Quick Summary of Syzranka
- 🌍 Origin: A famous old family heirloom from Syzran, a city on the Volga River famously known as the “Tomato Capital of Russia.” The name translates to “Girl from Syzran.”
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate, but on the shorter, more compact side. It typically grows to about 1.6 meters (5.2 ft) tall. The vines are neat and well-behaved, performing best when pruned to 2 stems.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Large, beautiful pink beefsteaks with a distinctly pearlescent or glowing skin. They are mostly round to slightly oblate, weighing around 300g (10.5 oz), though some reach over 500g (1 lb 2 oz). Crucial identifier: A true Syzranka has an incredibly thin, delicate skin.
- 👅 Flavor & Texture: Very meaty, firm, and juicy with a classic, sweet, old-fashioned tomato flavor. It holds up exceptionally well to heat stress without developing hard white internal veins.
- 🧬 The Heirloom Debate: Because it is an old regional heirloom, there are many strains and fakes circulating. As this thread shows, growers constantly debate the exact shape (perfectly round vs. slightly heart-shaped), and locals fiercely defend the “true” authentic version!
I got this variety through a seed exchange. The bush is indeterminate, but not very tall, reaching up to 1.6 m (5.2 ft). It is a very neat plant. The fruits are large, round, pink-pearlescent, and tasty. Fruit set and yield are both good. It is a medium-early variety.
Large, very beautiful fruits, good full trusses, and I liked the taste. But for some reason, it produced very few flower trusses for me. ??? On 2 stems, I only got 3 trusses in total (they didn’t dry up and drop blossoms, they just simply didn’t form), and I accidentally broke one of them off. 😕
Elena said:
But for some reason, it produced very few flower trusses for me.
My plant also only set three main trusses, and higher up there were just 2 or 3 single little tomatoes hanging. But the fruits themselves are firm and delicious 👍
My Syzranka (it’s a pity I can’t remember who gifted me the seeds) turned out to be excellent in all parameters—productive, beautiful, mid-season, and the fruits didn’t crack. Perhaps the taste was just slightly too simple/plain, but I still plan to continue growing it.
My photos of Syzranka:
Galina, I had 4 tomatoes per truss. I only had 2 trusses in total, which is exactly why I remember the count so well! 😂😂
Mine were labeled “Syzranskie”, are those the same thing? They had trusses of 5 medium-sized pink fruits with a little beak/nipple at the blossom end.
Sveta, Syzranka is large, nearly 300g (10.5 oz) or over 300g. And the fruits are smooth and round. Mine had a very interesting pearlescent color. I can’t remember how many were in a truss, though.
What a handsome tomato! Is this an amateur/family heirloom, or a commercial variety?
Amateur (family heirloom). It has been grown in the city of Syzran since ancient times.
A true Syzranka has very thin skin.. if yours has thick skin, then it is not the authentic one.
Seeds were from Tomatanya 🌹
It grew in the greenhouse, pruned to 2 stems. Good yield, the fruits are firm, meaty, up to 550g (1 lb 3 oz), with a very good taste.
It plumps up its tomatoes beautifully, and they are all perfectly smooth just like in a picture. Good fruit set.
I like how the plant grows, though I haven’t gotten around to tasting it just yet 😉
Svetlana said:
Good yield, the fruits are firm, meaty, up to 550g, with a very good taste.
🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️ And I somehow managed to give away my ONLY successfully germinated seedling of this variety! Well, at least it went to a good home 🙂
My Syzranka grew in a polycarbonate greenhouse in the absolutely baking sun. Because of the abnormally hot summer, all the other oxheart varieties growing nearby developed hard green shoulders with white internal veins, which always upsets me. But Syzranka grew perfectly healthy and beautiful—it set fruit without skipping any blossoms. It did take a long time to color up, but when it did, there were zero hard internal veins.
The fruits are large, the trusses are strong (I didn’t even need to tie them up). The taste is very decent. Bright pink on the inside. I am definitely keeping it on my grow list!
Is anyone else growing Syzranka from the vendor Redko this year? This is what mine looks like right now, but I have a strong suspicion that it’s going to turn out elongated and pepper-shaped based on the structure of the bush. At best, it might be an oxheart… maybe I’m wrong 🤷♀️
As I suspected, the seeds from Redko were an off-type (fake).
The Syzrankas I got from E. Rizvanova, OK, and Gusev looked like this. The one from Elena is slightly different, almost heart-shaped (first photo), and for me, it was incredibly tasty.
Yulia said:
The Syzrankas I got from E. Rizvanova, OK, and Gusev looked like this.
NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THESE PHOTOS SHOWS OUR TRUE SYZRANKA.
ALLA said:
NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THESE PHOTOS SHOWS OUR TRUE SYZRANKA.
Alla, do you have a photo of the real authentic one? Please share it with us!
