Quick Summary of Rozovyi Spam F1 (Pink Spam)
- 🌍 Origin: A highly popular commercial F1 hybrid from the Russian seed company “Semko”. (Note: The name “Spam” here is just a quirky commercial marketing name and has nothing to do with canned meat!) Interesting Fact: Several Russian collectors have been saving seeds from this hybrid for years, successfully dehybridizing it into a stable, open-pollinated (OP) variety.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate and very vigorous. Most growers recommend pruning it to 2 stems in the greenhouse. It has an extended fruiting period, continuously producing flowers and setting new fruit well into the autumn. Note: It is susceptible to Tomato Leaf Mold (Cladosporium).
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Beautiful, smooth, almost heart-shaped (oxheart) pink fruits. They average 170-280g (6-10 oz). Unlike many other heart-shaped varieties, these do not suffer from green shoulders or hard white cores, even in extreme heat.
- 👅 Flavor & Storage: Despite being a commercial F1 hybrid, growers praise it for having excellent, meaty flavor. Another massive advantage is its storage capability: the fruits keep very well and ripen perfectly indoors off the vine without losing their taste.
- ⏳ Maturity: Early. Many growers report that it is the very first tomato to ripen in their greenhouses.
A hybrid from Semko.
Early (the very first ripe tomato this year came from Pink Spam). Tasty, despite being a hybrid. Beautiful color and shape, almost heart-shaped fruits. Stores well.
It is supposed to be indeterminate and highly productive, but it didn’t turn out quite like that for me. However, in terms of yield, it still outperformed many heirloom varieties growing in the greenhouse this year.
Disadvantages: Not resistant to leaf mold (Cladosporium), and the seeds are quite expensive.
I planted 2 bushes this summer (2013) in the greenhouse. Tender, thin skin, tasty, my yield was average.
In the 2016 seed purchasing thread, some information went around that Spam is hard/firm. Mine is meaty and tasty. Maybe it was a seed mix-up. Did anyone else get hard and tasteless ones? I’ve been planting it for many years. It is one of my favorites 👍
Here is mine as of today. This is the second truss.
I want to plant it next year. How many stems should I prune it to in the greenhouse?
mopsdad1 said:
Did anyone else get hard and tasteless ones?
Mine turned out quite firm/dense and not very early. Compared to Orange Strawberry, the taste is a 4 out of 5. The yield was average.
I have been planting PINK SPAM for many years. It brings joy with both its taste and yield. I prune it to two stems. I will be planting it again this year despite having a ton of new seeds to try.
Olga Sh said:
I have been planting PINK SPAM for many years. It brings joy with both its taste and yield.
I subscribe to every single word! I want to add that it stores very well and ripens indoors off the vine without losing any flavor. By autumn in the greenhouse, so many of them grow that I walk under it like under an apple tree covered in fruit. I will definitely be planting it.
Hooray. If they also store well 🙌. Probably around 250 grams (8.8 oz) each? I will definitely plant them!
I planted the VARIETY (dehybridized) Pink Spam from V. Monakhova, on the advice of Valentina Zakharovna from Izhevsk. Thank you to her for the seeds 🌸 🎩
The variety turned out to be very productive, tasty, and heat-resistant in the polycarbonate greenhouse. The fruits are beautiful, it set fruit all the way to the top. The fruits higher up were actually larger. On the sunny side during the heat, unlike other heart-shaped varieties, it had no green shoulders or hard white cores. I will definitely repeat it.
Tatiana Kemerovo said:
I planted the VARIETY Pink Spam from V. Monakhova…
Tatiana, very interesting, was your Spam actually pink? From the photo, the color is not very clear.
Now that I try to recall the color… I think it was pink. A very bright pink. The fruit I saved for seeds got a bit overripe. But they look exactly like the ones in the other photos.
I planted it in 2019. The hybrid brought me joy. The fruiting period is extended (just when you think you’ve picked everything, it puts out new flowers and starts swelling new fruits). The fruits were picture-perfect, even and bright pink. I got 2.3 kg (5 lbs) per bush, fruit weight 170-282g (6-10 oz). I picked the fruits unripe so that the new ones could finish growing. They ripened beautifully in a box. The color of the fully ripe fruits was just freakin’ amazing, but I didn’t photograph them 😞 got too busy.
