variegated cherokee purple? - Page 2

Joe Roppolo · July 21, 2011

I'm a nursery owner in La. and I also found var. plant in a flat of CPs. I grew them out and they made a lot of very pretty crack free fruit and even set in our heat. They did lose the var. when it got hot but most var. do down here. I saved a few hundred seed and will plant them and see what happens.

raindrops27 · July 21, 2011

It is weird.

But, I bought one cherokee purple plant from, home *****. and grew one from seed. The one, that I grew from seed. Is almost 6 ft tall. The one, I got from the box store. Is at most 2 1/2 ft tall. With beefsteak shaped 3-5oz, emerald green color, tomatoes. Where as the one from seed. Has just started setting fruit, that will be a much bigger, beefsteak with a mint ice cream green appearance.

Which leads to my question. Even though, I have never grown CP, from just researching, the one from seed. Sounds about right. However, is there any way to identify, the other one?

Joe Roppolo · July 22, 2011

Its been my experience that the box stores and others buy there plants from big industrial type growers who use growth retardant,which in my opinion should never be used on food plants but they somehow get away with it.But that would explain the stunted growth.As for as trying to identify what you may have its hard who knows what happened at the time of planting unless you are doing the planting.Good luck

raindrops27 · July 22, 2011

Growth retardant thanks Joe, I never knew that. i was just thinking the box store one. Was not a cherokee purple. The only way I will know for sure, is the taste, from the one grown from seed vs. box store plant.

delltraveller · July 22, 2011

Joe,

Let me refer you to post #6 in this same thread.

As to whether raindrops27's store bought "Cherokee Purple" is a real Cherokee Purple, we won't know until it grows out, and perhaps until saved seed is also grown out. It could be crossed seed, it could have a disease, it could have suffered some sort of injury, it could be a mutation, it could just be a yucky plant that should have been culled.

Joe, I take it your plant grew out to a normal size plant?

Joe Roppolo · July 23, 2011

Yes it sure did,and I grew A tom. simply called "Variegated" that had regular small red tomatoes so originally I thought that was what I had until the fruits developed.Early on I could tell they were bigger then when they ripened to a very pretty rosey purple with faint striping I knew it was a mutated CP.

raindrops27 · July 27, 2011

Joe,

I picked a fruit from the mystery "cherokee purple" I planted that grew like a determinate tomato. I picked it early, as it was cracking.

I figured I post a picture. I have no idea if it is or not. Guess, I will see more when it starts to ripen.

Joe Roppolo · July 28, 2011

Cool mine were a little smoother and no cracks even when my others did. but you guys have been as hot as us this year and that always leads to cracks even on hybrids.

delltraveller · August 1, 2011

I picked the tomato off my small variegated Cherokee Purple yesterday. It was a nice Cherokee Purple color and weighed in at about 5oz. Sliced, it looks like a Cherokee Purple inside, too. Green gel around the seeds. The plant has lost it's "rugose-ness" but is still a sparse being, only about 30 to 32 inches tall. It is still producing variegation on the new growth, but less so and with less contrast, as one would expect in this hot sunny weather. It doesn't seem to like having it's blossoms bagged, so after several attempts I've decided to just leave the poor thing alone. The first fruit set when nothing else was blooming, so I have high hopes that it is self-pollinated. It is the first fruit of any size to ripen in my garden. I've saved the seeds, they're in their little cup waiting to ferment.

Joe Roppolo · August 1, 2011

Great, I'm going to try to have enough seed next year to list some on Seed Saver Exchange, which I'm a member of.They have a lot of variation of the Cherokees but I've never seenseen the Vari. listed.

**carolyn137** · August 1, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe Roppolo

Great, I'm going to try to have enough seed next year to list some on Seed Saver Exchange, which I'm a member of.They have a lot of variation of the Cherokees but I've never seenseen the Vari. listed.

Joe, if I were you I'd spend another year growing your own plants from that saved seed b'c while I talked about the variegated Green Zebra Cherry above, two of us now know that if the original did have variegated foliage, stems and fruit, then it isn't transmissable via seed b'c we see variegation at all with the seeds saved from the variegated plants.

