Tomato Zhefen Short

Medium sized red heritage tomato on determinate plants.

Description

Zhefen Short is said to be a “tasty 3-inch slightly oval pink tomato that grows on 3ft – 4ft plants. Good juice, sweet/acid balance and great taste. Excellent for a short season or patio tomato”.

We tried it in 2012 but unfortunately the seedlings were eaten by slugs and so we had no success at all. So we tried it again in 2013. As always we will try to grow more than we need for our own use and some may be available if you want to try something different.

The result was nothing particularly wonderful. A fairly standard, red tomato growing on a determinate plant. Nothing more to say.

Having left this alone for a while we grew it again in 2018. It suffered (a bit) from Blossom End Rot but otherwise produced a reasonable harvest which had a better taste than I remember from previous years (and according to what’s written above). Its interesting how the weather makes a difference – 2018 was hot and dry.

In 2025 we had the following comment from a reader in California (thanks Richard).

“One of my favorites in my very basic greenhouse…have saved the seeds from year to year for over a decade. Reliable and prolific, and unlike other accounts, have had no problem with blossom end rot. I’m located in a fairly high, dry area with a short growing season characterized by hot days and cold nights. Tomatoes are started indoors in early spring, not transplanted into the greenhouse until mid June when most frost danger has passed.”