The Bull's Heart tomato is a favorite of summer residents. Description and characteristics, cultivation and care, possible diseases (Photo & Video) + Reviews

The Bull's Heart tomato can be called a well-deserved favorite of all gardeners. There is probably not a person in the middle zone who does not know the taste of this tomato. The Ox Heart variety has earned its popularity precisely because of its special taste: the tomato pulp is very sweet and meaty. These tomatoes have many advantages, but they also have their own disadvantages, features and requirements for growing conditions - the gardener should know about all this even at the stage of purchasing seeds.

Characteristics of the Bull's Heart tomato and a detailed description of the variety can be found in this article. Here we will talk about agricultural technology and the stages of growing these tomatoes.

Characteristics of the variety

Tall bushes of the determinate type grow to a height of about 1.4-1.8 m. The strong stem of the plants allows them to withstand a fruit weight of more than 500 g. Fruiting of the bushes begins 120-140 days after the appearance of the first shoots.

Most often, the variety is grown in summer cottages or private plots. The variety is not widely used on an industrial scale.

Some varieties of fruit resemble a human heart

A special feature of the Bull Heart variety is the size and shape of the fruit. They are usually pointed at the tip of the fruit and are heart-shaped. Tomatoes can weigh from 100 to 600 g.

The maximum recorded weight is about 1 kg . The largest fruits are formed on the lower part of the bushes. At the top of the stem, smaller tomatoes are 100-150 g. There can be up to 5 fruits in one cluster.

A spreading plant with a small number of leaves is suitable for growing both under cover and in open ground.

Reviews from gardeners who planted the variety

Angelina

I really liked the variety - productive, disease-free, tasty fruits. Mid-season, tall, ind. variety. Sets fruit under unfavorable conditions, does not shed the ovary. When the plant is formed into one stem, there may be giant fruits. The taste is excellent, sweet, sugary.

Lana_s_Kavkaza, Pyatigorsk

Large bull's heart from Sivukha. I liked the variety, all the fruits are large, heart-shaped, the flesh is dense and fleshy. Mid-season, tall, 1.6-1.8 m in the western part. Quite large fruits, rich, balanced taste.

Fairy

I had it from the Russian Vegetable Garden and planted it in 2022. The shape was somehow not heart-shaped, but otherwise it was good! Large-fruited, tasty, meaty. Despite the thin skin, it lay there and was eaten in the last rows.

Ninulia, southeast of the Nizhny Novgorod region

I really liked the variety. The tomatoes were large and very tasty! And they didn’t hurt us with the harvest!

Subspecies

The usual color of tomato peel is scarlet (King London, Ox heart pink).

But there are other varieties of the variety with skin:

• yellow (Brown's Yellow Giant)
• red (Bull's heart red)
• orange (Bull's heart orange F1)
• Brad's black heart
• white (White Oxheart)

The most famous varieties are those bred by Russian breeders: “Bull’s Heart Pink”, “Bull’s Heart Orange F1”, “Bull’s Heart Red”.

Brown's Yellow Giant

PROS:

• large-fruited
• high yield
• good gastronomic qualities of fruits
• presence of subspecies.

MINUSES:

• the harvested crop must be used almost immediately
• bushes require constant care
• plants have a late harvest period of about 4 months.

I have been growing "Bull's heart pink" since 1987. I'm satisfied with the yield. The bush is strong and can support up to 9 kg of tomatoes.

Simone

A friend of mine has been planting Bull's Heart tomatoes for several years. Most of all, she appreciates them for their excellent taste and size of the fruit. The first time I tried them was at her place. Now I plan to plant this variety myself on my plot.

Anna

The main nuances in cultivating a bull's heart

It is very important to remember that in the matter of growing tomatoes of the variety we are interested in, some nuances play a special role. Other subtleties that you miss at first will automatically be remembered over time, and you will increase the yield of your plants.

The main thing to remember about bull's heart tomatoes is the importance of soil quality, fertilizer, and proper watering. These three components will “stretch” even the most shabby farming enterprise, delighting them with juicy fruits in the shape of the heart of a horned beast.

