Quick Summary of Sugar Gem F1 (Samotsvet Sakharnyi F1)
- 🌍 Origin & Name: Another popular commercial hybrid from the Russian SeDek seed company’s “Gem” (Samotsvet) series. The name translates to “Sugar Gem”. Note: Some Ukrainian private collectors sell “de-hybridized” open-pollinated (OP) versions under similar names.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall) and incredibly vigorous. Growers consistently describe it as one of the most powerful, massive plants in their gardens, easily reaching 2 meters (6.5 ft) and producing fruit non-stop until the late autumn frosts.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics & Segregation: Small, round, striped cocktail/cherry tomatoes. Because it is an F1 hybrid (and many growers save seeds from it), the color can segregate. The true F1 is red with yellow stripes, but saved seeds often produce mahogany/brown fruits with green stripes (similar to Violet Jasper).
- 👅 Texture & Culinary Use: The flesh is sweet and slightly starchy/dense. However, its most notable trait is its very tough, thick skin. While this can be a drawback for fresh eating in salads, it makes Sugar Gem an absolute top-tier tomato for whole-fruit canning and pickling, as they look beautiful and never split in jars.
🍅 Have you grown this variety? Scroll down to add your review and photos in the comments below!
Real Grower Reviews & Photos
Early, productive, indeterminate. In the greenhouse, it grew over 2m (6.5 ft) tall. A powerful, beautiful bush with stiff leaves; it kept setting fruit until October. The fruits are beautiful, small in size, round, red with yellow stripes.
The taste is sweet and a bit starchy, but it has a very tough skin, which is exactly why the entire harvest went into canning/pickling, where it looked incredibly beautiful in the jars.
And from my packet, this is what grew. It looks like the Chinese variety Tzi Bi U (Violet Jasper). What it actually is, probably no one will ever know… a complete off-type (seed mix-up)!
I also planted it this year, I liked it for its sweetness. Yes, the skin is a bit thick, but we ate all of it fresh, the kids really loved it!
Planted it this year, the bush was also over 2 meters (6.5 ft) tall. The skin is thick, the fruits are not large, but they are sugary-sweet – they all went into canning for winter.
Seeds were from Dukhov (Ukraine). The variety was simply called Striped Sugar Gem. And WITHOUT the “F1” label (not a hybrid).
- Bush description: mid-early variety, sprawling, the most powerful indeterminate in my entire collection(!!!)
- Fruit set: no skipped blossoms, still setting and fruiting right now.
- Bush height: on August 5th – about 1.9-2.0m (6.2-6.5 ft) in OPEN GROUND(!!!).
- Trusses: 6 fruits each, very dense and beautiful.
- Overall yield: very high.
- Fruit: round, red-brown with green stripes, beautiful.
- Firmness of ripe fruit: very high.
- Taste: dense, juicy, sweetness 4 out of 5.
First impression: a beautiful tomato, perfect for canning.
Minuses: the flesh is slightly hollow/dry.
Ratings (out of 5): Seedling – 5+, Bush – 5, Fruit – 4, Overall rating for the variety – 5-.
For some reason, they turned out in two different colors:
