{"id":7106,"date":"2026-11-05T07:52:53","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T07:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/?p=7106"},"modified":"2026-11-05T07:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T07:55:10","slug":"pink-russian-117","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tomat-pomidor.com\/en\/pink-russian-117\/","title":{"rendered":"Pink Russian 117 Tomato Review & Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\ud83c\udf45 Quick take:<\/strong> Pink Russian 117<\/strong> is a late mid-season indeterminate<\/strong> oxheart bred by Californian tomato specialist Jeff Dawson<\/strong> as a pure pink selection from the famous red\/yellow bicolor Russian 117<\/em><\/a>. It yields meaty, nearly seedless blunt hearts and irregular beefsteaks weighing 9-14 oz (250-400 g). Gardeners praise its sweet sandwich-grade flesh, but note its slender vine canopy makes blossoms vulnerable to heat scald under intense direct sun.<\/p>\n

Skip to heat tolerance & strain comparisons \u2193<\/a> | Full summary \u2193<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Growers’ Notes and Variety Overview (USDA Zones 4 & 11)<\/h2>\n
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ElenaN (Elena) \u2b50 Pro Grower (28,513 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n
\ud83d\udccd Kostroma, Russia (USDA Zone 4)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Indeterminate, mid-season salad variety. Growth habit is typical for an oxheart: not an aggressive monster, fairly slender and compact vine. Fruits are bright pink, blunt blunt-heart to flat-round, dense, meaty, almost completely seedless, and wonderfully sweet.Grew this in the greenhouse right in the sunniest row. In summer 2016 we had a relentless six-week heatwave, so only the bottom two clusters set fruit. The rest of the blossoms and the vine’s main growing tip completely torched in the heat. My takeaway: do not put this variety where it gets baked by the direct afternoon glass. Definitely growing it again, but tucked into the second row where it gets bright light without the brutal scorch.<\/p>\n

While researching this strain, I noticed there are two distinct variations floating around: Pink Russian and Pink Russian 117. Standard Pink Russian should produce a sharp, classic oxheart shape with good flavor. Pink Russian 117 has more variability in shape, ranging from flat-round beefsteaks to blunt, irregular hearts, but with outstanding flavor. Going to grow out seed from my own line alongside two different foreign sources this coming season to compare shape and flavor side-by-side.<\/p>\n

Tatiana has both logged in her database.
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elena0508 (Elena) \u2b50 Pro Grower (1,578 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
What an absolute stunner, Elena! Whose seed source did you start with?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Heat Tolerance, European Seed Sources, and Line Heritage<\/h2>\n
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ElenaN (Elena) \u2b50 Pro Grower (28,513 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n
\ud83d\udccd Kostroma, Russia (USDA Zone 4)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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elena0508 said:<\/strong>
\nWhat an absolute stunner, Elena! Whose seed source did you start with?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Elena, original seeds came via trade from an overseas collector.<\/p>\n

This season I trialed two more European seed lines: one from Gerhard Bohl \/ Hpummer, and another from Manfred Hahm-Hartmann in Germany. You could tell them apart all the way back in the seedling stage. The fruit was different, too. They threw more distinct heart shapes, still low on seed count, but the flavor profile shifted. Both were good with noticeable sweetness, but just did not have that deep richness of my original line.<\/p>\n

It really shows how several distinct strains can travel the globe under the exact same name. The strain from Manfred Hahm-Hartmann also carried unusually large seeds, despite the fruit having very few seed cavities.<\/p>\n

For now, I am sticking with my original line that I reviewed in the catalog, but I will give the Hpummer and Hahm-Hartmann seeds another trial someday. In a prime summer with great weather, their flavor might step up.<\/p>\n

Got photos taken, just haven’t sorted through the camera yet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Tiffany (Julia) \u2b50 Pro Grower (20,171 posts)<\/span><\/div>\n
\ud83d\udccd Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain (USDA Zone 11)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Pink Russian 117. Bred by Jeff Dawson as a solid pink offshoot of the collector-favorite Russian 117 (a red-and-yellow bicolor oxheart heirloom originally sent out in 1991 to Dr. Carolyn Male).Pink Russian 117 is a late-season indeterminate. Vine grows tall, up to 6 ft (1.8 m), but keeps a slender, compact habit with modest regular foliage. Trained mine to two leaders. Harvest window was quite extended, and I had to take the final batch off green at the end of the run. Yield was about average. First saw this variety displayed at a 2017 exhibition and was immediately hooked by the appearance of the fruit. Lucky for me, the flavor matched the looks. My seeds came from Valdis Pulins in Latvia.<\/p>\n

Fruits are an attractive shade of warm pink with a blunt heart profile, medium-large in size, weighing between 9-14 oz (250-400 g). Skin is smooth, tender, and thin. Interior meat is sweet, flavorful, and dense with minimal seed gel or seeds. Mostly used these for sandwich slices, but they are fantastic in fresh table salads, too.<\/p>\n

Edited November 16, 2019 by Tiffany<\/em><\/p>\n

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Full Summary: Vine Habit, Heat Resilience, Fruit, and Flavor<\/h2>\n