Not Cosmonaut Volkov

[NarnianGarden]

Vladimir: The seeds I have are from that company (Aelita), which I believe is one of the reliable gardening companies in Russia. Even then, what I got is probably a stray seed or a cross.
I might try again next year from the same seed pack and try again.

That Estonian site used to be very popular in Finland too, but the shipping costs are quite high.

[NarnianGarden]

Here's a pic of the seed pack. Definitely official

What's growing is totally different-looking already at this stage.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by NarnianGarden

Yes, you gave the link earlier, and that's also where I checked first (I usually do).

Just a sidenote: Estonian is not related to Russian at all, as it's a Fenno-Ugric language, just like Finnish - not Slavic like Russian, Polish, Ukrianian etc.

Clara is a student of languages and she understands many and was a teacher herself, mainly of Latin,

She loves languages, so no doubt you are right and I was wrong when I said related to Russian,but she was able to read almost all the descriptions what ever language skills she had and still has.

Carolyn

[MrBig46]

This is Cosmonaut Volkov with me this year. I can send the seeds, I have lots of them.
Vladimír

[NarnianGarden]

It looks lovely, Vladimir.

My 'Not-Cosmonaut-Volkov' is growing well and keeps pushing new fruits (which are consistently cylindar).. Not a loss at all, I'm really curious to see how the color turns out.
Not Volkov, it must be Gagarin
(just watched a TV documentary about Cosmonauts this week with interviews and original footage... I think I'll stay here on planet Earth)

[Torquill]

Well, my CV looks exactly like Vladimir's -- large, round, red fruits. Very solid, but average flavor. The word I would use is "blocky". I got seeds from David (dwlcrl) some years back, and finally got a chance to grow it myself. It'll have a place in the garden when I get around to doing a set of "space theme" tomatoes -- NASA, Star Trek, Vorlon, and so on.

[NarnianGarden]

Hi Torquill,
Glad to hear that yours were just 'average flavor', so I did not miss something extraordinarily unique. My Definitely-Not-CV is very productive, full of oval / banana shaped fruits with dark shoulders. I'm beginning to wonder if the color will be black, red, or even orange (as in Orange Banana, one of my favorites taste-wise)
Perhaps I need to save seeds from this surprise, as it might be a stray seed / cross, while others in the packet the real Cosmonaut V. I guess I can't find out until next season.

[zipcode]

Since the most likely culprit is a cross, it will probably be red.

[gdaddybill]

I planted a commercially grafted (Mighty 'Mato) Cosmonaut Volkov plant through Terr. Seeds this year and it is more Beefsteak shaped than globe shaped. It arrived rather late for Central Texas(April) but it is still growing and might even survive until fall. So far, I've only harvested 3 tomatoes from it with no. 3 (Pictured) being the best looking. They have been very tasty--acid but not sour with home grown flavor.

[NarnianGarden]

So I have my answer. Not the name of this variety, but color: brick red.
The consistency is kind of dry-ish, like a paste tomato - could be San Marzano (have grown that) or something similar.
Ah well, at least the plant is prolific...

[Andrey_BY]

The original Cosmonaut Volkov is very tasty and prolific with more oblate red fruit up to 500g. This variety was bred by Igor Maslov, Russian space engineer from Moscow region.

[NarnianGarden]

I have some seeds that should be OK (from Vladimir) so perhaps I'll try again next year.