Stupice

[stoo-PEECH-ka]

Has anybody grown ,or even heard of this Czech early tomato? I've germinated some and they appear very vigorous, but they're weird. I've never had a tomato plant that didn't *smell* like a tomato plant. It's a scent I'll always recognize, but this one is different.

Also, the leaves are entire, no lobes, and they are well past their cotyledons.

Maybe it's just my under-exposed to the vast variety of L. lycopersicum?

I have grown this variety before and it produced smallish fruit with good flavor quite early as I recall. I don't remember too much about my experience but the plants were nothing unusual.

I agree with drkenai. Grew stupice 2 years ago. Early, medium small fruit, "potato" leaves (which would agree with turtles observation), but don't remember anything peculiar about the smell. Had a bad batch of seeding soil last year and my last seeds didn't germinate. I'll have to try it again next year.

(My browser insisted that stupice be spelled "stupid". Maybe it knows more than I do!)

This message was edited May 5, 2014 6:28 AM

I'v'e grown Stupice many times, actually there are four versions, two for glasshouse growing and two for fiele growing, but the first one, for field growing was brought to the US by Milan Sodomka from the Czech Republic, where all four were bred, many years ago.

I've never detected any scent at all for the many times I've grown it.

Other early varieties that should be considered are:

Moravsky Div
Kimberly
Bloody Butcher
Matina

[stoo-PEECH-ka]

Above is the pronunciation I gave in my tomato book as given to me by Kees Sahin in the Netherlands and he has a Czech background, but there are different prounciations that I've seen.

As always, I link to Tania's page for it so you can see pictures,history, comments by others and seed sources.

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Stupice

Carolyn, who pretty much gave up growing early varieties many years ago b/c with just a week or two more early midseason varieties can be grown,which to her have better tastes, but she does know that many others do like to have those first fruits of the season from some early varieties.

Thank you all. I hadn't understood what "potato leaves" was referring to before, and now I do. I decided to grow it for being new to me, not for the earliness.

I only put a pronunciation in because I like the sound, and not having a Czech background I never would have pronounced it like this without being sent the guide. If it's been here, or outside the Czech area, awhile I'm not surprised there are various pronunciations.

I love learning about new tomatoes, mostly just new to me of course.

Thanks again.
Turtle

The flavor may very by climate. I grew for two years in Texas. Both years it was very prolific and completely tasteless. I stopped picking them and left them for the birds. In hindsight I probably should have tried roasting them for sauce.

I grew Stupice once and they tasted reasonably good or somewhat mild for a few weeks. Slightly sweet and not acid, but no one was going to turn handsprings.

Then I had two cool nights and "tasteless" was too good a word for them.

A friend insisted they must have gone bad.

I thought they tasted better than cardboard, but not as good as plain oatmeal.

They might be willing to grow in cold weather, but the flavor seemed to depend upon more warmth (even at night) than the PNW provided that year.

Sungold started out better-tasting and did not lose its flavor due to the same cool spell.

I lost interest in Stupice mostly because they started out "blah", not because they went from "blah" to "bleech".

My list of interested-to-try for "early" and "cool weather" is:

Glacier
Oregon Spring
the Beaverlodge series
Matina
Bloody Butcher
Sophie's Choice
Northern Delight
Manitoba
Ildi
Sub Arctic Cherry
Sub Arctic Plenty
and, out of curiosity:
Azoychka and
Morden Yellow










This message was edited May 12, 2014 7:20 PM

Hello, 13 Turtles. Just a note about Stupice...this is my second season growing them in Central Florida. Growing in Earthboxes. Just harvested my first ones of this season on May 3. They are my earliest variety this year. I find them to be sweet, juicy, very tomato-ey. They grow only Ping-Pong ball size, but the plants are hardy and prolific. Yes, they are not as rich and flavorful as a Cherokee Purple, BUT, they arrive much earlier, and they provide a quite satisfactory heirloom tomato "fix" that gets us by until the Nyagous, and Kellogg's and Druzba and Cherokee Purples are ripe.

In other words, "I like Stupices!" In my little microclimate, they have proven to be strong plants and relatively heavy producers that taste 100 times better than anything I can get at the produce markets here in Florida.

Just my 2 cents worth. LOL

Thanks Peggy, I appreciate the insight. Your two cents have appreciated considerably!

Picked first Stupice yesterday. It's a double "Yolker". The fruit on upper right in the image below. It may have been produced from a crested flower.

The other fruit is from "German Queen" Excellent Heirloom taste slightly dry and a tiny bit of graininess Both of the plants grown In full all day bright sun. Last week these tomatoes where exposed to 100+ degree F.

German Queen skin a little tough. Will grow again an d I'm rooting suckers!

Bob

I grow Stupice almost every year. It isn't the best tasting tomato but it's dependable and tastes better then store bought. IMHO

Once I'm growing some tomatoes in dirt again I will probably grow Stupice again. I didn't grow it the past couple of years, but my roasted tomato sauce could have really benefited from it's prolific habits.