Spudakee

[b54red]

This is my first year for this variety and so far I am really impressed. I have kept it pruned to a couple of stems and it is now well over 4 ft tall; but what is so impressive is the fruit set. I was on my little garden stool picking beans in a bed next to a tomato bed and so I started looking at the fruit set on each tomato plant. I counted 36 dime and up tomatoes on the Spudakee with plenty of blooms left to set. The 90s are here now so the fruit set will probably drop off a good bit or stop but this thing has set more fruit than even my cherry tomatoes so far. I hope the fusarium and TSWV will leave it alone long enough for me to pick just what is on it now. My Cherokee Purple is not setting that much so far nor did the one I grew last year. I'm going to start some more Spudakee seed and see how this thing does in mid summer and fall.

[Gobig_or_Gohome_toms]

I had good results when I grew it two years ago it was very productive for me as well just have not had the space to grow it again but will in the future.

Craig

[b54red]

I'm really hoping it can handle our heat and humidity down here. I'll just have to wait and see how it does.

[dipchip2000]

Bill

I am also growing Spudakee for the first time and it also is growing and putting in fruit like crazy. When the seeds germinated I got one plant that was regular leaf and decided to plant it anyway along with the potato leaf. Both plants look great and are setting lots of fruit. I dont have any idea what the regular leaf will produce or if it will be worth eating but I am going to have a lot of them. Maybe reverting back to regular leaf Cherokee Purple but that cant be a bad thing either. Has anyone else ever encountered this and grew it out and if so what were the results. Sorry Bill,didnt mean to hijack just got carried away.

ron

[Gobig_or_Gohome_toms]

Originally Posted by b54red

I'm really hoping it can handle our heat and humidity down here. I'll just have to wait and see how it does.

It handled the humidity up here and we do get pretty warm too and seemed to set good in those conditions will be interesting to see how it does for you on the later plantings.

Craig

[coloken]

Was one of my best last year. Is one of my first 10 choices tp plant this year. Did better than Cherokee Purple regular. .

[tuk50]

I think you will do well with a second planting... mine does like yours did .. set a lot early then my temps hit the 100's plus through the summer and it didn't set fruit again till mid august and we have very very low humidity till our monsoon season that starts in July for about 6weeks the humidity jumps and spudakee was very disease resistant and started setting fruit again in late summer here. I think it is one of the best tomatoes that I have ever grown considering everything, production, taste, disease resistance etc.... I also like the size of the plant.. it just hit the top of my 5ft cages and with my long growing season things like green zebra has hit 15ft here.
I also had a regular leaf plant last year, out of about 2doz that sprouted and at the time I thought it was a stray seed and tossed it... now I wish I had grown it out as I've heard of others that had a regular leaf.

ron, I would love to get a few of those regular leaf seed when you grow it out.. if you have enough. By the way Howdy.. I was raised in Checotah and my brother works at the VA in Muskogee.

[coloken]

Good question: Would a spudakee with regulat leaf still be a spudakee?

[amideutch]

Good question: Would a spudakee with regulat leaf still be a spudakee?

Nope, Spudakee was the name given by Bill Malin to the PL variant of Cherokee Purple he found. I would wait till Ron's plant matures and bears fruit and see what he come's up with.

Ron, who was your source for Spudakee?

Ami

[carolyn137]

Spud in German means potato so Spudakee is Bill's name for the PL variant of Cherokee Purple that he found.

There's also another PL variant of CP that Jere Gettle found in his tomato patch which is called Cherokee Purple Potato Leaf.

THE question is, are either of those two PL CP's the same as CP except for leaf form and some say yes, and some say no. YOu have to grow them all out in the same season to make a direct comparison, the two PL variants and CP itself.

I used to think that going from RL to PL was a single spontaneous mutation until Keith Mueller and I discussed it and he pointed out that there's more than one way to go from RL to PL and that more than one gene can be involved; DNA changes such as looping out, repeats, inversions and the like, which I knew about from bacteria, but never thought about it for tomatoes.

So other traits such as taste, etc, could be different.

THe back mutation from PL to RL is very very rare and Ron, might indicate some crossing or genetic instabiity afoot.

Indian Stripe is probably a "version" of Cherokee Purple and several of us are growing a PL variant of IS. And so it goes.

[dipchip2000]

Ami

The seed came from Gary at Duck Creek Farms and he indicated it had happened to him before and he just discarded the reg leaf. The plant looked so good and vigorous that I have to grow it out. I am not changing or renaming it, just growing it out to see what it produces and if it taste good. For now it is just Spudakee Sport for my identifying purposes only.

Tuk50
The fruit is pea to marble size now and I have no idea how long before it gets ripe. Just guessing it will be 75 or 80 days from now before I get to eat one. Definitely if it is good I will save seeds and replant again. The most impressive thing now is the vigorous and healthy plant that is setting a huge amount of fruit. PM me your address and I will get you some seeds after they ripen and I get some fermented.
Not a general offer at this time.

ron

[BigdaddyJ]

I prefer Spudakee over CP but then I always prefer the PL version. (KBX over KB- IS PL over IS) Spudakee out produced and was healthier than CP and CP is a great tomato IMO...

[amideutch]

I have had the same experience with PL's compared to their RL brothers. When I grew Spudatula (Black from Tula PL) in 2009, the production from the plant was unreal and kept pumping out fruit all season long and I grew it in a 7gal container. Ami

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by amideutch

I have had the same experience with PL's compared to their RL brothers. When I grew Spudatula (Black from Tula PL) in 2009, the production from the plant was unreal and kept pumping out fruit all season long and I grew it in a 7gal container. Ami

Sorry for the thread hijack..........but I thought the bigger (container) the better when it came to growing indeterminate tomatoes in containers?

For a 7gal container, must the indeterminates be trimmed to a single leader? How many leaders (and therfore more fruit production) can you muster out of say a 7 gal, 10 gal, or 15 gal pot?

By-the-way I have been lurking on the "Container Growing" forums over the last few days trying to school myself in pot size, medium, etc. First time growing tomatoes last year and had a couple of cherries in pots. Hadn't considered large fruited til now. I have more plants (1st time from seed) than I have room in the raised bed and I do have a few large pots and a few smaller pots that I'd like to press into service....as long as it is reasonable to expect fruit. Don't want to spend $10 or more on potting mix and fish fertilizer, etc for only two Stump-of-the-World (or Teresenko 6, Red Brandywine, Brad's Black Heart, Indian Stripe, Orlov Yellow, the list goes on).

And now back to the Spudakee thread. I should post this in the other forum for container growing.

[b54red]

JoeP, if you have seedlings ready to plant you should have no trouble making a fairly large crop from either Stump or Indian Stripe. They both put on fruit early and frequently. I can't speak to the others you mentioned as I have not grown them yet.