits are very similar to Lida’s (but the yield was probably lower).
In 2014 I will definitely plant it!
And I will be planting Wonder of the Earth for the first time this year. But since I don’t have a greenhouse, it will be like everything else, under a plastic film cover. It looks very appetizing, tasty. I’ll see how this variety performs for me, if it likes it here. 😉
