does cherokee purple have any edge against late blight?

[tjg911]

of all 10 varieties this year, CP has produced by far the most fruits that have had no LB on them and a lot of fruits at that. taste is outstanding, even better than i remember and it is a top favorite of mine so this outstanding taste is surprising to me.

i suppose that it is just luck that the CP plant has exhibited the least damage from LB. it lost a lot of leaves early on and it showed LB earlier than some varieties. i really did not have much hope for it after the 1st several tomatoes were picked. after about a week i found 9 or 10 breakers today and none have any LB on them.

any chance CP has some immunity to LB?

also can i SAFELY save seeds from these fruits since they do not have any LB on them even tho the plant does or am i taking too much of a chance? i would ferment the seeds.

tom

[hasshoes]

This doesn't answer your question but it is related--- all of my Indian Stripes went down from LB right away.

[RandyG]

Several years ago I tested Cherokee Purple in my late blight resistance breeding plots after I was told by a local grower that it had resistance to late blight. It turned out to be susceptible under the heavy disease pressure in my plots. A few varieties do have a low level of tolerance to late blight and go down slower to the disease. Under less severe conditions, Cherokee Purple might hold up a little better than some other varieties, but I don't think it has much resistance if any.
Randy

[amideutch]

For me it seems Spudakee Purple (Cherokee Purple PL) seems to have more disease tolerance than it's RL brother. From my experience PL's in general seem to show more disease tolerance than the regular leaf varieties. Ami

[tjg911]

i'm surprised to see you say that ami because my 2 pl varieties fared worse and earlier than the rl plants. i expected a pl to be stronger but they were the 1st to have any yellowing of leaves, not LB, and were effected early by LB. i have a nice gold AGG i saw today when working in the garden, both sides LB rot i may be able to cut a small part of the tomato out to eat.

i looked at the CP fruits and the ones on the plant are not too bad, some have LB but quite a few don't still.

tom

[Jimche]

It is funny...we found our CP RL plants to be among the earliest and worst affected in our 800 plant, 53 variety "Late Blight Test Facility", which formerly aspired to be a beautiful market garden. It is pathetic, scary and sad, all at the same time.

A few types have yet to show any LB effects, despite being situated right next to others that have been ravaged by our friendly fungal visitor. These are mostly currant-sized cherries, such as Matt's Wild Cherry; Red-, White-, and Yellow Currant. Marvel Striped and some of our Bulgarian varieties appear more resistant, but these llarger-fruited varieties are in an area of our plot that shows lower overall effects, so we can't really say that we are seeing variety specific resistance. The currant sized ones do seem resistant - has anyone else noted this?

And another thing: Many of our early harvested tomatoes were huge, tasteless, mealy slushballs. I attribute this to all the rain and limited sunshine early in the summer, but have been HOPING more sunshine and less rain might improve the flavor as the summer comes along. It seems to be happening that way, too. Would be interested to hear others' thoughts on this.

[hasshoes]

Interesting. . . I've heard and read the Matt's Wild Cherry thing from many sources.

I think I saw it on an "official" report somewhere too.

[amideutch]

tjg911, Normally the yellowing of the leaves is a nutrient disorder. This year I have been more conscious with whats going on with my plants and have been spraying my plants more religiously and it seems to be working very well. Been using Actinovate, Azoxystrobin and Agri-Fos. But PL's seem to do much better for me as far as production and disease resistance. KBX and Spudakee Purple are two prime examples. Grew the RL versions first and got hammered by disease. Ami

[BigdaddyJ]

I have found that PL varieties are better at resisting many common diseases than RL's. I have nothing to back this up with besides ancedotal evidence after 19 years of growing tomatoes. I wonder if any studies were done regarding PL vs. RL and disease resistance?

[tjg911]

Originally Posted by BigdaddyJ

I have found that PL varieties are better at resisting many common diseases than RL's. I have nothing to back this up with besides ancedotal evidence after 19 years of growing tomatoes. I wonder if any studies were done regarding PL vs. RL and disease resistance?

that's what i thought i had read. my pl plants fared worse early on than all the rl plants. go figure.

tom