- Heirloom
- Paste
- 85 (estimated) days to maturity (from transplant)
- Indeterminate
- Red
Opalka
Heirloom paste from Poland. Polish paste heirloom with the flavour Roma lacks, and alarmingly sparse foliage. Ready in about 85 days from transplant.
Single source · Updated Sep 9, 2026 · Values marked like this (estimated) are estimates.
At a glance
- Fruit type
- Paste 4–6 oz (110–170 g) · Elongated (estimated)
- Leaf type
- Wispy leaf
- Days to harvest
- 85 days (estimated) from transplant · Mid-late
- Plant height
- 6–8 ft (180–240 cm) (estimated) Tall
- Spacing
- 24 × 35 in (60 × 90 cm) (estimated)
- Sunlight
- Full sun
- Position
- Handles open positions
- Growing sites
- Greenhouse · Polytunnel · Open ground
- Container growing
- Not suited to pots
- Difficulty
- Challenging (estimated) 4/5
- Skin
-
- Red
- Interior
-
- Red
Plant size and habit
Tall · Indeterminate
6–8 ft (180–240 cm) (estimated) · Wispy leaf
Opalka is an indeterminate plant that keeps growing and setting fruit until frost; it needs a stake, cage, or trellis for the whole season. Expect a plant of 6–8 ft (180–240 cm).
Flavor
“Polish paste heirloom with the flavour Roma lacks, and alarmingly sparse foliage.”
Growing calendar
85 (estimated) days from transplant Mid-late
Timing shown for temperate climates; sow indoors 6–8 (estimated) weeks before your last frost date. Look up your last frost date by ZIP code →
Disease resistance
No documented disease resistances — protect this variety with good airflow and crop rotation.
Uses & tags
- Sauce & paste
- Canning
- Drying
- Roasting
- Sauce workhorse
- Heirloom classic
- High flavor
Origin
Opalka is a Polish family heirloom paste tomato. The fruit is long and pepper-shaped, the flesh nearly dry, and the flavour full enough to be worth eating raw, which is rare in a paste type. The foliage is sparse and wispy, which alarms first-time growers. The Opalka family brought it from Poland to Amsterdam, New York, in the early 1900s; Carolyn Male had seed from a co-worker married into the family and listed it in the Seed Savers Exchange Yearbook in the 1990s.
Sources
Where to buy seeds
Prices rechecked dailyAll photos
Questions
How do you grow a Opalka plant?
A Opalka plant grows 6–8 ft (180–240 cm) tall (estimated). Space plants 24 in (60 cm) apart in rows 35 in (90 cm) apart (estimated). Start seed indoors 6–8 weeks before your last frost (estimated); it germinates in 7–14 days (estimated). It needs full sun.
How long does Opalka take to mature?
Opalka is ready in about 85 days from transplant.
Does Opalka need staking?
Opalka is an indeterminate plant that keeps growing and setting fruit until frost; it needs a stake, cage, or trellis for the whole season. Expect a plant of 6–8 ft (180–240 cm).
Can Opalka be grown in a container?
Opalka is better suited to open ground or a greenhouse bed than a container.
Is Opalka resistant to disease?
No disease resistance is documented for Opalka.