You should also carefully prepare the seeds. Adult plants will be able to overcome adversity, but seedlings will have a hard time, so take care to pre-treat the seeds before planting.

Tomatoes of the variety we are interested in have many advantages, but the most important of them is the excellent taste of the fruit.

Productivity

Plants grown under cover produce more fruit. 8-12 kg of tomatoes are harvested from one greenhouse bush. In open ground, the variety can produce 3.5-5 kg ​​of gigantic tomatoes. Their skin is thin.

Easily separated from the pulp. The largest tomatoes form subspecies with dark skin.

Variety "Bull's heart red"

They taste sweet, with a slight sourness. The inside is fleshy, dense, not juicy. They can be eaten fresh, added to salads, or used for canning and preparing various dishes.

Advantages and disadvantages

The main advantage of "Bull's Heart" over other varieties of tomatoes is the unique taste of the fruit. Fleshy pulp with a pleasant sweet-sour taste makes these tomatoes the kings of salads. It is impossible not to note the productivity of the variety. A couple of tomato bushes can feed a large family for several months. And the size of the tomatoes will delight the heart of any gardener.

Another factor that gives this variety an advantage over its peers is the ability to grow crops from its own seeds. Having purchased planting material once, you can subsequently collect seeds from ripened fruits. The main disadvantage of this variety is the need for constant care of the plants. They do not grow on their own; they must be cared for and cherished.

Features of agricultural technology

To obtain the maximum number of fruits in the central part of Russia, it is recommended to plant plants in a greenhouse. In most cases, they are planted in open ground only in the southern regions.

Bull's heart orange F1

It is grown by seedlings. The Bull's Heart variety is considered a demanding variety of tomatoes.

We plant the ox heart without any shelter. We follow all the rules of agricultural technology. To avoid fungal diseases, we carry out preventive measures a few weeks after planting. Tomatoes grow big and don’t get sick.

Irina

Preparing seeds for sowing

Seeds are sown in early spring . The seeds of the plant can be prepared independently in the fall, so they retain their varietal qualities. The exception is the varieties - F1 hybrids.

The following activities should be carried out:

1. Place the seed material in melt water for 12 hours. You can take clean snow and put it in a warm place, or take ice out of the freezer. Melt water should be at room temperature.
2. Disinfect the seeds in a solution of potassium permanganate. Seeds are poured into a slightly pink solution of potassium permanganate and kept for no more than 45 minutes. Then pour the liquid into a strainer. The remaining seeds are washed with clean water.

Brad's black heart tomato

For me, “Bull’s Heart” matures very slowly. By the end of summer, pink specimens only appear. The main part ripens after harvest. I get no more than four tomatoes in my brush.

Sidorenko

Sowing seedlings

Soil from the store is selected from the island. If the soil mixture is prepared independently, it should include:

• leaf soil
• peat
• river sand
• humus

Traditionally, wooden boxes or plastic containers are chosen as containers for planting. Fill the container with soil so that the soil does not reach 3 cm to the edges.

Sowing is carried out in pre-treated, moist, warm soil. Sowing depth – 1-2 cm. Distance between adjacent seeds – 2-3 cm.

Ripe tomato White Oxheart

After planting, the boxes are covered with transparent glass, a bag and placed in a warm place. After the first shoots appear, the shelter is removed. The box is placed in a bright place in the house.

Picking is done after the formation of 2-3 true leaves. At the same time, weak plants are removed and strong ones are transplanted into separate cups or into a more spacious box.

Hardening of seedlings

The process of hardening seedlings

Before transplanting to a permanent place, it is recommended to harden off the grown seedlings. To do this, on warm, sunny days they are taken out to the balcony, loggia or garden. The time spent in the air is increased daily.

Transplanting seedlings

Seedlings are transplanted into the greenhouse at the end of April, beginning of May. The exact timing depends on climatic conditions and the availability of heating in the greenhouse. It is recommended to plant tomatoes in open ground only in the second half of May and early June, when the danger of night frosts has passed.

Bull heart pink

If it is cold or damp outside, it is recommended to postpone transplanting seedlings to a permanent location until weather conditions improve.

