{"id":2818,"date":"2026-09-17T19:33:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T19:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/?p=2818"},"modified":"2026-09-17T19:33:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T19:33:23","slug":"black-steer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/black-steer\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Steer (Bychok Chernyi) Tomato Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n<div class=\"kk-star-ratings kksr-auto kksr-align-left kksr-valign-top\"\n    data-payload='{&quot;align&quot;:&quot;left&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;2818&quot;,&quot;slug&quot;:&quot;default&quot;,&quot;valign&quot;:&quot;top&quot;,&quot;ignore&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;reference&quot;:&quot;auto&quot;,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;count&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;legendonly&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;readonly&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;score&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;starsonly&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;best&quot;:&quot;5&quot;,&quot;gap&quot;:&quot;5&quot;,&quot;greet&quot;:&quot;Share your rating&quot;,&quot;legend&quot;:&quot;0\\\/5 - (0 votes)&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;24&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Black Steer (Bychok Chernyi) Tomato Review&quot;,&quot;width&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;_legend&quot;:&quot;{score}\\\/{best} - ({count} {votes})&quot;,&quot;font_factor&quot;:&quot;1.25&quot;}'>\n            \n<div class=\"kksr-stars\">\n    \n<div class=\"kksr-stars-inactive\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"1\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"2\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"3\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"4\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" data-star=\"5\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n<div class=\"kksr-stars-active\" style=\"width: 0px;\">\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n            <div class=\"kksr-star\" style=\"padding-right: 5px\">\n            \n\n<div class=\"kksr-icon\" style=\"width: 24px; height: 24px;\"><\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n                \n\n<div class=\"kksr-legend\" style=\"font-size: 19.2px;\">\n            <span class=\"kksr-muted\">Share your rating<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"tldr-box\" style=\"background: #f4f9f4; padding: 20px; border-left: 5px solid #4CAF50; margin-bottom: 30px; border-radius: 4px;\">\n<h3>\ud83d\udccc Quick Summary (TL;DR): Bychok Chernyi (Black Steer)<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\ud83c\udf0d <strong>Origin:<\/strong> Sourced and popularized by a well-known collector (Vitaly \/ &#8220;Se\u00f1or&#8221;) from Almaty, Kazakhstan. The name translates to &#8220;Black Steer&#8221; or &#8220;Black Bull-Calf&#8221;.<\/li>\n<li>\ud83c\udf3f <strong>Plant Habit:<\/strong> Indeterminate, PL (Potato Leaf). This plant is an absolute monster! It grows incredibly vigorous and tall (up to 14 ft \/ 4.25m if unstopped) with massive foliage. Give it plenty of space, or it will choke out its neighbors.<\/li>\n<li>\ud83c\udf45 <strong>Fruit Characteristics:<\/strong> Large, dark (black\/purple) blunt oxhearts. Very meaty with very few seeds. Size ranges from 9 oz up to 1.7 lbs (250g &#8211; 800g) depending on how aggressively you prune it.<\/li>\n<li>\ud83d\udc45 <strong>Flavor &amp; Use:<\/strong> Sweet, meaty, and classic. Growers often compare it to Brad&#8217;s Black Heart. However, it lacks the intense, bold punch that some folks expect from dark tomatoes.<\/li>\n<li>\u26a0\ufe0f <strong>Grower&#8217;s Note:<\/strong> The shelf life is absolutely terrible. You must eat or process them immediately, as they turn to mush and start leaking within just a few days of picking. Also prone to blossom drop during early heat waves.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"add-review-cta\" style=\"margin: 20px 0; padding: 15px; background: #f9f9f9; border-left: 4px solid #4CAF50; border-radius: 4px;\"><strong>\ud83c\udf45 Grown this variety?<\/strong> <a href=\"#wpdcom\">Click here to add your own photos and review below!<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"forum-post\">\n<div class=\"author-header\">\n<div class=\"forum-avatar\">S<\/div>\n<div class=\"author-meta\">\n<div class=\"author-name\">Svetikk (Sveta) <span class=\"author-stats\">\u2b50 Pro Grower (29,360 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"author-geo\">\ud83d\udccd Moscow, south of Moscow region, Stupinsky district (USDA Zone 4)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p>Bychok Chernyi (Black Steer). Seeds from Vitaly-Se\u00f1or out in Almaty. It&#8217;s a vigorous PL (potato leaf) indet. The fruits are uniform, large hearts with blunt noses, meaty, excellent taste, and have very few seeds. Yield was average; at first, it suffered from blossom drop because of a heat wave right when the first trusses were flowering. Grew it in the greenhouse, pruned to 2 stems.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/uploads\/monthly_2021_09\/IMG_20210907_122657.jpg.130ae3fdd82bde9c4eb64b514c818e13.