Quick Summary of Tsygan (Gypsy)
- 🌍 Origin: A very popular and reliable Russian commercial variety. The name translates to “Gypsy”, a traditional naming convention in Eastern Europe for dark, mahogany-colored tomatoes.
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Semi-determinate to indeterminate. It is relatively compact, typically growing 90–120 cm (3–4 ft) tall, though it can reach 1.5 m (5 ft) in a greenhouse. It is a vigorous grower that produces a massive amount of suckers, so aggressive pruning is required. Growers recommend training it to 3 or 4 main stems.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Beautiful, uniform, round dark-mahogany fruits. They are cocktail-to-small-slicer size, averaging 100–180 g (3.5–6.5 oz). The flesh is quite dense and firm.
- 👅 Flavor: Balanced and classic. Growers debate its sweetness—some find it sweet, while others note a refreshing tartness. It’s often described as a “workhorse” tomato rather than a gourmet delicacy, but it rarely disappoints.
- 🥫 Uses: While originally bred as a salad tomato, its firm texture makes it absolutely phenomenal for canning, especially preserved whole in its own juice.
- 💡 Pro Tip: This variety is a true survivor (a “lifesaver” variety). It sets fruit continuously without blossom drop in both extreme heat and cold. It may suffer from skin cracking in late summer (August), but usually recovers and stops cracking as the weather cools in September.
Description from the seed packet:
Mid-season variety for plastic film greenhouses. Plant height is 90-120 cm (3-4 ft). The fruits are beautiful, uniform, round, weighing 100-180 g (3.5-6.5 oz). The first flower truss forms above the ninth leaf, subsequent ones every 2-3 leaves. A salad-type variety with a high content of minerals, dry matter, and vitamins.
Photo author: Laryok
I planted it in 2013. It was SOOO tasty, everyone kept hovering around it, waiting for it to ripen. But it had a very low yield for me, on all 3 bushes. Maybe it needs to be pruned to 3-4 stems?
It was productive for me. The men in the family really liked this variety. I didn’t care for it much…
Grew it from “Russian Ogorod” seeds for the second year—the plants were always consistent: strong, not very tall bushes (in a film greenhouse – up to 1.5 m / 5 ft). It handles being pruned to 3 stems perfectly, doesn’t drop blossoms, sets fruit in both heat and cold. The fruits are round and smaller than Black Prince, about 120-150 grams (4-5 oz) each. In August it tends to crack, but by September it stops cracking again, setting and ripening fruit right up until the frost. Picked fruits ripen very well indoors. The taste is so-so to me… a bit too tart/acidic for my liking, but it is an excellent workhorse and a true lifesaver variety! 👍
Matilda wrote:
The taste is so-so to me… a bit too tart/acidic for my liking, but it is an excellent workhorse and a true lifesaver variety! 👍
How can that be? 🤨 It is sweet, not sour.
Maybe I should plant it again? 🤔 Since it was such a workhorse for everyone else… 🤔
trofi wrote:
How can that be? 🤨 It is sweet, not sour.
Maybe I should plant it again?
Lena, you are right, it can be called sweet, I characterized it poorly, but I just prefer my tomatoes even sweeter… but the fact that it’s highly productive and not fussy—that is a fact!
An excellent variety. Strong seedlings and bushes. Seed germination was 100%. Planted 5 bushes in the greenhouse this year, gave the rest away. At first, it went into vegetative overdrive (too much foliage, skipping blossoms), but then it actively started setting fruit. Pruned it to 3 stems. I had to aggressively prune the suckers to speed up fruit ripening. It throws out a LOT of suckers. Very disease resistant. High yield.
Ideal for salads. A cocktail-sized tomato, not too sour, with a hint of sugar (but not overly sweet). Dense and firm. I am very happy with it.
In this photo are Orange Date (Finik Oranzhevyi) and Tsygan.
As a follow-up: we opened a jar of Tsygan tomatoes canned in their own juice. Very tasty.
I read all the reviews and expected more. I won’t say I’m disappointed, but I most likely won’t grow it again. Even though it is productive and the taste isn’t bad, it just didn’t hook me.
