Story:
From Tatiana’s TOMATObase:
- In the early 2000s (2003?), Scott Weisnicht's family obtained the seed for this variety from a lady in Minnesota, who got it from a friend. Her friend did not remember the name of the tomato, but he said that he was given the seed by someone whose family has been saving the seed for more than 120 years.
- It is not entirely clear what was the origin of this tomato, despite the name. The lady who gave the seeds to Weisnichts said it looked like a 'Ukrainian strain' from a Smith and Hawken published book (which could have been Carolyn Male's famous book '100 Heirloom Tomatoes for American Garden'), so this is why it got the name 'Weisnicht's Ukrainian', and not because it came from the Ukraine.
- However, the original description in 2004 SSE Yearbook given by Scott Weisnicht was different with regards to both the leaf type and the origins (he now implies that it was not entirely correct):
" 85 days, indet. habit with very heavy cover of regular leaf foliage, light pink beefsteak, moderate to high yield, meaty for a beefsteak, taste is outstanding and complex, starting out tangy and ending up sweet at the same time, both flavors have a full tomato taste (by comparison Soldacki tasted bland), good disease resistance, sent to me by an elderly gentleman who had it in his family for many years after immigrating from Ukraine."
- Based on the descriptions of other SSE members who have been listing this variety up until 2010, there must have been a regular leaf version of this tomato back in the mid 2000s, unless the members simply copies the leaf type from the original Weisnicht's description, and did not pay much attention to their plants.
- See this thread at Tomatoville for more details about the history and the leaf type.