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/uploads\/monthly_2021_09\/IMG_20210907_122657.thumb.jpg.80e710ad94c20b3bbeea1ff974745c39.jpg\" alt=\"Large dark blunt oxheart tomato\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"forum-post\">\n<div class=\"author-header\">\n<div class=\"forum-avatar\">T<\/div>\n<div class=\"author-meta\">\n<div class=\"author-name\">Tiffany (Julia) <span class=\"author-stats\">\u2b50 Pro Grower (20,171 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"author-geo\">\ud83d\udccd Las Palmas, Spain (USDA Zone 11)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p>I also grew this variety from Vitaly. The bush was an absolute monster with massive potato-type leaves. Grew it to 2 stems. It was a slow starter, but then it just kept growing and growing, taking up a ridiculous amount of space and totally crowding out its neighbors. After that, it aggressively started flowering and setting fruit on all trusses. Turned out to be a late-season ripener for me. Yield was excellent. The fruits are large, blunt hearts, very uniform, weighing 14-18 oz (400-500g). Meaty with a very pleasant flavor.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/uploads\/monthly_2021_09\/1577148124_5.jpg.e3b82656f642e473ba84ed9dbcb0292b.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/uploads\/monthly_2021_09\/1857638256_5.thumb.jpg.1fb9c39dd6627dba3b743c1abfb1e458.jpg\" alt=\"Beautiful dark heart tomato\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/uploads\/monthly_2021_09\/712444877_6.jpg.74f7661eb1b8f1e195e9515fcff428ce.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/uploads\/monthly_2021_09\/164715403_6.thumb.jpg.c05f113d94785b0fcd862765cd85c891.jpg\" alt=\"Meaty dark tomato slice\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"forum-post\">\n<div class=\"author-header\">\n<div class=\"forum-avatar\">N<\/div>\n<div class=\"author-meta\">\n<div class=\"author-name\">Nadine (Nadezhda) <span class=\"author-stats\">\u2b50 Pro Grower (11,454 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"author-geo\">\ud83d\udccd Volgograd (USDA Zone 6)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p>Rounded heart with a blunt nose, meaty, nice sweetness to it. Was mid-season for me. Had a good yield both in the dirt (open ground) and in the greenhouse. A bit smaller outdoors. Greenhouse fruits were around 14 oz (400g), outdoors they were 9-10 oz (250-300g).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/uploads\/monthly_2022_11\/1827285665_.jpg.99d4dff51a5c5f1630a093c3fdcb9991.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/uploads\/monthly_2022_11\/1540224545_.thumb.jpg.a80197b8e5c5066e4c8923d3547e4c38.jpg\" alt=\"Blunt dark oxheart on the vine\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"forum-post\">\n<div class=\"author-header\">\n<div class=\"forum-avatar\">B<\/div>\n<div class=\"author-meta\">\n<div class=\"author-name\">Borisovna (Natalia) <span class=\"author-stats\">\u2b50 Pro Grower (19,778 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"author-geo\">\ud83d\udccd Karaganda, Kazakhstan (USDA Zone 3)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p>You guys won&#8217;t believe it, but I actually managed to cram 2 roots of this monster into one planting hole. I pruned this beast to a single stem, which gave me perfectly uniform fruits, but they were massive\u20141.5 to 1.7 lbs (700-800g). Good thing it was tucked in the corner of the greenhouse; it only crushed out Lavender Lake on one side. When I finally pulled the vine at the end of the season, I measured it\u2014it was 14 ft (4 meters 25 cm) long from the root base.<\/p>\n<p>My neighbor and I admired it all summer long in anticipation. It was a late-season ripener for me, but when we finally tasted it, we were totally underwhelmed. We are used to a much bolder, punchier flavor from our dark tomatoes. And the second huge disappointment was its shelf life\u2014it is complete garbage. Just 3 days after picking, it got watery, turned to mush, and literally started leaking. Definitely not planting it again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"forum-post\">\n<div class=\"author-header\">\n<div class=\"forum-avatar\">N<\/div>\n<div class=\"author-meta\">\n<div class=\"author-name\">Nadine (Nadezhda) <span class=\"author-stats\">\u2b50 Pro Grower (11,454 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"author-geo\">\ud83d\udccd Volgograd (USDA Zone 6)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<blockquote><p><strong>Borisovna:<\/strong><br \/>\nWe are used to a much bolder, punchier flavor from our dark tomatoes. And the second huge disappointment was its shelf life&#8230; turned to mush, and literally started leaking. Definitely not planting it again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I actually thought the flavor was pretty good! I figured it tastes a lot like Brad&#8217;s Black Heart, but BBH is a much shorter plant and yields less. BBH&#8217;s fruits are bigger, though. I let my Black Steer go to 3 stems, so maybe that&#8217;s why my fruits turned out a bit smaller.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\ud83d\udccc Quick Summary (TL;DR): Bychok Chernyi (Black Steer) \ud83c\udf0d Origin: Sourced and popularized by a well-known collector (Vitaly \/ &#8220;Se\u00f1or&#8221;) from Almaty, Kazakhstan. The name translates to &#8220;Black Steer&#8221; or &#8220;Black Bull-Calf&#8221;. \ud83c\udf3f Plant Habit: Indeterminate, PL (Potato Leaf). This plant is an absolute monster! It grows incredibly vigorous and tall (up to 14 ft &#8230; <a title=\"Black Steer (Bychok Chernyi) Tomato Review\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/black-steer\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Black Steer (Bychok Chernyi) Tomato Review\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,67,5],"tags":[19,11,33,43,82,23],"class_list":["post-2818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-black-purple-tomatoes","category-oxheart-tomatoes","category-russian-eastern-european-heirlooms","tag-dark-tomato","tag-huge-tomato","tag-indeterminate","tag-late-season","tag-meaty-tomato","tag-mid-season"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2818"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2820,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2818\/revisions\/2820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}