Cherokee Purple Potato Leaf

[uno]

I grew the regular leaf Cherokee Purple for my Dad a few years ago and he didn't think it was very good.

I put an order in for some seeds from Sand Hill this year and I got a pack of their Cherokee Purple Potato Leaf.

I thought after hearing so many people say how much they liked Cherokee Purple that maybe I should try another source.

Just wondering if the people on here that really love Cherokee Purple grow the Regular Leaf or the Potato Leaf?

Thanks

Jim

[amideutch]

I grow the PL version (also called Spudakee) and found production and disease resistance to be better than it's RL brother. Taste is something you will have to decide. Spudatula and Amazon Chocolate have also done well for me and are worth giving a try. Ami

[matilda'skid]

What did you think of the taste of it? Some people want red tomatoes and the color affects their opinion. I don't think potato leaf CP will taste different unless what you had before was not the real thing. Does your Dad want to try the dark tomatoes or is it you wanting him to try them? I give tomatoes away to people and they always pick the red on pink ones that look red.

[carolyn137]

There are two Cherokee Purple PL strains, Cherokee Purple Potato leaf, which was found by Jere Gettle at Baker Creek and Spudakee found by Bill Malin, aka Spudleaf Willie, and there are folks who have grown those two and the original RL Cherokee Purple in the same season so as to compare them directly.

Not all feel that the either of the two PL variants are the same as the original RL CP except for leaf form.

For many years I thought that all it took was a simple spontaneous mutation to go from RL to PL, but several years ago Keith Mueller pointed out that there were several ways in which there could be a leaf form change and some of those ways could involve changes with other genes as well. I knew of those DNA changes which can involve what's called looping out, repeats and inversions, for example, but only with bacteria and viruses with which I am more familiar and never thought about them when it came to tomatoes.

So I no longer consider a PL variant of an original RL to be the same as the original RL except for leaf form. Only by growing an original RL of a variety along with its PL variant(s) in the same season can one equate them as being the same in all ways except for leaf form.

But individually many folks do like both Spudakee and Cherokee Purple Potato Leaf. Again, personal tastes and other variables come into play.

[BigdaddyJ]

Like Ami, I thought Spudakee was CP PL. You are saying Spudatula is a CP PL. What is Spudakee then...A CP cross perhaps?

I too prefer Spudakee over CP. Better disease tolerance due to it's PL form here in my garden.

[DanishGardener]

Carolyn, I think you mean Spudakee - Spudatula is the PL version of Black from Tula

[OneoftheEarls]

hey Carolyn's old...she did get Bill's name right...most of us knew what you meant Doc.

[tam91]

Oooh, you'd better duck and run for cover!

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by BigdaddyJ

Like Ami, I thought Spudakee was CP PL. You are saying Spudatula is a CP PL. What is Spudakee then...A CP cross perhaps?

I too prefer Spudakee over CP. Better disease tolerance due to it's PL form here in my garden.

I was up at about 5 AM, posted that a bit later and had a brain bump as it were.

Of course I know that Spudakee is the CP PL and the Spudatula the Black from Tula PL, but I just plain goofed.

I went back to bed and said oh____________ do I get up from under the warm covers and go change it, and said nah, I'll do it when I get up, which I didn't do before several of you were saying WHAT.

So relax, all is well in the Spuda__________ world and I'll make the same comments about Spudatula and Black From Tula not necessarily being the same except for leaf from.

Big Daddy, I do agree with you that for me too that most PL varieties whether originally PL or from a change from an RL are more tolerant to foliage diseases than the RL's, but not everyone would agree with us, that I know.

OK, now me go edit me own post.

[coloken]

I have no idea where it came from or what it is, but After a couple of years side by side I have dropped Cherokee purple and now grow spudakee in its place. It is in my first ten varieties.

[BigdaddyJ]

Glad isn't me this time Carolyn...;-)

[GunnarSK]

Originally Posted by BigdaddyJ

Glad isn't me this time Carolyn...;-)

Carolyn doesn't have anything against PLs. On the contrary, I think. But sometimes it has been necessary for her to point out, that PLs and RLs are not necessarily the same except for leaf form, even if they share (some of) the name and background.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by GunnarSK

Carolyn doesn't have anything against PLs. On the contrary, I think. But sometimes it has been necessary for her to point out, that PLs and RLs are not necessarily the same except for leaf form, even if they share (some of) the name and background.

So true Gunnar, I actually love PL varieties, but yes, I do speak up to say that one can't equate a PL version of an original RL without doing direct comparisons in the same season with the original RL and the PL version.

And I'll stand by that comment b/c all too often I think many folks just assume the PL version is the same as the original RL without ever having grown the latter.

[travis]

Since 2007, I've only grown the CPPL known as Spudakee, and it does very well for me year after year. I tried the CPPL from Baker Creek once, I think in 2008 or 2009, and the lot my pack came from had crossed seeds and yielded mixed results with the worst of them having elongated, orange fruit. I didn't try that one again.

I've never heard of any other CPPL than Bill Malin's Spudakee and Jere Gettle's off-type. You may be able to get a good example of Gettle's CPPL through someone who has maintained a pure line from before the seed mixup in 2008 or '09. And I agree with Carolyn, I think it's her opinion, correct me if I'm mistaken, that both known CPPLs probably are the result of out crosses rather than spontaneous mutations. For example, Spudakee for me grows much longer vines than Cherokee Purple (RL), and the fruit are borne in greater abundance, more per truss, and with less variation in sizes and shapes, the blossoms seem less fasciated in general, and there is less zipper drag and catfacing. And that's the more obvious differences I've noticed.

[Bama mater]

Spudakee, You'll love it, need some seeds?