Soil preparation

The soil in the area for tomatoes must contain a sufficient amount of nutrients and be air and water permeable. The pH of the soil should be between 6-6.5. You should choose a part of the garden with plenty of sunlight, but without drafts and close groundwater.

Soil preparation

It is recommended to prepare the place for seedlings in the fall by adding organic fertilizers to the ground during digging . If the soil was not enriched with organic matter at the end of the season, in the spring you should add 8-10 kg of compost or humus per m2.

It is also useful to sow green manure plants in the tomato plot in early spring:

• radish
• alfalfa
• mustard
• phacelia, etc.

If nutrients were not added either in the fall or in the spring, mineral fertilizers should be added to each hole during planting. For example, 1 tsp. nitrophoska.

The best predecessors for tomatoes: onions, root vegetables, legumes, cabbage, annual herbs.

Rules for landing in a permanent place

When growing Oxheart tomatoes in a greenhouse, be prepared for the tomatoes to take up most of the cover. This is due to the fact that they are planted in a greenhouse, leaving a distance of 1 m between the beds. The distance between two bushes is at least 40 cm.

Planting depth is 12-15 cm. Planting to a greater depth is possible, but about 4-5 cm should remain between the surface of the earth and the first true leaf. According to experienced vegetable growers, 1/3 of the stem can be buried - up to the cotyledon leaves, but not more.

Planting seedlings in open ground

If the seedlings are planted under cover, the air temperature in it should be 20-22 C during the day and 16-18 C at night. Until the seedlings take root, it is recommended to shade them during the hot sun.

We have many years of experience in growing the variety. In central Russia they do not ripen on bushes. Therefore, either they should initially be planted under cover, or already green tomatoes should be brought home and left to ripen in a warm place. But in a greenhouse they are more likely to suffer from late blight.

Lyudmila

History of creation

According to some sources, Bull's Heart is a variety of folk selection that came to us from Italy, according to others, it comes from the Stavropol Territory. Despite the fact that large sweet tomatoes were successfully grown at the beginning of the last century, in Russia only in 2001 an application was submitted for registration of the variety in the State Register. After 2 years, it was recognized as a selection achievement and allowed to be grown throughout the Russian Federation. The copyright holder was the agricultural company Search.

Many hybrids of Ox Heart have been bred, differing in ripening time and color - the fruits can be not only red, but also amber, orange, crimson and even almost black.

Care

Plant care is no different from other nightshade varieties and includes:

• watering
• feeding
• loosening
• ventilation of greenhouses
• stepsoning
• mulching
• tying

Watering

The variety is considered drought-resistant. After transplanting to a permanent place, during the rooting of newly planted young plants, there is no need to water them. As soon as the bushes begin to actively grow, watering can be resumed.

On average, for 1 m2 of beds 1-2 times a week you need 5-7 liters of liquid for young plants, 12 liters for adult bushes.

Watering tomatoes over the leaves can cause fungal diseases

On hot days, during the ripening of tomatoes, the maximum amount of water is required - up to 15 l/m2.

For irrigation, you should use warm (20-22 C) settled water . The soil should be moistened early in the morning or evening. Bull's heart tomatoes should be watered only at the root, avoiding water getting on the stem and leaves.

Ventilation of the greenhouse

On warm days, greenhouses need to be ventilated daily. In hot weather, shelter windows should be kept open. Overheating the room can hinder the pollination process.

When growing tomatoes, the greenhouse must be regularly ventilated

The air humidity under the shelter should be 65-70%.

Planted in the Pushkinsky district of the Moscow region. I couldn't ripen them outdoors in open ground. My mother-in-law planted it under cover, and it was ripe before it was removed.

Tigrov

Bush formation

Bull's heart bears fruit well when the bushes form into one stem. The top of the stem is removed when 7-8 clusters with fruits form on the plant.

Stepsoning

"Bull's Heart" is heavily overgrown with stepsons. If you do not remove them in time, this leads to the fact that the bushes devote all their energy to their growth. At the same time, the fruits grow small. Therefore, this variety is not recommended for novice gardeners to plant.

