Tomato Snow Leopard: description, photos, reviews

Description of the tomato variety Snow Leopard

This tomato variety, bred in Russia in 2008, is considered mid-early. Snow Leopard tomato bushes are determinate, in open ground they do not grow higher than 60 cm. When planted in a greenhouse and film shelters, this figure is slightly higher - 80-90 cm. The compactness of the bushes allows you to use a denser planting and save space on the site. The tomato foliage is high, the foliage is large, dark green.

Description of fruits

Ripe tomatoes of the Snow Leopard variety are distinguished by their bright, richly colored skin, which has sufficient density to protect the fruit from cracking. The shape of the tomato is flattened, spherical, with slight ribbing at the top. The average weight of one tomato is in the range of 120-150 g, but individual specimens weighing up to 300 g ripen. The bright red flesh has a rich taste with a subtle sourness. It contains an increased content of sugars and amino acids. The pulp is juicy, fleshy, contains a small number of seeds.

The commercial characteristics of tomato are valued among gardeners who grow for sale: keeping quality and transportability are very high. The fruits do not lose their taste and attractive appearance for a long time.

Brief information about the variety

Fruits and bush : red tomatoes with an orange tint, round, slightly flattened, weighing from 120 to 200 g; determinate bush, 50-70 cm high.
Productivity : high (2.5-4 kg per bush).
Resistance : high to most diseases.
Distribution : Recommended for all regions.
Application : salads, pickling and canning, main courses, processing.
Planting : seedling method; sowing - at the end of February or early March, transplanting into a greenhouse - at the beginning of May, into open ground - in the second half of May; planting pattern – 40×50 cm.
Soil : light, slightly acidic.
Care : watering - every 7-10 days, fertilizing - 3 times per season, formation - 1-2 stems, it is advisable to tie or support heavy brushes.
Ripening period : early ripening, tomatoes ripen 95-105 days after emergence. It is possible to store the crop for 2 weeks.

Characteristics of the variety

A detailed description of the characteristics of Snow Leopard tomatoes gives a complete picture of this variety. The characteristics of the tomato are presented in the assessment of all important varietal indicators.

Productivity and fruiting

The productivity of the Snow Leopard variety is quite high, given the compactness and small size of the plants themselves. The yield indicator may vary when grown in a greenhouse and open ground. In the latter case, it averages 2-3 kg/bush; in a greenhouse, 4-5 kg of sweet tomatoes are harvested from one bush. Since 4 to 6 plants can be placed per 1 m2, the yield of the variety ranges from 8-30 kg/m2.

The yield of the variety is influenced by the quality of care for the bushes. And although these tomatoes are considered one of the most unpretentious, timely shaping, in special cases they need garter and watering.

Depending on planting conditions, Snow Leopard fruiting occurs 95-110 days after emergence. Tomatoes are formed on fruit clusters of 4-6 pieces.

Area of application of fruits

Grown tomatoes of the Snow Leopard variety will be an excellent ingredient in summer salads, as well as in winter preparations. Everything that cannot be eaten fresh can be processed - delicious juice, ketchup, pickles and marinades are obtained from these tomatoes.

Resistance to diseases and pests

The Snow Leopard variety is characterized by high resistance to many common tomato diseases caused by fungi. The risk of Fusarium or Verticillium wilt is low, which is good news for gardeners. The Snow Leopard also shows good resistance to crop pests.

Advantages and disadvantages of the variety

The relatively young tomato variety Snow Leopard quickly gained great popularity among Russian gardeners. The reason for this phenomenon is a whole range of advantages of the variety that gardeners liked so much:

taste and commercial qualities of fruits;
possibility of growing both in protected and open ground;
high resistance to temperature changes and rapid adaptation to any conditions, which allow growing tomatoes in cold regions of the country;
versatility of fruit use;
resistance to diseases and pests;
unpretentiousness in care, which allows summer residents who do not have the opportunity to be present in the garden every day to get a good harvest of tomatoes;
absence of cracks on fruits during ripening, as well as during whole-fruit canning.

The only drawback of the Snow Leopard is the need to form bushes and garter the stems.

Advantages and disadvantages

Among the main advantages of the variety:

excellent taste of the fruit;
high productivity;
fruits are suitable for salads and canning;
resistance to major diseases: fusarium, alternaria, verticillium, tobacco mosaic;
tolerance to adverse weather conditions;
tomatoes store well.

The only drawback is the need to form a bush and remove lateral shoots.

Growing rules

Growing Snow Leopard tomatoes has several features. They must be taken into account in order to get a high yield.

Planting seedlings

Sowing tomato seeds for seedlings begins in March and follows standard technology:

Planting material is sown in pre-prepared loose and fertile soil, deepening it to 1-2 cm. Before planting, the substrate is moistened.
Each container is covered with film to maintain humidity, put in a dark, warm place and wait for germination.
As soon as the first shoots appear, the containers are placed on a well-lit windowsill.
It is recommended to pick Snow Leopard sprouts at the stage of appearance of the first true leaves.
Each sprout is carefully dug out from the total mass and transplanted into a separate container. If the seedlings have stretched out due to lack of sunlight, they are buried during transplantation. The thin stem does not rot in the soil, but develops adventitious roots.
10 days after picking, feed the seedlings with water-soluble complex mineral fertilizer.
Care before planting in a permanent place comes down to moistening the soil, fertilizing and hardening.

You can learn more about sowing seeds for seedlings from the video:

Transfer

The timing of transplanting tomatoes to a permanent place falls on:

early May for unheated greenhouses and greenhouses;
the second half of April, if protective structures are heated;
end of May when planting in open ground.

