Opalka Tomato
Price: $4.45
SKU: 3403771This is another variety originating from our friend and tomato expert, the late Dr. Carolyn Male (NY MA C). She detailed its history as being given to her by a coworker named Carl Swidorski who described it as originally coming from Poland around 1900.
Fruit Color: Red
Special Groups: "Epic" Tomatoes
Harvest Timing: Late Season
Full light and cooler temps (60° to 70°) will help to prevent the seedlings from becoming too leggy. If plants become rootbound before you can safely set them into the ground, transplant them into larger pots.
Harden off plants before planting outside. Young plants are very susceptible to frost and sunburn damage. Avoid too much nitrogen. Water evenly but not in excess.
Click here to view our full tomato growing guide.
- "100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden," Dr. Carolyn Male, Workman Publishing, 1999, pages 180-181.
Customer Reviews:
By JenFromSouthernOhio (Jackson, OH) on October 8, 2023
These are the largest paste tomatoes I have grown. These are the Mortgage Lifter of past tomatoes! Most tomatoes push towards 10-12 oz. I have had many larger than that! Like others have stated, they tend to need more calcium than other tomatoes. This is easily managed with a couple of light applications of a fertilizer with added calcium. The tomato plants grow large. Mine are about 5 ft tall. They have wispy leaves that slightly curl, so they always look like they need a drink. These plants require a very strong cage or additional staking. They will fall over and have crumpled my regular wire cages. The tomatoes have a nice balance of acidity. I have noticed that the larger tomatoes tend to have air-space on the inside of the tomato so they are not totally solid. Very little juice at all. It takes a lot less time of simmering down the tomatoes for a very nice sauce.
By Mary McDermott (Blue Ridge Mountains of VA) on September 2, 2022
Very prolific, very tasty and will be my go to sauce tomato from now on. :)
By Bill Miller on January 5, 2022
I have grown Opalka for the past 2 years, and, along with Sungold and Black Krim, are my favorite tomatoes. They are prone to blossom end rot, but I have been planting them with some (1 tbsp) Epsom salts and have not had a problem. The tomatoes can get quite large, and are abundant. My wife has made and canned delicious sauce with these. They kept producing through October when other tomatoes gave up.
By Kelly Hopkins on July 26, 2019
I will grow these every year! I started these seedlings back in February, this spring into early summer was so cold, I was worried they were not going to do well. Then the heat hit our area. I had some issues with blossom end rot when the temps got over 95F, but I just picked all the bad fruit. I then added egg shells around the base (because it's caused from a lack of calcium and nutrients) as well as some Epsom salt and organic fish emulsion. The plants made a quick recovery and the fruit tastes amazing. These tomatoes are HUGE... and after I made sure to fertilize at least once a week, they are growing so many fruit the plants are very heavy and tall. I made the mistake of just using a small tomato cage on a couple of them and they are falling over. They really need a heavy duty 54 cage to support these heavy, sort of droopy limbs. These are great, just keep adding the calcium enriched organic fertilizer to keep them healthy and producing strong! You really can't go wrong with these.
By Linda Strickland on February 18, 2019
Perfect for my canning. I made salsa, stewed tomatoes, and sauce. These are very meaty. I'm definitely growing them again this year.
