is this the beginning of a potato leaded plant?

[epsilon]

I'm not sure the image searches on the internet have a slew of different photos regarding the subject. And I'm not sure if the plant is supposed to look like that. As that a number of my other seedlings game that typical. .. Or what i assume to be typical leaf formation.


Gaston

[carolyn137]

I never make the call on leaf form when growing a new variety until there are at least 4-5 branches since it's not uncommon to see leaf form change as a seedling grows.

In other words the first couple of true leaes may look PL and then as the seedling gets older the leaves will form the typical dissected leaves of RL.

Carolyn

[RootLoops]

are there any benefits of potato leafed tomato plants? i noticed the ones i had last year had the strongest smell when rubbed

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by RootLoops

are there any benefits of potato leafed tomato plants? i noticed the ones i had last year had the strongest smell when rubbed

I've grown several thousands of varieties and many hundreds of PL varieties and have never found the foliage of the PL's to have a different scent from RL foliage.

of course that could be tested by growing in the same season the RL and PL variants of Indians Stripe and also Kellogg's Brakfast and its PL variant KBX, which I've done and found no difference.

Now back to your original question.

Many years ago I suggested that PL varieties had more tolerance to foliage diseases and had suggested that they might have a thicker epidermis which impeded infection. At the end of the season when almost allof my RL ones were down with foliage diseases most of the PL ones were still going strong.

I can't prove that the PL epidermis is thicker, it was just a suggestion.

Some have agreed with me and others have not.

So there you go.

Carolyn, who also loves PL foliage not just b'c it's beautiful but also with most PL varieteis one gets a heavier foliage cover which can be advantageous.

[KarenO]

I also am a fan of potato leaf foliage, I cannot prove in any scientific way an advantage but I like the way it looks and I find my PL plant foliage seems to stay strong, green and healthy to the end of my season in my garden. Sun scald of fruits exposed on some plants can be a problem here and I do find the heavy leaf cover of a PL plant seems to help prevent that.
Mainly though, I just like the way they look
Carolyn, are there variations in PL foliage shapes? Thank you for the information regarding waiting until several sets of leaves have formed to determine if the seedling truly is PL. I have some F2 seedlings growing and am looking for PL seedlings particularly to grow out.
Karen

[VC Scott]

In my experience, PL is more resistant to Tomato Russet Mite (my biggest pest). First the wispy leaf varieties fall victim, then the RL, but PL seems to fight them off.

[epsilon]

Thanks for the info on that Carolyn. I had no idea that the leaf formation can as the tomato plant develops.

In which case I'll keep an eye on these seedlings. It'll be neat see what comes out of it.

Gaston.

[feldon30]

There is nothing quite like a pink potato-leaved beefsteak tomato.

So many winning varieties are in that category -- Brandywine, Earl's Faux, Stump of the World, Marianna's Peace, Terhune -- I rate all of them a 10/10 for flavor in a good year with the right climate and growing conditions.

[jakebb]

On a related note, does anyone know if potato leaves are more susceptible to sunburn? The reason I ask is because I put all of my seedlings outside for two consecutive days, probably longer than I should have and too close to noon. I have four varieties of seedlings, three of which appear to be regular leafed and the other potato leafed. Two of the regular leaved varieties show no signs of sunburn, one of them shows minimal signs, and the one that appears to be potato leaved shows excessive sunburn. Any correlation there?

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by KarenO

I also am a fan of potato leaf foliage, I cannot prove in any scientific way an advantage but I like the way it looks and I find my PL plant foliage seems to stay strong, green and healthy to the end of my season in my garden. Sun scald of fruits exposed on some plants can be a problem here and I do find the heavy leaf cover of a PL plant seems to help prevent that.
Mainly though, I just like the way they look
Carolyn, are there variations in PL foliage shapes? Thank you for the information regarding waiting until several sets of leaves have formed to determine if the seedling truly is PL. I have some F2 seedlings growing and am looking for PL seedlings particularly to grow out.
Karen

Yes Karen, there are varients of PL foliage. Many years ago I got a link from Bill Malin that was from Germany. There were five variations shown. I used that link quite a few times and the next time I went to fetch it is was no longer active and that's also true of many other links I saved many years ago.

I especially liked that link b'c the leaf froms were shown , not by pictures, but by line drawings.

I did another Google search today and here's what I came up with:

https://www.google.com/#q=different+...liage+tomatoes

First are IMAGES of four PL varients, hard for me to see, but I think the mitten shape is missing.

The next one down from that is a link I wrote on leaf forms for a FAQ at GW and also alluded to the fact that there different PL varients.

The most common expression of PL leaves seems to be a leaf edge with no indentations or even minor serrations, though/

Carolyn

[KarenO]

Thank you Carolyn, very helpful. My PL seedlings are very young still but there seems to be some distinct differences among them even at this stage. I am looking forward to seeing what they become.
Karen