Bull's heart tomatoes need staking

Pinching is the removal of excess shoots on the leaf axils. It is recommended to remove the stepsons when their length has not yet reached 5 cm. Until this moment, there is no risk of injury to the plants. The growth of such shoots must be monitored regularly. Usually the need to remove new stepsons arises every week.

Top dressing

During the growing season, tomatoes are fed 3-4 times. If signs of deficiency of any elements are noticed, the number of procedures can be increased. But nutrient mixtures are applied no more than once every 2 weeks, alternating root and foliar feeding.

Fertilizing

It is recommended to use organic matter as fertilizer. For example, chicken manure, diluted with water in a ratio of 1:15, cow manure - 1:10. Minerals can only be applied 2 months before harvest.

Recipes for preparing natural fertilizers for tomatoes

No. 1. Iodine Place 4 drops of iodine in a bucket of water. Water 2 liters for each plant. The product is not only a fertilizer, but also helps the bushes resist late blight.

No. 2. Ash Add 100 g of ash to a bucket of water. Water under each bush.

No. 3. Herbal infusion Add 5 buckets of water to 5 kg of cut grass. Add some ash and mullein. Keep for several days. Water is added to the liquid so that the final volume is 100 liters. To water 1 bush you need 2 liters of mixture.

No. 4. Yeast 11 g of dry yeast are diluted in warm water. Add 2 tbsp. Sahara. The resulting mixture is poured into a bucket of water. Each tomato is watered at the root with 500 ml of liquid.

Feeding tomatoes with natural fertilizers allows you to get an environmentally friendly product

Tying up

Plants with long stems can be tied up immediately after planting to a permanent place of growth. To do this, usually take a peg about 2 m long and bury it in the ground next to the bush.

Then the stem is tied to this peg. To prevent the top of the plant from drooping and breaking under the weight of the fruit, the location of tying is changed as it grows.

The long stems of the plant do not allow it to be grown without tying it up

You need to make sure that the tomatoes do not come into contact with the ground, as in this case they begin to darken and rot.

Mulching

The ground can be mulched with sawdust, peat, straw, etc.

To facilitate the process of caring for bushes, the ground under them can be covered with a 5 cm layer of mulch.

It performs the following functions:

• holds water in the soil
• eliminates the possibility of weed growth
• protects tomatoes in contact with the ground from rotting

Pollination

Tomatoes growing outdoors can easily be pollinated by insects and wind. There is no free air circulation in the greenhouse, so it is recommended for such plants to help in this process.

Greenhouse tomatoes sometimes need help with pollination

During flowering, some gardeners recommend simply tapping the pegs to which the plants are tied. This should be done in the morning or in the evening.

Ox heart tomatoes: cultivation

As we have already said, not only an experienced gardener, but also a beginner in the field of agriculture can grow a tomato of the “ox heart” variety. The main requirements for caring for tomatoes of the variety we are interested in are the following:

• plant them in highly fertile and properly prepared soil;
• fertilize them abundantly with the necessary substances.

So, the ideal environment for growing tomatoes, even at the seedling stage, even as an adult plant, is black soil, which meets the following characteristics:

• it is loose;
• not heavy;
• Heats up well when exposed to sunlight.

Loose and fertile black soil is perhaps the best environment for growing tomatoes of the “Bull’s Heart” variety.

You will have to take care of fertilizers for the tomato variety in question in any case, however, if you live in places with clay or sandy soil, you will have to spend them in much larger quantities, since this is the only way to compensate for the low fertility of the environment. Organic substances that are ideal for this variety of tomato are organic substances, such as:

• manure;
• humus;
• compost;
• peat.

Let's look at the main stages of growing the tomato variety we are interested in.

Stage No. 1 – preparation

Preparations for growing oxheart tomatoes should begin well in advance, even before planting seedlings in the fall. That is why it is very important to decide on the variety of tomatoes to be planted in the future at the end of the current growing season: just to have time to prepare for the next one.

Where you plant tomatoes will be determined by the climate of the region where you are located, however, we recommend that you still choose to grow tomatoes of this variety in a greenhouse.

So, the first thing you need to determine is where to plant the tomato, which can be:

• open ground;
• greenhouse.

