{"id":4479,"date":"2026-10-05T17:01:02","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T17:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/?p=4479"},"modified":"2026-10-05T17:01:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T17:01:02","slug":"zolotnik","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/zolotnik\/","title":{"rendered":"Zolotnik Tomato Review: Ultra-Early Yellow Micro-Dwarf"},"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;4479&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;Rate this&quot;,&quot;legend&quot;:&quot;0\\\/5 - (0 votes)&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;24&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Zolotnik Tomato Review: Ultra-Early Yellow Micro-Dwarf&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\">Rate this<\/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): Zolotnik<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>\ud83c\udf0d <strong>Origin:<\/strong> A Russian micro-dwarf variety. The name &#8220;Zolotnik&#8221; refers to an old measure of weight (often used for gold) and comes from the famous proverb &#8220;Small is the zolotnik, but expensive&#8221; (meaning: good things come in small packages).<\/li>\n<li>\ud83c\udf3f <strong>Plant Habit:<\/strong> Micro-dwarf\/Determinate. Incredibly compact, staying around 12 inches (30 cm) tall. It starts off upright and then sprawls out slightly as the heavy trusses weigh down the suckers. Perfect for ultra-tight spacing (5-6 plants per square meter) or container growing.<\/li>\n<li>\ud83c\udf45 <strong>Fruit Characteristics:<\/strong> Bright, glowing golden-yellow cherry\/salad tomatoes. Despite the tiny plant size, the fruits are relatively decent-sized for a micro-dwarf.<\/li>\n<li>\ud83d\udc45 <strong>Flavor:<\/strong> Rated 5\/5 for its category. A great balance of sweet and sour.<\/li>\n<li>\u23f3 <strong>Maturity:<\/strong> Ultra-early. It often outpaces varieties started indoors under lights, even when the seeds are directly sown into the garden dirt.<\/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\">t<\/div>\n<div class=\"author-meta\">\n<div class=\"author-name\">tomatinka (Vera) <span class=\"author-stats\">\u2b50 Pro Grower (14,911 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"author-geo\">\ud83d\udccd Tyumen Region (USDA Zone 3)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p>This little bush is only about 12 inches (30 cm) tall. I direct-sowed it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/tomato-seedlings-outdoors\/\">right into the garden bed<\/a>, and it was the very first to start setting fruit and ripening. It completely outpaced the seedlings I had started indoors. I think it perfectly justifies the proverb &#8220;Small is the zolotnik, but expensive&#8221; (good things come in small packages).<\/p>\n<p>The glowing yellow tomatoes absolutely covered the little bush. Any suckers that I didn&#8217;t manage to prune off by the end of summer immediately started setting fruit too. When the main bush finished fruiting and started to dry up, a new harvest started ripening on the basal suckers shooting up from the roots, which were only about 6 inches (15 cm) tall.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, I somehow forgot to take a picture of the ripe ones&#8230; The bush is shorter than Yantarnyi, but the tomatoes are bigger.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/img-fotki.yandex.ru\/get\/6402\/39029122.4\/0_84bf8_f25a2680_L.jpg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img-fotki.yandex.ru\/get\/6402\/39029122.4\/0_84bf8_f25a2680_L.jpg\" alt=\"Compact Zolotnik micro dwarf plant loaded with green tomatoes\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"forum-post\">\n<div class=\"author-header\">\n<div class=\"forum-avatar\">R<\/div>\n<div class=\"author-meta\">\n<div class=\"author-name\">Rodebielesumer (Elena) <span class=\"author-stats\">\u2b50 Pro Grower (1,832 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"author-geo\">\ud83d\udccd Germany\/Luxembourg Border (USDA Zone 7\/8)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p>Such a tiny little bush. It&#8217;s very compact at first, and then it sprawls out a bit as the suckers get heavy. I&#8217;d definitely group it with the ultra-early varieties, right alongside Iyunskiy (June), Turboreaktivny, and Utenok (Duckling). You can plant all of them very tightly together, 5-6 plants per square meter (approx 10 sq ft).<\/p>\n<p>It fruited for us from mid-June all the way to mid-September. It&#8217;s still sitting under the row cover, but it has stopped flowering. The tomatoes soak up the sun until they turn a glowing golden color. Delicious, sweet-and-sour flavor, 5 out of 5 stars.<\/p>\n<p>Seeds were from Tomatinka.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/uploads\/newforum\/galleries\/195\/2212-101017094932.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/uploads\/newforum\/galleries\/195\/2212-101017094932.jpeg\" alt=\"Tiny Zolotnik seedling planted in the garden\" width=\"1000\" height=\"664\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/uploads\/newforum\/galleries\/195\/2212-101017095032.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/uploads\/newforum\/galleries\/195\/2212-101017095032.jpeg\" alt=\"Zolotnik plant with ripe glowing yellow tomatoes\" width=\"1000\" height=\"664\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/uploads\/newforum\/galleries\/195\/2212-101017095127.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/uploads\/newforum\/galleries\/195\/2212-101017095127.jpeg\" alt=\"Yellow tomatoes on a sprawling micro dwarf bush\" width=\"1000\" height=\"664\" \/><\/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\">tomatinka (Vera) <span class=\"author-stats\">\u2b50 Pro Grower (14,911 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"author-geo\">\ud83d\udccd Tyumen Region (USDA Zone 3)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p>Yes Lenochka, it is incredibly early. For me, this one and Antoshka are the absolute earliest out of all the yellow\/orange varieties.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"editor-note\" style=\"background: #eef7ff; padding: 15px; border-left: 4px solid #2196F3; margin-top: 15px; font-size: 1.2em;\"><strong>\ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83c\udf3e Editor&#8217;s Note: Direct Sowing Tomatoes<\/strong><br \/>\nIn the first post, Vera mentions she <strong>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/tomato-seedlings-outdoors\/\">direct-sowed it right into the garden bed.<\/a>&#8220;<\/strong> While almost all heirloom tomatoes in cold climates must be started indoors 6-8 weeks before the last frost, there is a specific category of Russian ultra-earlies (like Zolotnik, Turboreaktivny, and Iyunskiy) that have been selectively bred over generations to germinate and fruit rapidly in cold soil. For growers in short-season zones, these are fantastic backup varieties in case your indoor seedlings fail!<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\ud83d\udccc Quick Summary (TL;DR): Zolotnik \ud83c\udf0d Origin: A Russian micro-dwarf variety. The name &#8220;Zolotnik&#8221; refers to an old measure of weight (often used for gold) and comes from the famous proverb &#8220;Small is the zolotnik, but expensive&#8221; (meaning: good things come in small packages). \ud83c\udf3f Plant Habit: Micro-dwarf\/Determinate. Incredibly compact, staying around 12 inches (30 &#8230; <a title=\"Zolotnik Tomato Review: Ultra-Early Yellow Micro-Dwarf\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/zolotnik\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Zolotnik Tomato Review: Ultra-Early Yellow Micro-Dwarf\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,3,61],"tags":[526,44,1136,77],"class_list":["post-4479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bush-and-dwarf","category-cherry-grape-tomatoes","category-orange-and-yellow-tomatoes","tag-compact-bush","tag-container-tomato","tag-early-yellow-tomato","tag-micro-dwarf-tomato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4479","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=4479"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4480,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4479\/revisions\/4480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}