The tomato is sweet, but it has zero shelf life and overripens extremely fast on the bush.
Plus, it cracks.
It’s very much “an acquired taste”.
Mine also got slightly overripe – and the green shoulders also lightened up when it overripened..
Zhenechka-Dzhina – thank you for the seeds! 🌸
Andrey_K wrote:
The tomato is sweet, but it has zero shelf life and overripens extremely fast on the bush. Plus, it cracks.
I agree with you… yes it cracks… yes it’s tasty…. but because of the taste, it gets eaten before it even has a chance to spoil…. I planted 2 bushes and that’s just the right amount for salads…
Same here. I picked the fruits as soon as they got ripe, I didn’t let them overripen. I think this is the only variety where I literally stood guard waiting for a ripe tomato. True, the yield was average—if there had been more, maybe I wouldn’t have had to guard them.
Grew this variety for the first time from Galina. REALLY liked it! Shelf life is normal. Pretty heavy trusses – about 6 fruits around 300g (10.5 oz) each. For a first time, great yield. Taste – the best of all the black tomatoes this year.
I recommend it to anyone who hasn’t grown it 👍
Tanya, did your Tsindao not overripen on the bush? I’ve been eyeing this variety for a long time, but I just can’t bring myself to try it because people say you have to constantly stand guard over it.
If you want a productive and tasty black tomato, it’s better to plant Black Oxheart (Bychye Serdtse Chernoe).
Now THAT one… is good by all accounts.. but Tsindao… well, it’s an extremely polarizing variety.
Andrey, in what exact way is it polarizing? Because of the overripening and cracking? Or something else?
Yes, if you don’t keep a close eye on it, it turns to mush right on the bush.
BUT ITS ALMOST TWIN BROTHER “PURPLE LAKE” (SIRENEVOE OZERO)…. IS BETTER, DOESN’T CRACK, AND TASTES JUST AS SWEET…. IF YOU PUT THEM SIDE BY SIDE, YOU WOULDN’T EVEN KNOW WHICH IS WHICH….)))
My Tsindao was not productive at all, although the summer was absolutely terrible. I won’t be repeating it for now.
VALENTINA/Abakan wrote:
BUT ITS ALMOST TWIN BROTHER “PURPLE LAKE”…
In terms of taste, Purple Lake is significantly inferior to Tsindao.
P.S. Valentina, please don’t forget to turn off Caps Lock 🙈, this isn’t the first message you’ve written in all capital letters.
Maybe so… they just seemed similar to me…. I’ll plant two plants of both and taste them again…)) Oh, I ask for your forgiveness…. I wasn’t paying attention….))) Thank you for the correction …..)))
Seeds from V. Monakhova. Looks like an off-type (crossed seeds) ((((
Purple Lake and Tsindao are not twins, they are completely different tomatoes 🙂
Anela wrote:
Looks like an off-type ((((
That’s for sure. Tsindao is not red.
Kirina wrote:
Tanya, did your Tsindao not overripen on the bush?
Irochka, it didn’t overripen and didn’t crack one bit. 👍
I am growing it in this difficult year 🙂 Tsindao from Galya Esme (seeds shared by LenaA). Growing outdoors in open ground. Fruits are 200-230g (7-8 oz), no cracking.
Lyuda, is your Tsindao reddish or pinkish? And how does it taste?
My husband said that I’m colorblind and don’t know my colors. It seems blackish to me, sort of like the Black Elephant (Chernyi Slon) variety.
This is its true color. From Nadezhda (Pskov). I searched for it after reading in the dark tomatoes thread that it is tastier than Paul Robeson (PSH). I didn’t compare them side-by-side, but my kids are thrilled with the taste. And this is despite it raining for a month straight. What the taste will be like in a dry spell, I can only guess…
I also grew Tsindao for the first time this year. I got a couple of bushes as a gift from my sister. What can I say, the bush didn’t get sick, and it’s quite productive. Height is about 150 cm (5 ft). The plant is a bit wispy/fragile. One problem – it cracks heavily. The conclusion is, pick it and eat it immediately. It’s a variety for those who like it sweeter, as it seemed to me that the flavor is more fruity than tomatoey. But such a yummy treat will now live in my garden for a long time.
The variety is super! Handsome and very tasty!
Natasha (elsa30), thank you for the seeds of such a wonderful variety! 🌸
Planted two bushes of Tsindao. One is obviously dark-fruited, and the second one is red. Like, really red, but very sweet!
A very tasty variety 😋 Large, productive, and sweet. One of the absolute best this year 👍
Has anyone planted Tsindao in open ground in the Non-Black Earth Region? I’m making plans for the next season. I only plant outdoors in open ground and under temporary row covers.
I planted it in this unfavorable season. Everything I have grows only in open ground. I removed the spunbond row cover over the hoops two weeks after planting them out. After that, I didn’t cover them with anything, didn’t feed them, didn’t spray them, just gave them a mulch of last year’s hay, and dusted them with wood ash once. I also inserted copper wire into the stem (as blight prevention).
Pruned to three stems.
Harvested them together with the bushes two weeks ago.
The yield is average compared to others. It didn’t get sick with anything. I loved it for its taste and beauty. It ripened perfectly indoors.
Here it is:
Thank you for such an instant and detailed response. It is very important for me to find comrades who grow tomatoes in similar conditions: open ground and Central Russia. So that I have someone to learn from.
I don’t know about “learning from”, but my conditions are pretty harsh, that’s for sure! Not only is it open ground without any shelter, but also absolutely zero watering on principle, and I only visit the garden once every two weeks. But I do have a southern slope, and the soil is sand. For this season, the conditions played in my favor.
I’d be glad to exchange experiences 🌸
Petrofka wrote:
Has anyone planted Tsindao in open ground in the Non-Black Earth Region?
Everything I have is in open ground, but my timing was terrible this year (had a serious reason) – I only sowed the seeds on April 13th. I transplanted them outdoors as usual in the first days of June – the bushes were moderately pruned, didn’t get sick with anything, yield was average. BUT…. one was black, as it should be, and the second one was bright red.
Yesterday I decided to eat the red one right off the bush – oh, how TASTY and sweet it was! Sweeter than the original!
I already have a hundred varieties in my collection at home…. who needs more? 😲 But I couldn’t resist and saved seeds from the red one. For myself. I named it “Little Red Tsindao” (Krasnyi Tsindavchik).
So that’s the off-type I ended up with. The bushes sat right next to each other, looking identical from the outside.
I’m currently back in the information-gathering stage. Reading the forum ravenously like a good detective novel. I’ve already realized that I practically knew nothing about tomatoes. And since we basically didn’t have a summer, my next virtual garden season has started much earlier.
I grew 2 bushes in the greenhouse. Average height, good yield, 3.5 kg (7.7 lbs) pruned to 2 stems. The tomatoes are beautiful, but the taste was just ordinary tomato flavor.
Also, for some reason, the leaves seemed wrinkled/rugose around the veins, one bush had it stronger, the other weaker.
The handsome Tsindao.
This variety was at the very origins of my collection, among the varieties sent by @SvetaR. In 2017 I liked it, repeated it in 2020, no diseases, good yield in open ground, and excellent taste!!!
I grow it in memory of Galochka. It has brought me joy for many years.