We recommend that you choose the second option, as it implies higher yields and protection of tomatoes from negative weather conditions. Thus, only greenhouse cultivation is suitable for the northern regions; residents of the south can grow “bull’s heart” in open ground.

So, after you determine the planting site, you will need to treat it from pests and diseases. For this:

• the earth is spilled with either boiling water or a solution of potassium permanganate in order to destroy the diseases and pests living in it;
• if you prefer a greenhouse, then you need to clean its walls from dirt with water and soap, and then spray them with a solution of copper sulfate;
• at the end of this preparation stage, the greenhouse is treated with a sulfur smoke bomb, which is ignited inside the greenhouse with the doors closed, since the smoke emanating from it is dangerous not only for tomato pests, but also for humans.

Treatment of the greenhouse with a sulfur bomb can be done in the autumn after completing all other work related to the elimination of parasites and diseases that wanted to overwinter in the soil of your greenhouse

After clearing the space and getting rid of pests, you can proceed to the next part of the preparation, presented:

• digging up the earth;
• soil fertilization.

Decide for yourself what fertilizers to use for the soil under the “bull’s heart”; we once again recommend that you stick to organic matter. So, it is best to dig into black soil or other soil while digging it:

• manure;
• humus.

Digging should be carried out to a depth of approximately 20-25 centimeters. The loose soil remains in this form for the winter, and the next stage is to sow tomatoes for seedlings.

Digging up the earth

Stage No. 2 - sowing and growing seedlings

The ideal month to start working on seedlings is March, or rather, its very beginning. Before sticking small grains into the ground, you need to heal them using:

• disinfectant solution of potassium permanganate;
• phytosporin.

After the processing is completed, the seeds are buried in pre-prepared soil for seedlings to a depth of approximately 3 centimeters.

Tomato picking should be done carefully, having previously moistened the soil of the plant being transplanted, so as not to damage the root system of the future bush.

As soon as the first 2-3 true leaves appear on the emerging sprouts, it is necessary to carry out a dive - transplanting the seedlings from a common box into separate pots to give them more space for development. At the same time, if you planted tomatoes with a reserve, you need to pay attention to the development of their root system. Thus, weak plants with a small root system can be weeded out, while strong ones should be preserved.

In order for the seedlings to be healthy, they should be fed at this stage of growth. A suitable fertilizer bundle in this case would be:

• wood ash;
• any liquid organic fertilizer.

To get strong tomatoes, they need to be used at the same time; one pot of the plant will require a handful of ash and a certain amount of nutrient liquid (see instructions).

A few weeks before planting tomatoes, you need to start hardening them - take them out onto the balcony for a while, letting them get used to:

• chill;
• ultraviolet;
• other uncomfortable phenomena.

Hardening of seedlings can begin in April, and even earlier, however, it should be remembered that hardening is a temporary stress. If you leave plants on the balcony overnight, in the morning you will find only dead sprouts

However, it is not worth keeping tomatoes “in the black body” for a long time; just a few times are enough for them to be ready to end up in the ground, whether in a greenhouse or open.

Prices for Fitosporin

phytosporin

Stage No. 3 - planting seedlings and caring for tomatoes during growth

As for the timing of planting seedlings, they will vary depending on the climatic conditions characteristic of a particular area of ​​potential growth of these tomatoes. So, if you are in the middle zone of the country or its northern regions, then planting tomatoes is definitely carried out only in a greenhouse. So, if you have a heated greenhouse, planting can begin as early as April; if there is no heating, the soil in the greenhouse will warm up sufficiently by the end of May.

Seedlings must be planted in such a way that there are no more than 4 sprouts per 1 square meter, so that the subsequently formed bushes have enough space to grow.

Tomato planting is a must, otherwise you will end up with an infertile bush and will not be able to enjoy its full potential.

In these tomatoes, you can form a second stem using the first stepson, however, excess stepsons and leaves must be removed regularly, and not just once, as with many other varieties of tomatoes.

Make sure that there are approximately 8 brushes per stem, this is the optimal amount for this variety. To get a good harvest, you must regularly:

• watering the plant using heated water;
• feeding the bushes with fertilizers suitable for this variety.

If the plants should be watered approximately once every 5 days, then they only need to be fed approximately 3 times during the growing season.