In a way it does make sense b'c of all the the so called variegated varieties I've seen referred to at messege sites, not one of them came true from saved seed. The one person who had the variegated GZ cherry was able to transfer it vegetatively with a cutting but we know now not via seed.

AS I said above, the only variety I know that's variegated and does pass that trait on via seed is Variegata, aka Variegated.

And yes, I did talk about growth regulators in post # 6.

Hope this helps/

Joe Roppolo · August 3, 2011

Yes I am aware of this and I also grew Variegata in the past.I did plan on growing them out for a year or 2 to make sure they were true.

July 21, 2011	#16
Joe Roppolo Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: St. francisville la Posts: 6	Var. cherokee purple I'm a nursery owner in La. and I also found var. plant in a flat of CPs. I grew them out and they made a lot of very pretty crack free fruit and even set in our heat. They did lose the var. when it got hot but most var. do down here. I saved a few hundred seed and will plant them and see what happens.

July 22, 2011	#18
Joe Roppolo Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: St. francisville la Posts: 6	Var. CP Its been my experience that the box stores and others buy there plants from big industrial type growers who use growth retardant,which in my opinion should never be used on food plants but they somehow get away with it.But that would explain the stunted growth.As for as trying to identify what you may have its hard who knows what happened at the time of planting unless you are doing the planting.Good luck

July 23, 2011	#21
Joe Roppolo Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: St. francisville la Posts: 6	var cp Yes it sure did,and I grew A tom. simply called "Variegated" that had regular small red tomatoes so originally I thought that was what I had until the fruits developed.Early on I could tell they were bigger then when they ripened to a very pretty rosey purple with faint striping I knew it was a mutated CP.

July 21, 2011	#17
raindrops27 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: long island Posts: 327	It is weird. But, I bought one cherokee purple plant from, home *****. and grew one from seed. The one, that I grew from seed. Is almost 6 ft tall. The one, I got from the box store. Is at most 2 1/2 ft tall. With beefsteak shaped 3-5oz, emerald green color, tomatoes. Where as the one from seed. Has just started setting fruit, that will be a much bigger, beefsteak with a mint ice cream green appearance. Which leads to my question. Even though, I have never grown CP, from just researching, the one from seed. Sounds about right. However, is there any way to identify, the other one?

July 22, 2011	#20
delltraveller Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Iowa Posts: 481	Joe, Let me refer you to post #6 in this same thread. As to whether raindrops27's store bought "Cherokee Purple" is a real Cherokee Purple, we won't know until it grows out, and perhaps until saved seed is also grown out. It could be crossed seed, it could have a disease, it could have suffered some sort of injury, it could be a mutation, it could just be a yucky plant that should have been culled. Joe, I take it your plant grew out to a normal size plant?

July 28, 2011	#23
Joe Roppolo Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: St. francisville la Posts: 6	Cool mine were a little smoother and no cracks even when my others did. but you guys have been as hot as us this year and that always leads to cracks even on hybrids.

August 1, 2011	#24
delltraveller Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Iowa Posts: 481	I picked the tomato off my small variegated Cherokee Purple yesterday. It was a nice Cherokee Purple color and weighed in at about 5oz. Sliced, it looks like a Cherokee Purple inside, too. Green gel around the seeds. The plant has lost it's "rugose-ness" but is still a sparse being, only about 30 to 32 inches tall. It is still producing variegation on the new growth, but less so and with less contrast, as one would expect in this hot sunny weather. It doesn't seem to like having it's blossoms bagged, so after several attempts I've decided to just leave the poor thing alone. The first fruit set when nothing else was blooming, so I have high hopes that it is self-pollinated. It is the first fruit of any size to ripen in my garden. I've saved the seeds, they're in their little cup waiting to ferment.

August 3, 2011	#27
Joe Roppolo Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: St. francisville la Posts: 6	Yes I am aware of this and I also grew Variegata in the past.I did plan on growing them out for a year or 2 to make sure they were true.