Quick Summary of Rozovyi Klyk (Pink Fang)
- 🌍 Origin: A highly regarded Russian heirloom tomato originating from private breeder Yu. Petrov.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: A tall determinate. In open ground or containers, it grows to about 1 meter (3.3 ft). In a greenhouse, it can stretch slightly taller. According to the original breeder, this variety is strictly meant for open ground and should not be pruned/suckered in order to achieve its maximum yield.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Uniquely shaped, elongated pink “icicles” with a distinctive curved beak/fang at the end. They weigh between 70-90g (2.5-3.2 oz) and have very thin skin. A notable feature is that they contain almost no seeds. Warning: Ripe fruits easily detach from the stem and can fall off if touched too much!
- 👅 Flavor & Texture: Growers rave about its sweetness — many describe it as “sugary” and tasting “just like honey.” Despite being a paste-type tomato, the flesh is not dry; it is tender and juicy. Great for fresh salads, though if you use it for canning, note that the thin skin and tender flesh might become a bit soft after hot water processing.
- ⚠️ Growing Warning (BER): This variety is a late-season ripener and is highly susceptible to Blossom End Rot (BER) on the early trusses, especially if grown in containers where watering is inconsistent. Ensure steady soil moisture and provide calcium to prevent this.
Grew in the greenhouse, I pruned suckers up to the 1st truss, grew to about 1 meter (3.3 ft) tall. Beautiful pink, meaty icicles weighing 70-90g (2.5-3.2 oz), there are very few seeds in them 😕 Yield was average because it grew in very crowded conditions 😳 Seeds from Galya-64 🌸
Svetlana, could you tell us how early it is?
salix said:
Svetlana, could you tell us how early it is?
In my conditions, it turned out to be mid-season.
Well, I’ll put my two cents in 😄: for me in the greenhouse, it was also less productive than in open ground. But I did prune the suckers in the greenhouse. This is what it looked like for me:
And this is what they looked like in open ground, they grew in a barrel, completely neglected, you could say. I barely pruned them at all. The summer of 2013 was rainy, so they cracked on the vine.
Galochka, that means it’s a highly productive variety.
🙂 My Pink Fang grew in the greenhouse. The seeds were from Petrov. Naturally, my yields are farrrrr behind Galya’s, but still, we managed to grow something. A very worthy little tomato!
Zulya, I think with proper care, and mostly if planted in open ground, you can get a worthy harvest. But it has one flaw: ripe fruits easily detach from the stem and fall off, you can see them lying in the barrel there, plus I had already picked the ripe ones.
But for its uniquely beautiful fruit shape, you can forgive this weakness 😄 Just try to touch the fruits as little as possible with your hands!!! 🤣🤣
Yes, girls, Petrov advertises it specifically for open ground! And you absolutely shouldn’t prune it, not at all. Then the yield from it will be great.
But… the first fruits might suffer from Blossom End Rot (BER). Other than that – it’s a solid variety 👍
Yield is clear. Tell us about the taste, is it dry? Is it good for canning?
No, Nadya, it’s not dry and not hollow inside. But its skin is thin. I canned it, it was okay, although a bit soft if you pour boiling water over them twice.
And I would say it’s sugary, and in some of them – there are no seeds at all… you can put it in a salad 👍
Tasty, but mine had very large green shoulders, covering almost half the tomato. Seeds from Galya 🌸🌸🌸
Perhaps the reason is the conditions of my specific plot of land. I’m leaning towards that.
There were about 25 tomatoes on the bush, it grew in the greenhouse, height about a meter (3.3 ft). The taste is sugary-bland, I would say. Didn’t work great for salads, but for canning it was just right. A few tomatoes got hit with Blossom End Rot, but calcium helped. An interesting tomato, you can plant it for variety.
2015 Season:
In my conditions, it turned out to be late-season, I have two bushes growing – in the greenhouse and in open ground, more productive in the greenhouse. Ripens very slowly and unevenly. But the fruits have a very interesting shape 👍
Inspired by Galochka 64, I planted 1 bush in a 20-liter (5-gallon) container. But apparently, it only accepts full-sized barrels 😄 It has already grown to about a meter (3.3 ft). This photo is from 2 weeks ago.
Now little fruits are appearing, but ALAS, along with Blossom End Rot. We’ll see what happens next 🙂
Tanya, looking at it, you wouldn’t say it needs a bigger container. But I have a feeling it’s sitting in partial shade (the barrel is on one side, and the house on the other), and tomatoes don’t like that.
After seven years of growing it, I can confidently say that it is more of a late variety. Tanyushka is right. But it’s totally worth growing. 👍
Galya-64 said:
Tanya… I have a feeling it’s sitting in partial shade…
Galochka, I realized that too and already moved it to the garden into a sunny spot.
Verochka, you reassured me that it’s not an early one. I’ll wait. 🌸
Tanya, out of all the determinates I grow, it’s probably the very latest one.
Looks like it’s too late for the conditions I put it in 😢 We had heat over 30°C (86°F). I was at work. My husband obviously wasn’t paying attention. I arrive — the soil in the container is bone dry.
There are many fruits, but almost all of them have Blossom End Rot and aren’t even planning to ripen, it’s too early for them. And now the endless rains have started. We’ll see…
Turned out to be the sweetest tomato of 2016 – just like honey! By the end of summer, the Blossom End Rot was gone. Next year I want to plant it in the greenhouse closer to the door in the middle bed, where there is a nice draft.
I also liked it for the taste, yield, and the shape of the fruits: long with a curved beak.
3 bushes grew in the greenhouse, pruned to two stems.
Really liked the variety – tasty 😋
Grew outdoors in open ground…