It would also be optimal to carry out the hilling procedure, which consists of pulling the soil to the oxheart tomato bushes in such a way that pyramids are formed around the stem. This should be done when the root system of the seedlings is strengthened.

It is best to hill up tomatoes at least 3 times per season, this way you will help the bushes to form additional levels of roots that will more actively absorb nutrients and transfer them to the fruits

After hilling, it is necessary to water not directly at the root, but into the grooves formed due to the hilling of tomatoes between the rows of bushes.

Tying the bushes is another important step. These plants turn out to be quite heavy, and to prevent their stems from breaking off, even at the growth stage, after the seedlings have rooted, it is necessary to tie them up using:

• special garden clamps;
• old nylon tights;
• soft fabric or other devices for tying.

The garter must be done carefully, so as not to break the stems or damage the skin of the plant, on the integrity of which the general condition of the plant largely depends.

After you have completed all the basic procedures, you will only need to regularly water and feed.

Feeding tomatoes during the growth period can be done not only using manure, humus or compost, but also industrial fertilizers from various manufacturers

It is best to draw up a kind of gardening plan in advance, which will mark specific time periods during which you will fertilize, using all the same organic matter, as well as industrial fertilizers saturated with substances such as:

• nitrogen;
• potassium;
• phosphorus.

The plant needs the elements mentioned above to form tasty fruits and produce a bountiful harvest for you, so don’t skimp on fertilizers, but don’t overdo them either.

Pay attention to an interesting fact: sometimes pollinating insects do not visit tomatoes actively enough, as a result of which you risk being left without a harvest at all. To prevent this from happening, you can:

• plant honey-bearing flowers in the spaces between the rows, attracting bees and bumblebees with their scent;
• Hill up the tomatoes yourself by gently shaking the flowering bushes, or tugging at the fabric used for garter.

To get a big harvest, you need to pollinate flowering bushes, either by attracting insects to the greenhouse, or yourself, but very carefully so as not to break the plants

Provided you do everything correctly, pollination will be as efficient as possible. By the way, in order for the pollen to work even more actively and the ovaries to form for sure, you can periodically spray the bushes.

Prices for fertilizers for tomatoes

fertilizer for tomatoes

Diseases and pests

The variety is considered not resistant to late blight . If the weather is cool and the soil is waterlogged, the disease may affect Bull's Heart.

Therefore, it is necessary to observe preventive measures:

• disinfect seeds, soil, containers, greenhouse premises before planting
• leave the required distance between bushes
• do not plant seedlings in a permanent place where other nightshades (peppers, potatoes, etc.) used to grow.
• ventilate the greenhouse
• monitor the moisture level in the soil

Some vegetable growers treat bushes twice a season with antifungal drugs for preventative purposes. Bushes with obvious signs of disease are dug up by the roots and burned.

In addition to late blight, “Bull's Heart” can become infected with fusarium, cladosporiosis, and verticillium . But unlike late blight, the variety has average resistance to these diseases.

Tomatoes are most often affected by late blight.

When growing tomatoes, I use antifungal drugs in accordance with the instructions. The plantings did not suffer from late blight. I noticed for myself that “Bull’s Heart” bears fruit better in a greenhouse than without shelter.

Faith

Pests and diseases of tomato

The main threat to tomatoes is late blight disease. To avoid disease, the plant is treated twice with fungicides during the growing season. Watering tomatoes should be done at the roots; moisture should not get on the leaves.

If a tomato grows in a greenhouse, it must be ventilated periodically. This will also prevent the concentrate from appearing on the wall of the greenhouse. When the first symptoms of the disease appear, the affected fruits and leaves are cut off from the plant. They are removed from the site and destroyed.

Harvesting

Tomatoes are harvested as soon as they are ripe. Usually the first harvest can be enjoyed in July, August and until September.

It is not worth waiting for all the tomatoes on one bush to ripen, as ripe fruits quickly deteriorate.

The collection of all fruits must be completed before the night air temperature drops below 8 C. During collection, all tomatoes must be dry.

