Novikov's Giant

[missionrandy]

Novikov's Giant (Seed from Andrey)

[shelleybean]

Ooooh, that's pretty. Love the color! How did it taste?

[Andrey_BY]

Hi Randy!

Very nice photos!

This year I've changed a lot of variety names from translated in English to original. That cost me a lot of time to search, ask and correct, but I think it is the right way for identification.

So let me introduce you what is on your photo. Gigant Novikova-10. It has a marvelous raspberry-pink color and well-balanced (for me) taste.
This a well-known (in former Soviet Union countries) amateurish variety developed by by Russian gardener A.I. Novikov who picked up to 30 kg of delicious tomatoes from one plant 4-6 m tall with 1 kg fruits in his greenhouse :wink:
There several varieties bred by Mr.Novikov, so it'd be better to use his own system with numbers to identify his varieties...

[Rena]

Thats a beauty! Keep the pics coming ...

[Earl]

Randy and Andrey, here's what my Gigant Novikova-10 plant looked like after about a month after setting out. It was so prductive and early and tasted so good I'm regrowing it in 2007. Thanks, Andrey!!!

[missionrandy]

Novikov's Giant Plants were the largest plants in our garden this past year. The plants grew so fast after they got over transplant shock, pinching side growth was nearly a daily chore... The plants ended up spreading with very thick stems away from the original staking, when I was away for a long weekend camping. These plants were staked in four location to hold growth off the ground. Each plant was over 5' in diameter and 6' in height.

The plants produced in abundance large red tomato's. Averaging close to a pound each, and plants produced well over 50 lbs each over the season. The tomato's were very tasty! The plants did finally fall to Late Blight in early September. This variety found a home for many years to come in our garden...

Randy

[Suze]

Thanks Randy and Earl, for the pictures/reports. Very nice.

I'm growing Novikov's Giant this spring and looking forward to it.

[missionrandy]

Suze:

Give Novikov's Giant lots of room, it can get very large.
Get ready to prune and pinch all the suckers too... Very vigorous & productive. My wife found the large ugly tomato's had a nicer taste than the perfectly round ones on these plants.

These tomato's were perfect to make loads of tomato sauce, mixed with garlic and herbs from the garden.

Randy

[michael johnson]

Andrey- do you have any more varieties grown by mr Novikov, as it would be interesting to see all Novikov's Varieties available.

[Andrey_BY]

Michael - unfortunately this is the only one widely-available variety bred by this Russian gardener, but I'm trying to find more from him, Tarasenko, Maslov and other amateur breeders from former Soviet Union.

[Tania]

Earl,

Is your Gigant Novikova-10 a PL?

[Earl]

Tania,
After reading your question I thought no, RL. Then I looked at the picture and found that it's PL. :-) Memory isn't what it used to be.

I'm a little remiss in getting that email out to you.

[Andrey_BY]

Gigant-10 Novikova has regular foliage :wink:

[Tania]

Originally Posted by Andrey_BY

Gigant-10 Novikova has regular foliage :wink:

I thought so too... So what is that great looking plant that brought Earl the great tasting fruit? Earl's Faux Gigant-10 Novikova?

[missionrandy]

Andrey, Earl and Tania:

I received a few seperate packages of Novikov's Giant from Andrey in a trade early in 2006.

Planted all the seeds and had ten strong seedlings within a few weeks. I kept three plants, the others went to a neighbour and my mother. Out of those ten plants only two were RL, the other eight were PL. One RL came out of one seperate trade envelope, the other out of another trade envelope. All the plants exhibited the same growth characteritics, vigour, tomato shape, color, size and taste. Only one of the plants produced 25% more than any other individual, and that was a PL.

Maybe Novikov's Giant was a cross long ago, and reverted to one of it's parents characteristics. It is totally possible... Great plant though! Will continue to grow in my garden.

Randy