Potato leaf purples, How Many?

[Vince]

How many different stable OP potato leaf true purples can we all think of?

I am no expert. From my limited knowledge I can only think of

Gary Osena, Spudakee, and Cherokee purple PL.


Lets get a list goin, I am sure there are others.

[nctomatoman]

The very first of them, reported in the SSE by Tad Smith as a Virginia heirloom, is Price's Purple (sometimes called Purple Price) - Tad first listed it in 1990 - I grew it out in 1991, the year after I grew out Cherokee Purple and Black Krim (those three were the very first blacks, aside from Purple Calabash, which was in the USDA collection from the 1950s). Tad then created Pale Perfect Purple as a stable OP by crossing Price's Purple with Ozark Pink and selecting for a round PL with purple color that didn't have the dark shoulders of Price's Purple.

A few years ago, Black Brandywine showed up as an unstable variety from TGSC - I've ended up stabilizing both PL (pretty good) and RL (not very good) purple varieties from it.

I've not gone through the SSE yearbook to see what else has emerged recently in the PL purple category, aside from those you mentioned, Vince.

[Vince]

Thanks Craig,

So the list is so far:

1) Price's Purple
2) Pale Perfect Purple
3) Black Brandywine PL
4) Gary Osena
5) Spudakee
6) Cherokee purple PL

Not very many, anyone else have something to add.

[Linda10]

How about Liz Birt?

[Vince]

"How about Liz Birt?"

Linda, below is a description from the source, and it doesn't sound purple. I really want to try this one in the future, I think I have a few seeds for it in the stash.

Named for an autism advocate who's investigation into government data regarding the rise of neurological disorders among the children of this country led to groundbreaking revelations and who's story is told in the book Evidence of Harm. This line is a Brandywine type with more of an acid bite due to the excellent seed set. Potato leafed plants are productive with pink-red fruits of the 8-12 oz range. 70-75 days.

[ReaverG]

Black Seaman (det.) and Purple Passion are two. Then I think Evan's Purple Pear is also PL.

[dice]

Black Pear
Grousha Tcheornaya (means Black Pear in Russian)
Cherokee Purple PL (the one from Baker Creek)
Chernomor (may be same as Black Seaman; there is also an
RL version)
Japanese Black Trifele
Marizol Korney
Spudatula
Vorlon

[amideutch]

This is PL Varieties with purple as part of the name.

Aunt Ginny's Purple
German Purple
Brandywine Purple
Cherokee Purple
Clario Purple
Italian Purple
Pale Perfect Purple
Pruden's Purple
Purple Brandy
Purple Haze
Purple Perfect
Purple Potato Leaf
Purple Price
Purple Top

Good thing it's a slow day at work. Ami

[nctomatoman]

A few comments on the comments above -

Liz Birt may have been intended to be purple, but for me it grew out pink.

Black Sea Man and Southern Night are both purple, and are very unusual in being highly determinate PL plants. Blue Fruit is in that category as well - so there are three more.

dice, some you mention are PL browns, not purples - Japanese Trifele and Black Pear. Vorlon is a purple - so if PL belongs on the list (i've not grown it). Ditto Chernomor (not grown it).

ami, many of those you list are actually pink, not purple (Aunt Ginny's, Prudens, Purple Brandy, Purple PL, Purple Top)...many years ago, before people had seen a black or purple tomato, they often called pink tomatoes purple.

[OneoftheEarls]

Deep Purple

http://videokeman.com/deep-purple/sp...deep-purple-4/

oh.....tomatoes

[carolyn137]

And I'm glad that Ami listed some varieties with purple as part of the variety NAME, b'c the word purple was used in the late 1800's to describe a PINK tomato and still was and is for many of the so called purple varieties.

Does purple equal a so called black tomato variety? Not for me it doesn't.

The only two varieties that I know of that do have a true purple tint are Purple Calabash and Noir des Cosebeauf, and while the latter is one of the most beautiful varieties I've ever grown the taste is not to my liking although folks who like a VERY strong assertive, aggressive taste might enjoy it.

I just pulled out the 1991 SSE YEarbook and the only so called black listed was Black Krim which you listed Craig, and noted that the original source was Ake in Sweden in 1990 as did the two other folks who listed it.

I then looked in the pink/purple section and found Craig's initial description of Cherokee Purple along with:

Purple Calabash
Purple Potato Leaf
Purple Potato Top
Purple Price referred to by Craig above re TAd
Purple Smudge
Purple Hued
Purple Top
Purple Watermelon

So I think it's good to distinguish between a variety with purple as part of the name that's really pink, as opposed to a variety that has purple in the name that many folks would call a black.

And I call some blacks pink/blacks, such as Cherokee Purple, Black from Tula, Indian Stripe. etc., b'c the epidermis is clear.

While I call some blacks red/blacks, such as Carbon, Black Krim, etc., b'c the epidermis is yellow.

I went back to the 1986 Yearbook and was riffling through and found one variety listed that intrigued me a bit:

Potato Top ( Peruvian Black). deep purple tomato, reportedly developed buy an old woman in Eastern KY, looks like Pondersosa but the color of Black Beauty eggplant.

Interesting.

And many listings for Prudens Purple with the one person who for many years insisted it was Prudence Purple, and there was note in that description and source info from Kent W. saying, well, basically we have a naming problem here.

[amideutch]

When you start talking tomato and color in the same breath, especially blacks, purple and pinks your looking for trouble. That's why I took the easy way out.Tania doesn't even have purple listed in her TBase as a color. smart girl. Ami

[nctomatoman]

Carolyn, Carbon is a clear epidermis type - pretty much exactly the color of Cherokee Purple or Black from Tula. Same with Black Krim. They are all pink blacks in my book!

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by nctomatoman

Carolyn, Carbon is a clear epidermis type - pretty much exactly the color of Cherokee Purple or Black from Tula. Same with Black Krim. They are all pink blacks in my book!

I hadn't grown Carbon Craig, but got the impression from pictures and descriptions from others that it was a very dark black and similar to Black Krim and thus would have a yellow epidermis.

So my error in not knowing what I was talking about from personal experience growing Carbon myself.

[nctomatoman]

Not a problem! The very first yellow epidermis (red black) variety I saw was Cherokee Chocolate....then came Black Plum when the SSE starting getting the Russian varieties, and more recently, Japanese Trifele Black and Black Prince. Of course it has exploded since then....

But all of those early ones - Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Price's Purple, then Black from Tula, Southern Nights, Indische Fleische - then Carbon...are clear epidermis. Purple Calabash, Indian Stripe, Noire Charbonneuse, ...etc etc!

Pretty interesting. We need a big demo garden where everyone can meet and together assess and agree colors! I still think people can see colors differently enough to cause confusion with these. Then of course there is performance differences due to climate/temp...