Bull's heart tomatoes do not always ripen fully on the plant

“Bull's heart” is a variety of nightshade, the fruits of which are not suitable for long-term storage. Ripe, picked tomatoes can be stored for about 2 weeks. Then the taste deteriorates, but they remain suitable for heat treatment. The transportability of the fruit is excellent.

You can choose a refrigerator or another dark, cool place in the house to store the harvested crop. The room temperature should be 5-12 C. It is recommended to place tomatoes with the stem facing up.

Variety varieties

Ox heart has several varieties with the same name. They have similar fruit shapes and sizes. The main difference is the color of ripe tomatoes of the “Bull’s Heart” variety: crimson (pink), red, yellow and orange, black and white.

Table: Description of varieties and main characteristics of “Bull's Heart” tomatoes

Application

The size of Ox's Heart tomatoes does not make it possible to preserve them whole. They are usually used to prepare borscht dressings, lecho, salads, and ketchup. Low-juice fruits should not be used to make tomato juice.

Ox heart tomatoes can be used for canning in slices

Sweet tomatoes are great for fresh consumption. They can also be added to various hot dishes or frozen.

Reviews

Lyudmila, 48 years old, Izhevsk

I have been growing Oxheart tomatoes for several years now, and I know a lot about this variety. According to my observations, in the middle zone (we live in the Moscow region) these tomatoes do not have time to ripen completely. Therefore, gardeners have two options: pick only part of the harvest from the bush when ripe, and put the rest of the fruits in a warm place to ripen; grow tomatoes in a greenhouse. Greenhouse cultivation greatly increases the yield of the Bull's Heart tomato variety, but in a greenhouse there is a very high risk of bushes becoming infected with late blight.

Irina, Irkutsk

We plant these tomatoes in open ground, a couple of weeks after planting we prevent late blight, water only at the root, and mulch the soil. Not once in several years have the Bull's Heart tomatoes been sick, the fruits are beautiful and large, and the bushes are green.

Preparing seeds for planting next season

Seeds from fruits that were grown in your own garden can be sown for no more than 4 years. In the future, they may lose varietal qualities.

Procurement of seeds

Experienced gardeners recommend preparing seeds as follows:

• select the largest tomato from the second brush from the bottom
• wait for it to fully mature
• pick the fruit and keep it in the house for several days
• cut the tomato, remove the seeds
• dry them
• put the seeds in paper envelopes

Characteristics and description

From the description it follows that it belongs to determinate plants - the growth of the bush stops at a certain height. In a greenhouse its height reaches about 2 meters. Plants grown in open ground rarely grow more than 1.5 m.

The variety was registered relatively recently - in 2003, it can be grown indoors (greenhouses) and open ground. The tomato is medium late, usually harvested after 3 months.

Attention! It is advisable to grow the variety in open ground only in southern, warm regions. Unfortunately, in the central region the climate is harsher; you may not get ripe fruits due to early frosts.

The trunk and stems of the tomato are powerful, the crown is spreading, moderately leafy. Inflorescences are formed after the 8th leaf. The flowers are simple, yellow. Type of flowering - carpal. Up to 7 clusters will ripen on one plant at a time.

The fruits are large, their minimum weight is 150 - 250 g. The shape of the tomato is slightly elongated, oval, ribbed, reminiscent of a heart. The skin is pink, dense, and does not crack. The pulp is sweet in taste, without thick veins, appetizing, sugary. When cut, the variety is fleshy and contains few seeds.

The fruits tolerate transportation and storage well. At a temperature of +5°C they can easily be stored for 2 weeks. Taste and presentation are almost not affected by transportation - losses are no more than 5%.

Important! In open ground, with proper feeding, the weight of one fruit is very large - reaches 800 - 1000 g.

Productivity

In open ground, gardeners harvest about 4 kg of tomatoes per bush; in greenhouses, these figures increase to 12 kg/bush. However, to achieve this result, tomatoes need to be grown on a trellis and shaped correctly.

A variety with good yield, but weak immunity. Plants are often affected by fungal diseases. The lower fruits that are close to the ground suffer. Bushes are especially susceptible to late blight.

Use Cases

The variety is intended for consumption fresh and canned. It produces rich fruit drinks, juices, ketchups, and tomato sauces. Whole fruits are not suitable for pickling.

