{"id":5409,"date":"2026-10-14T15:55:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T15:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/?p=5409"},"modified":"2026-10-14T15:56:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T15:56:30","slug":"long-keeper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/long-keeper\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Keeper Tomato Review & Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\ud83c\udf45 Quick take:<\/strong> Long Keeper<\/strong> is a late-season indeterminate<\/strong> variety bred specifically for long-term winter storage. Carrying the alc<\/em> delayed-ripening gene, these tomatoes are usually picked at the mature green or breaker stage before the first frost and left to ripen slowly indoors. While fresh summer heirlooms easily beat it in flavor, growers agree that pulling a decent-tasting, homegrown Long Keeper out of a box in December or January absolutely crushes anything you can buy at the grocery store. Full summary \u2193<\/a><\/div>\n

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Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 4-6 Experience)<\/h2>\n

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Sweet (Svetlana) \u2b50 Pro Grower (8,792 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n
\ud83d\udccd Belgorod Region, Russia (USDA Zone 5)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Seed packet description: Belongs to the slow-ripening storage group. Indeterminate, vigorous vine, hits 5 ft (1.5 m) tall. Fruits are large, meaty, and firm, averaging 8.8 oz (250 g), with some reaching 14 oz (400 g). Meant for fresh eating, long-term storage, and canning. Taste is rated highly for fresh eating and pickling. Keeps fresh until February or March. Resistant to TMV, fusarium, and leaf mold.
\nPhoto credit: Lana_s_Kavkaza<\/p>\n

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azure (Svetlana) \u2b50 Pro Grower (10,895 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n
\ud83d\udccd Don Region, Russia (USDA Zone 6)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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How do you even know when it’s time to pick this one? It spends a whole month ripening off the vine anyway.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Alevtina \u2b50 Pro Grower (716 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Folks are saying it tastes absolutely awful. Bought the seeds before I read the reviews. Fell for the packet description. Guess I’ll plant just one vine, verify it sucks, and move on. \ud83d\ude22<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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elena1984 (Elena) \u2b50 Pro Grower (7,703 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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On 12\/28\/2014, azure said:
\nHow do you even know when it’s time to pick this one? It spends a whole month ripening off the vine anyway.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sveta, pretty sure it still hits the breaker stage on the vine, it just takes way longer to ripen up on the counter later.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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azure (Svetlana) \u2b50 Pro Grower (10,895 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n
\ud83d\udccd Don Region, Russia (USDA Zone 6)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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On 12\/28\/2014, Alevtina said:
\nFolks are saying it tastes absolutely awful. Bought the seeds before I read the reviews. Fell for the packet description. Guess I’ll plant just one vine, verify it sucks, and move on. \ud83d\ude22<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I got a feeling it’ll still taste way better than grocery store plastic tomatoes in December. Might be wrong, gonna test it out too.<\/p>\n

On 12\/28\/2014, elena1984 said:
\nSveta, pretty sure it still hits the breaker stage on the vine, it just takes way longer to ripen up on the counter later.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Just gotta make sure I don’t miss the picking window.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Tatyana \u2b50 Pro Grower (2,372 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n
\ud83d\udccd Leningrad Region, Russia (USDA Zone 4)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Planted one vine back in the 2014 season. Heavy yielder and practically bulletproof against disease. Beautiful plant. Knew it was a late one so I started seeds mid-Feb, started ripening on the vine in August. The leftovers I picked in September lasted till November before they started rotting. Taste was mediocre for a summer tomato, but once everything else ran out it was actually pretty decent, definitely better than store-bought. Mine never broke 3.5 oz (100 g), didn’t get any big ones.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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hinata (Natalya) \u2b50 Pro Grower (713 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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On 1\/15\/2015, Tatyana said:
\nThe leftovers I picked in September lasted till November before they started rotting. Taste was mediocre for a summer tomato, but once everything else ran out it was actually pretty decent, definitely better than store-bought.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Got this variety from Gusev too.
\nMaybe I should sow it in April, pick it in the fall, and just let it ripen until December? Store tomatoes right now are a nightmare, super expensive and totally bland. My son still inhales them in salads, but my husband and I just can’t stomach them after eating our own top-tier homegrown stuff.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Tatyana \u2b50 Pro Grower (2,372 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n
\ud83d\udccd Leningrad Region, Russia (USDA Zone 4)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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My Long Keeper was from Biotekhnika. Adding to the packet description: at the mature green stage it turns a milky white color, won’t fully ripen on the plant, and will just drop off the vine once it hits mature green. Gets that creamy-pink color at full ripeness, about 30-40 days after picking. Mine actually turned that creamy-pink before I even picked them, meaning they ripened on the vine. Maybe sowing later and picking them while they’re still whitish really is the trick for good storage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Alevtina \u2b50 Pro Grower (716 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Got my seeds from Biotekhnika too.
\nTatyana, when did you start your seeds?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Tatyana \u2b50 Pro Grower (2,372 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n
\ud83d\udccd Leningrad Region, Russia (USDA Zone 4)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Mid-February.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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vladimir1801 (Vladimir) \u2b50 Pro Grower (640 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Bumping this thread to drop a quick review. If you want homegrown tomatoes for New Year’s, plant this and you’ll be a happy camper \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Artemiy \u2b50 Pro Grower (506 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n
\ud83d\udccd Vladimir Region, Russia (USDA Zone 4)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Tomatoes with delayed ripening genes are rarely all that tasty or nutritious, this one carries the alc gene.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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KsenaZ (Kseniya) \u2b50 Pro Grower (1,479 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Planted it outside in the dirt just for laughs. A bunch of them actually ripened on the vine. Taste is perfectly fine for an outdoor tomato. Not a beefsteak by any means, but definitely not flavorless. Not overly acidic either. Picked the rest into crates to ripen indoors. We’ll see how they hold up later.<\/p>\n

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kasog \ud83c\udf31 Newbie (10 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Can anybody tell me if Long Keeper and Reverend Morrow\u2019s Long Keeper are the exact same variety or two different ones?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Full Summary: Plant, Yield, Taste and Storage<\/h2>\n