Quick Summary of Zarya (Dawn)
📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Zarya
- 🌍 Origin: A classic Russian heirloom known for producing exceptionally large fruits. The name translates to “Dawn”.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate. A very vigorous and powerful vine that can reach 5 to 6.5 ft (1.5 – 2 m) in height, or even taller in a greenhouse. Best grown to a single leader (one stem) to maximize fruit size.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Bright red (often with an orange-red hue), oblate, glossy beefsteaks. This variety does not produce small fruits; they are consistently massive, typically ranging from 1.1 to 2.2 lbs (500 g to over 1 kg). The trusses are exceptionally strong and rarely kink under the heavy weight.
- 👅 Flavor: Very meaty, dense, and thick-walled with a great classic tomato flavor.
I got this variety from Vladimir Fedorovich Syray. Here is his original description of it:
Original Description:
Bush: 5 to 6.5 ft (1.5 – 2 m), very vigorous. It is highly recommended to prune it to a single stem. The fruit is red, oblate, and glossy. There are no small or even medium fruits on this plant, only massive ones weighing around 2.2 lbs (1 kg) or more. The meaty, dense, thick-walled fruits attract attention not only because of their size.
I definitely believe him 🙂. Mine turned out quite a bit smaller, averaging around 1.1 to 1.3 lbs (500-600 g). But the fruits are incredibly uniform in size all the way up to the very top of the plant. The overall yield wasn’t amazing for me. I got 6 fruits per bush. The clusters mostly had 1 fruit each, with a couple of clusters having 2. But they look absolutely gorgeous! I had them planted in a pretty bad spot, so I think they just didn’t reach their full potential. I will definitely grow it again.
Honestly, it seemed to me like they are very similar to Bolgarskiy Zhemchug (Bulgarian Pearl). Unfortunately, I don’t have a photo of them on the vine.
Just want to add: they are still setting fruit. Those 6 tomatoes were just the fully ripe ones I picked. I’m just worried that the newer ones won’t have time to ripen outdoors in the open ground!
Galina, mine looks exactly like yours. About 1.2 lbs (550 g) each, with roughly 8 fruits per bush, though the later ones were slightly smaller (the very first one was 550 g). The bush itself reached almost 10 ft (3 meters) tall 😄, and the taste turned out to be fantastic 😋.
The color is more of a dark orange hue rather than a true red.
Yeah, Alena, an orange-red color is probably a more accurate description.
Here is the second truss on my Zarya.
I’m going to the garden today, I’ll take pictures of the upper trusses too.
I took these photos of Zarya’s upper trusses yesterday. Turns out there’s actually a cluster with 3 fruits on it.
I’ve been planting Zarya for a few years now. It’s a fairly low-maintenance variety that shows good yields. In the greenhouse, it grows to about 6.5 ft (2 m). The fruits are tasty and incredibly large. I’ve had ones weighing up to 2.2 lbs (1 kg).
I really loved this variety. It’s perfect for anyone who loves growing giant tomatoes. Bright red color, and the flesh is dense and very meaty. Fruit weight ranged from 1.5 to 2 lbs (700-900 g). Despite being loaded with such heavyweights, the truss handles the weight perfectly without snapping or kinking.
