Notes on Kibit's Ukrainian

[ScottinAtlanta]

What do you want translated, Clara? The package is in Russian, not Estonian, but she can do that, too, although most Estonians would not admit it.

[clara]

Scott, I would be very pleased about the correct transcription of the name and don't need a full translation. Thank you once more! clara

[janezee]

Robin, that is an interesting shape! Reminds me of the Peter Pepper.

j

[RobinB]

Yes, Janezee, if I was younger, I'd be blushing...

[livinonfaith]

Okay, update on my Kibit's/Kibic plants.

I've been keeping notes on these and, as of today, I have recorded 95 tomatoes for a total of 6.69 Lbs. of tomatoes from my two plants. That works out to be a touch over 1 oz. per fruit.

While that may not seem like a lot, these plants are still very small and have done well even in small containers. (around 2 1/2 gallon pots.) Also, I am not one of the better growers on here. I don't get even close to the per plant yields that our "power growers" do.
The taste got better as time went on as well. The people who have tried them have liked them. Not as much as some, but they are much better than store bought.

The plants have finally slowed almost to a stop and are just about dead from one of the diseases that is systematically destroying all my plants. However, one still has flowers and both still have a few small toms hanging in there. They have resisted better than most of the others, that's for sure! If I had sprayed these the way I should have, they would certainly still be pumping out the fruit!

I am very impressed with these little plants and would recommend them to anyone! I'm going to plant a few soon to try in the greenhouse over the Winter.

[RobinB]

Mine hasn't started ripening yet. It's loaded with fruit though. I don't remember what it tasted like two years ago! I look forward to finding out soon. It's been in the ground for only 34 days so far.

[clara]

My Tsibis/Chibis are still green - we have such a lousy, rainy summer here, even the normally very early varieties are not blushing yet with only 2 exceptions (42-Days-Tomato and Elgum's Red Cherry). For next week, some sunny days and higher temps are predicted - I do hope that will become true! clara

[livinonfaith]

Robin, I love the shapes these have, too! So funny to see what each one will look like.

I probably need to add that the totals I recorded are only the ones that actually made it inside to be weighed and do not include the ones at the beginning that had BER or the ones that the box turtle ate (He was so darn cute and happy that I couldn't even be mad!) Or that any of the other critters, including me, ate.

I probably had over 15 tomatoes that were lost to BER. The turtle, bug, bird and people eaten ones that didn't make it inside would have been at least that many, as well.

[meadowyck]

such a great looking tomato, and the history. Years ago when I first started growing tomatoes I only through of the ones that were here and now (then) grown here never really thinking about how "those" varieties came to be in the US. Now I love to hear the histories of each kind.

[RobinB]

I've had problems with BER on the Chibis/Kibits (HOW SHOULD THE NAME BE SPELLED?) too! Come to think of it, I usually have BER problems with anything with an elongated shape. I wonder why?

[livinonfaith]

Robin, I think I'm going to just start calling it by the name Andrey used, Kibic.

Since he is the one that originally sent it to Lisa at Amishland, then I figure he should know, certainly for our particular strain.

It is a little frustrating though, isn't it? I want people, like you and me, who have bought it under the Kibit's Ukrainian name to know that we're talking about the same tomato, but I want to stay true to it's origins, as well. Then it appears that the name may have changed from country to country in it's many travels.

I am just too simple to keep it all straight!

So for me, Kibic it is! (Although I am reasonably sure that some of these others are so similar that they are probably the same tomato.) We can always keep comparing them unless we find any notable differences.

It is going to be fun to hear from both you and Clara as yours ripen!

Yes, these were really bad about BER at first, but eventually seemed to work through that problem and most of them were fine.

My two other worst BER plants this year have been Juanne Flamme and Green Zebra. They are driving me crazy! I think I've gotten one Juanne Flamme out of about 14, while the White Rabbit plant in the same bale is three times taller and covered in tiny ripening fruit.

[RobinB]

My BER does seem to have cleared up (at least on the Kibic)! My main BER plants are Malachite Box and Paul Robeson.

Two Kibic are starting to ripen, only 39 days in the ground, I can't wait!

[livinonfaith]

Yay!

Don'cha love it when you've just about given up and all of a sudden....voila! Color!

On mine, they are better if I pick them when they are orange and the shoulders are still green. Then I let them sit a couple of days inside to ripen. Otherwise, if they ripen on the vine, they are mealy.

Don't know if yours will be that way, as well. But thought I would mention it, so you don't have to waste tomatoes doing the trial and error thing!

[clara]

I should knock on wood - no BER so far on Tsibis/Chibis! I only discovered one single fruit with BER in the garden, it's a red Sausage II. I'm so happy today - we've got sunshine and warm weather!! clara

[svalli]

I got quite many Eastern European varieties in a trade this year and one of them is named Kibits. It is a potato leaf variety an I think that it must be the same as described in this thread. I have sown the seeds in beginning of March and this one is the first to have buds on it. I am really excited about this variety after reading all the reviews. We have still snow on our backyard, but I have already moved the tomato plants into a small heated tent greenhouse inside my 10x12 HFGH.