Czech OP tomatoes- my project 2014-2016

[MrBig46]

Tomato Stupice
"Prague, 24/3 1976
"Sir,
"I am a regular reader of 'The Organic Gardening and Farming' and in the January issue I read a very interesting article: 'Special Seeds for Special Needs' and your successful enterprise. I would like your catalog and some trial seeds especially of your tomatoes, onions, lettuce, marigold and verbena. On the other hand, I am attaching four varieties of our Czechoslovak tomatoes and two East German bush varieties that have proven themselves very well here. And also one Bulgarian variety.
70 and yet my greatest joy is when I can try something new in my garden.
"Please write to me if you have any wishes that I can fulfill.
" Thank you in advance!
"Sincerely yours
"Milan Sodomka"
This is a letter sent by Milan Sodomka to the USA in 1976. Among the enclosed seeds were those of Stupické polní rané. Over time, the name was simplified to Stupice. The remaining three Czech bush tomatoes travel the world under the names: Olomovic, Czech Bush and Urbikany.
In 2014, I grew Stupické polní ráné and Stupice tomato plants next to each other. I found no significant difference in plant growth, fruit shape and color, or taste,which surprised me quite a bit. Stupické polní rané is regularly maintained by Czech professional companies, whereas Stupice is maintained by seed sellers and often also by amateur growers.
After all, Stupice is a really old variety that also has some weaknesses. In very warm, sunny weather, a so-called yellow collar forms around the stem, which is caused by the movement of the necessary potassium from the area near the stem to the tip during rapid ripening. Potassium is then missing at the stalk. The second problem is the uneven size and shape of the first tomatoes. Breeders in Germany tried to solve this by selecting and stabilizing Stupice. A new variety was created, but it is not known in which part of Germany (BRD or DDR). I think that in the DDR, because I saw a report in the ÚKZÚZ file about the fact that they tested Stupice-type tomatoes from the DDR. In the DDR she was called Tamina, and she got into the outside world from the BDR as Matina. The two horticultural companies are only 40 km apart, with only the border between the then two states separating them. I compared Stupice with Matina and Tamina. Indeed neither Tamina nor Matina were susceptible to yellow collar formation and I could not tell any difference in taste.
Vladimír

[ddsack]

Great information along with your personal testing, Vlad! I wish I could have saved all my old Organic Gardening and Farming magazines. It was best back in the day when it was produced by the original Rodale guy on newsprint in smaller size format. I kept on for a year or two after it went glossy and dropped Farming from the title, but it was never as good in later years. Interesting to see how Stupice got to the U.S.


Always, thanks for sharing your experiments.