Wisconsin 55 and beyond

[Mudman]

I am growing Wisconsin 55 Gold this year for the first time. I have read that it was a sport that Walker had grown in his garden. I was wondering if there are any other varieties besides the WI 55 that came out of the UW that anyone has experience with. Or any WI heirlooms. I am always interested in varieties that have been grown and developed in my climate.

I grew Wisconsin 55 last year. I liked it very much. It produced very well.

[Wi-sunflower]

First off, where are you in Wi. I'm now in West Bend, about 30 miles N of Milwaukee, but grew up in Milwaukee.

I think there is another thread here somewhere about other varieties that came from the Wisconsin 55 breeding program but right now I'm not sure where it is.

I got a variety called Wisconsin Chief from a trade from someone in the UK. I don't really know the history of it other than he said it is rare. I know he has gotten seed from some of the seed banks in the past but I don't know if this is 1 of those. I'll have to find out more about it and the others he sent me, but I don't believe he posts here.

Carol

[travis]

Originally Posted by Mudman

I am growing Wisconsin 55 Gold this year for the first time. I have read that it was a sport that Walker had grown in his garden.

Who is Walker?

Dr. Robt. Raabe, professor emeritus at UC Berkeley, found the yellow fleshed sport of WI-55 growing in a trial field of the regular red fleshed line circa 1954, and maintained the variety for over 50 years before sharing it with a graduate student who passed seeds along to other members of Seed Savers Exchange.
http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/w...consin_55_Gold

WI-55 adapts well to heavy soil, and I can vouch that WI-55 will adapt to poor soil conditions as well as warm and humid growing conditions, as I grew it in a particularly wet and hot season with much better results than 75% of the other varieties in the same garden.

[Mudman]

I am in northwestern WI about 60 miles east of St. Paul. I have seen the Wisconsin Chief listed in a seed bank but very little info about it.
Mike

[OneoftheEarls]

I found some information from martin who seems to know the background....maybe ask him.

I may be older than WI55 but wasn't very much interested in developing tomatoes in the early 1940s! It was developed by the University of Wisconsin as a blight resistant tomato intended for the large commercial tomato industry centered in Wisconsin and Northern Illinois. It's immediate family consists of John Baer, Del Monte, Early Baltimore, and Redskin. (The resistance came from Redskin.) It was an immediate success and used in the breeding lines of a number of Campbell varieties as well as West Virginia 63.

My part in WI55 will forever be as it's possible savior. Olds Seed Company originally had the commercial rights to it. When they went out of business in the early 1980s, Jung's inherited it. In the late 1990s, something went wrong with their supplier. The seeds were both crossed and/or mixed with some sort of paste type. When Jung's discovered it, they pulled it off sale. No catalog anywhere in the world listed WI55 in 2003. In February of that year, a good friend, Amy Roy of Madison, WI, started a thread on Garden Web "Why No Wisconsin 55?" I knew why and also had some seeds from around 1990. A dozen seedlings went to my daughter for growing in absolute isolation but forbidden to eat a single fruit. A bag of the fruit would be brought to me and 2 bags of others given in return. Having known that tomato for 50 years, I knew that all were exactly as they should be. Seeds were distributed free to over 600 gardeners that fall and that included a few thousand to Australia. A greenhouse seedling complex in Michigan requested 15,000 but I was not quite ready for that!

WI55 is still an enigma. Because of an ego problem with certain people, WI55 could not be listed as an "heirloom". No problem. If you look in the Jung's catalog, it is NOT listed that way and never will. It's in a class by itself. It was the ultimate of OP varieties just before hybrids took over. And, unbeknown to all but a single person, it had a gold sister which would definitely qualify as an "heirloom"!

Martin

[Mudman]

Not sure I want to stir this pot but why would the gold be an heirloom and the red not if they came from the same line?

[Mudman]

Yes Travis, my mistake, JC Walker was the original breeder not the one with the sport.

[travis]

Originally Posted by Mudman

Not sure I want to stir this pot but why would the gold be an heirloom and the red not if they came from the same line?

Because the person who is quoted in the post made his comment in the course of an old and highly contentious argument, and was referring to definitions once offered for four categories of heirloom tomatoes. The irony is that the closest match WI-55 Gold comes to one of those four definitions is if it were the result of a mystery outcross of WI-55 rather than a sport, which he instead insists that it is.

[dice]

This document has some of the history. Look at the upper
right in the first genealogy graph (for Campbell 135 and 146):

http://tgc.ifas.ufl.edu/vol11/v11p36.html

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by dice

This document has some of the history. Look at the upper
right in the first genealogy graph (for Campbell 135 and 146):

http://tgc.ifas.ufl.edu/vol11/v11p36.html

I've linked to that page several times here and elsewhere but it doesn't address tha latest question posted about the appearance of WI Gold, or whatever it's called.

And I certainly agree with Travis about the cut and pasted info above from a person whom some of us know well, that it was a so called somewhat ugly thread that was indeed very contencious.

Travis can correct me if I'm not remembering correctly but I seem to recall that Alison, to whom Dr. Raab gave seed of the gold version was also present at the time. Again, the seeds were given to Alison, not the person whose cut and paste was given above.

As for him "saving" WI55, well, there are differing opinions on that, all of which I've conveniently forgotten and would have to read that thread again if it's still available, maybe with the wayback website, but it sure isn't one that I kept/

[Mudman]

Sorry folks. I didn't intend to bring up an old argument with this post.
I did find a WI variety called Sheboygan. It is a paste type offered in the SSE catolog. I will save a spot for it next year in my garden.

[Close enuf]

Hey mudman,
I moved from Stevenspoint a few years back.
In regards to your question about Wisconsin heirlooms I do know of one o.p. variety. Jung's wayahead from jungs seed co. is a tomato I'm growing this year. Here is the info from their site:
"Way ahead" when it comes to early ripening. Fruits are good size, bright red, almost round and very smooth. The flesh is solid with true tomato flavor. One of the finest for juice. Our strain of this tomato has all been grown from single plant selections. Determinate growth habit

[dustdevil]

I support anyone who wishes to promote varieties from my home state.

[OneoftheEarls]

sorry for looking up information and posting....I'll leave that to the others


good grief