Excellent taste, high yield and long-term fruiting have made the Russian size tomato very popular over the past 20 years.
Description of the variety
The variety is late-ripening, the first fruits ripen only 125 - 127 days after the sprouts emerge. The tomato is indeterminate, has unlimited growth, is highly branched, and can reach a height of 180 cm. It requires pinching, thanks to which the plant is formed into 1 or 2 powerful stems with a large number of dark green leaves.After the formation of the ninth leaf, the first inflorescence is formed in its axil, and then after 3–4 leaves.
The yield of the variety is quite high, and fruiting is very long. Fruit harvesting occurs from August until the onset of cold weather in September - October.
Fruit characteristics
Tomatoes of the Russian size variety have outstanding qualities and have many ways to be consumed.
Appearance and structure
The fruit has a flat-round, slightly flattened horizontally, slightly ribbed shape. The color of an unripe tomato Russian size F1 is light green, the color of a ripe fruit is intensely red. The fruit is characterized by multiple chambers and small chambers. The tomatoes are very large and fleshy. Their weight ranges from 650 grams to 2 kg.
Use
The pulp of Russian size tomatoes is tender and juicy, with an excellent balanced taste, which many other hybrids cannot boast of. Moderately sweet fruits, perfect for fresh consumption, for preparing salads and vegetable slices. It is possible to prepare canned tomatoes for the winter in crushed form.
As reviews from gardening and dacha lovers testify, the fruits hold their shape well in the form of slices in the marinade. Due to their large size, it is impossible to preserve whole fruits. Tomatoes of this variety make excellent tomato paste and juice. The fruits also go well with other vegetables in all kinds of canned assorted dishes, adjika and caviar.
Recommendations for agricultural technology
Russian size is a giant tomato, as a result of which it has its own growing characteristics.
Sowing and planting
You should start germinating the seeds of this tall tomato only in early April.Within a week, friendly shoots appear, which after about another week and a half already have two true leaves and need picking. After a month, the seedlings are transplanted to a permanent place. Russian size tomatoes can only be grown in a greenhouse. The plants are large, so they need to be planted rarely so that the tomatoes have enough space and resources.
It is better not to place more than 2 bushes on one square meter, and when growing plants with 1 stem - no more than 3.
Already a few days after planting, it is necessary to tie up the plants and systematically repeat the tie as the stems grow.
From below, the leaves should be torn off down to the first inflorescence and pinched. Side shoots promote tillering, which can be used in plant formation. If the goal is to obtain medium-sized fruits, then it is better to choose 2 or 3 strong sprouts. To get the largest possible fruits, you need to leave 1 stem.
As the tomato stem grows, the apical bud is pinched off.
Fertilizer application
Due to the properties of the variety, it grows intensively and unlimitedly, you need to be very careful when using fertilizing with a high nitrogen content, as it can cause even more vegetation and branching. As a result, all the plant’s resources can be used for the growth of new shoots, and not for fruiting.
It is better to choose phosphorus and potassium fertilizers and use fishmeal.
Watering
It is necessary to systematically water these powerful plants abundantly, which will promote the development of deep roots.Insignificant and frequent water consumption can lead to a predominance of lateral and adventitious roots, which are unable to provide the plant with moisture and nutrients during cold weather or during dry periods.
Fruit formation and harvesting
The inflorescences of the tomato are Russian size, simple type, loose. On one hand, 2–3 truly gigantic fruits can set and ripen. Everyone who has planted this hybrid on their site knows how to achieve this. After the first tomato is tied on the lower hand and reaches 4–5 cm in diameter, it is necessary to pick off the flowers and small ovaries, leaving 2–3 of the largest fruits on the hands. If desired, you can leave only one tomato on the bunch, then it can grow to the size of a small melon.
The variety is characterized by an extended fruiting period, which lasts from August until the onset of autumn cold weather. From one square meter you can harvest up to 8 kg of tomatoes. But giant tomatoes can only ripen under conditions of a balance of temperature and humidity, so they need to be grown in greenhouses.
Features of immunity
Like many hybrids, the Russian size tomato is quite resistant to various diseases, for example, tobacco mosaic, cladosporiosis and fusarium. In case of violation of agricultural technology, it may be subject to manifestations of late blight.
Simple weeding and hilling can prevent the proliferation of all kinds of pests around tomatoes, but it is better to carry out preventive treatment of plants with special chemicals during the growing season.
Tomatoes Russian size F1 are a valuable variety that require special attention when growing, but pay off painstaking care with high yields and wonderful taste.Almost every owner of a summer cottage who has planted this variety at least once admires its merits and grows it again and again.
