{"id":5899,"date":"2026-10-20T14:19:55","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T14:19:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/?p=5899"},"modified":"2026-10-20T14:20:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T14:20:05","slug":"m16-saraev","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/m16-saraev\/","title":{"rendered":"M16 (Saraev) Tomato Review & Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\ud83c\udf45 Quick take:<\/strong> M16 (Saraev) is a highly rugged, cold-tolerant indeterminate<\/strong> vine that produces impressive 10.5-17.5 oz (300-500 g) red beefsteaks<\/strong>. Bred specifically to handle temperature swings, it doesn’t drop blossoms during cold snaps or heatwaves. Growers praise it for its perfectly balanced, old-school tomato flavor, long harvest window, and ability to keep producing heavy yields right up until the killing frost. Full summary \u2193<\/a><\/div>\n

Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zone 5 Experience)<\/h2>\n
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S<\/div>\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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Description from the seed packet (seeds sourced from the St. Petersburg Organic Farming Club): M16. A cold-tolerant tall variety. Height up to 6.5 ft (2 m), fruits 10.5-17.5 oz (300-500 g), slightly elongated, meaty, firm, and red. High yielding, requires partial pruning and staking.<\/p>\n

I grew this one in the greenhouse. The main stalk is massive, large dark green foliage, just a very rugged plant overall. Mine easily pushed past 6.5 ft (2 m) tall. Pruned it to a single stem. It didn’t drop a single blossom regardless of whether we had heatwaves or cold snaps.<\/p>\n

The fruits are very uniform, running about 10.5 oz (300 g) each. Meaty, firm, and the taste is that classic old-school tomato flavor. I’d call it perfectly balanced. Honestly, it’s weird the seed packet didn’t mention the flavor profile at all, so I was expecting something pretty mediocre and was very pleasantly surprised. It has the perfect hit of sweetness, acidity, and aroma. Ripe tomatoes don’t turn to mush on the vine if you’re late picking them, and they seem to have a decent shelf life (though I didn’t test exactly how many days they’ll hold).<\/p>\n

Mid-season maturity. It has a really long harvest window since the trusses ripen progressively rather than all at once. Basically, it just keeps producing until the frost takes it out.<\/p>\n

Adding one more detail: the baby fruits start out with a little beak on the blossom end, but it completely disappears by the time they are fully ripe.<\/p>\n

Edited January 2, 2015 by Sweet<\/em><\/p>\n

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Lantana (Raisa) \u2b50 Grower (957 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Got this one on my grow list for this season. Planning to put some in the greenhouse and some out in the dirt so I can compare how they do.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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