Sowing tomato seeds

Sowing and picking:

1. dilute 1 g of potassium permanganate in 0.5 cups of water;
2. treat the seeds for 45 minutes, then wash;
3. soaked in any growth stimulant - succinic acid, snare, humate;
4. sown in containers or boxes filled with purchased soil for tomatoes;
5. the seeds are laid out with tweezers into the spilled grooves, covered with soil, the distance between the seeds is 2-3 cm;
6. the box is covered with glass or transparent polyethylene and placed in a warm place;
7. when seedlings appear, the box is opened, the seedlings are thinned out, the box is placed on the windowsill for hardening;
8. periodically the container is placed on a glassed-in loggia with an air temperature of 12-16 degrees and after a few hours is taken back to the room;
9. In the 2-3 leaf phase, seedlings are planted in separate cups.
10. the greenhouse is disinfected by spraying the drug Farmayod on the glass and soil or by fumigating with a sulfur bomb.
11. dig up the soil on the bayonet of a shovel, adding half a bucket of humus and two tablespoons of superphosphate per square meter.
12. form beds.
13. seedlings are planted.
14. tie up plants
15. During the season, they carry out shaping, fertilizing, watering, and sanitizing against diseases and pests.

Existing subspecies

Bull's heart is an old variety, very popular and loved by most summer residents. Due to the great interest in the variety, many of its subspecies have appeared with fruits of different colors and stems of different heights. All subspecies are united by the heart-shaped shape of the fruit, increased fleshiness and large fruit. In the retail chain there are low-growing tomatoes with fleshy, heart-shaped fruits and a stem height of no more than 1 meter:

• budenovka,
• pink honey,
• supermodel,
• red loving heart,
• Estonian,
• pink helmet and others.

The variety Cuore Di Bue (Bull's Heart) has an attractive heart-shaped shape with strongly pronounced ribs - one of the most famous varieties in the world, originally from the Mediterranean. Now it is very popular in the markets. This is a tall plant with very sweet tomatoes weighing up to 400 grams. Designed for growing in greenhouses.

Fleshy and sweet, Riviera tomatoes are similar to Oxheart in their elongated shape, but this variety is taller and its fruits are smaller (about 80 g).

How to get a good harvest?

A feature of the variety’s agricultural technology is proper watering and timely feeding of tomatoes. Without this, you will not be able to get a rich harvest.

Watering and fertilizing bushes

Water the beds early in the morning or late in the evening, using only warm water. In dry summers, moisten the soil under the bushes 2–3 times a week. The amount of water per plant is up to 5 liters. If the weather is rainy, reduce watering, otherwise the plants will get sick.

Fertilizing is applied 2 weeks after planting the tomato in a permanent place. During the season, tomatoes are fertilized at least 3 times:

• before flowering;
• immediately after flowering;
• during the period of ovary formation;
• 15 - 20 days before harvesting, all fertilizing is canceled.

Use mineral complexes or natural fertilizers. For the first time they feed with nitrogen-containing mixtures, then switch to phosphorus-potassium mixtures.

Trimming and shaping

To grow large-sized tomatoes, the bushes must be pinched. The main crop is formed on the central shoot. All leaves up to the first inflorescence are completely removed, then cut off as the bush grows. Pinching of the stepsons is done when they grow 5 cm.

Indeterminate varieties of Bull's Heart are limited in growth when 10 clusters are formed on the plant. To do this, pluck out the top. This procedure promotes the formation of large fruits even on the lower hands.

Mulching and loosening the soil

Caring for tomatoes includes mandatory soil mulching and loosening. Immediately after watering, the beds are covered with straw or weed clippings to maintain the necessary moisture.

If this is not done, then after each watering the soil must be loosened to ensure oxygen access to the roots.

Pollination

If the weather is cloudy when tomatoes bloom, then they need pollination. The variety is not a self-pollinating variety. If pollination is not carried out, the yield will be low in the greenhouse and open ground.

Pollination is done by hand, the pollen is dipped with a brush and carefully transferred from flower to another flower. You can simply shake the brushes over each other.