More precise timing for planting seedlings depends on the climate of the region and the recommendations of the Lunar calendar. By this time, the seedlings should have at least 6 leaves, a strong stem, the height of which is about 30 cm. The optimal age is 45-50 days.

There are several standard rules for transplanting tomatoes to a permanent location:

In accordance with the planting scheme, small holes are dug in pre-prepared beds.
Each seedling is placed in a hole at an angle of 450, sprinkled with soil and compacted.
Watering is carried out, spending about 1 liter of water for each specimen.

Important!
After watering, it is recommended to mulch the soil under the Snow Leopard bushes. Since plants of this variety are very compact, choose a planting scheme that will save space on the site. Seedlings can be arranged in a strip-parallel pattern, maintaining a distance between adjacent seedlings of 25 cm and a width between rows of 60 cm. The most common planting option is a checkerboard pattern, in which all plants are well illuminated and care operations are simplified.

Aftercare

When growing a Snow Leopard tomato, they devote time to standard care operations: regular, but not excessive, watering, weeding, loosening the soil under the bushes. But obligatory operations are gartering and shaping the plants.

Since the yield of the variety is high, it is recommended to tie up the plants. This allows you to avoid breaking the stems under the weight of your own fruit. In greenhouse conditions, the tomato is tied to a trellis stretched at the top of the structure. In open ground, individual support stakes are usually organized, to which plant stems are tied.

The formation of bushes begins at the stage when they produce a strong stepson under the first flower cluster. It can be left to form a 2-stem tomato. This method is usually used when growing in a greenhouse or film shelter. In order to grow only 1 stem, all competing stepsons are promptly removed.

Important! To achieve good fruiting of the Snow Leopard, pinching is carried out regularly (the fattening shoots are removed when they reach a length of no more than 5 cm), and as the bushes grow, the lower leaves are removed.

Feeding bushes should be done with extreme caution. Snow leopards growing in well-fertilized soil tend to develop green mass. Therefore, with intensive feeding, the bushes actively grow lush, beautiful greenery to the detriment of yield - very few fruits are formed on such plants.

Features of cultivation

Tomatoes are propagated both by seedlings and without seedlings. It is recommended to pour the seed material with a growth stimulator for 10-12 hours. With the seedling method, seeds are sown in containers with nutrient soil. The ideal composition is a mixture of garden or turf soil with humus and washed river sand. For greater nutritional value, add a little superphosphate and wood ash.

Pest and disease control

Although the Snow Leopard is famous for its good resistance to pests and diseases, preventive measures will not hurt. These include:

treating the soil before planting seedlings with a solution of potassium permanganate or fungicide;
pre-sowing heating of seeds at a temperature of 500C;
timely watering and its norms;
removing weeds and plant debris from the tomato bed.

All these manipulations do not take much time, but they allow you to avoid possible problems associated with the activity of insect pests and pathogens of crop diseases.

Competition for a story about the best tomato of 2022

I didn’t have the opportunity to write earlier, and I’ve already buzzed the ears of many of you about my favorite, but I still brought my story about the most delicious tomato not only of this season, but in general, ever grown by me... Suddenly someone about doesn't know him yet.

The undisputed leader was the dwarf Indet OPO (OPO).

@Nadik shared seeds from Angelina with me, for which I thank her very much!

Initially, I didn’t expect ripe fruits from this bush at all, not to mention such tasty ones. This variety in my seedlings suffered from something, the lower leaves turned yellow and dried out and had to be cut off again and again. Moreover, not knowing that he belongs to the Indets and, accordingly, will behave like an Indet, I sowed him too early, along with the rest of the gnomes, and simply exhausted him before disembarking for permanent residence. As a result, I was about to throw out this seedling, but I still decided to give it a chance, cut off the top and put it in a glass of water to re-root. I did this for the first time and quite late - on May 2. Apparently in gratitude for saving my life, this bush rewarded me with delicious tomatoes.

To my surprise, the seedling planted in the OG did not die and quite quickly grew roots and began to grow. True, the bush grew only about a meter high, but if it had not been sick and had not had to be re-rooted again, then I think that it would have been much taller, about one and a half meters, the same as its other three-letter brother, the gnome PPI (PPI), also from Angelina (which, by the way, took second place in my taste).

I was wildly delighted when I bit into the first tomato; all my taste buds simply rejoiced at such an explosion of taste! I don’t remember ever eating such deliciousness, even as a child! The taste of all the tomatoes I liked this season paled in comparison with this one. Now the main thing is that this gnome also enjoys living in the greenhouse, as he did in the wild this year, since I don’t plan to plant tomatoes in the OG next year.

When I gave it to my husband to try, he thought I was kidding and asked why I sprinkled it with sugar. Then he said that he had never eaten such delicious tomatoes before.

It’s a pity, I forgot to take a picture of it entirely... I realized it when I had already cut it and took a bite from one of the halves. Therefore, I weighed it in halves, hiding the bitten off barrel in the frame

Here in this general photo there are three tomatoes at the bottom right

I found scant information on this series of gnomes only from Angelina on the website; in addition, she wrote me this about them:

“They are all productive, tasty, large. There is very little information, I have never heard of them, Dale himself sent them to me, he often chooses the varieties that he sends me.

This is what he wrote to me:

Please note that numbers 104-112 are from crosses made by another anonymous maker who does not want me to sell them. But he didn’t forbid me to change them!