Saving WI55

[Paquebot]

A lot of great varieties were lost in the 1960s and 1970s. There were no forums like these and no organized seed saving. Hybrids had pr oved to be better than many and that's what were marketed. I once was given a 1939 Buckbee's catalog. 4 or 5 pages of tomatoes and the only one I still around was Abe Lincoln. By the time that SSE came along, none of the others were available from any company. I gave that catalog to *Bleep* Zondag to add to Jung's huge collection but foolishly failed to record the varieties available 80 years ago. It would been a fun project to pull them out of their graves.

Martin

[MissS]

A lot of great varieties were lost in the 1960s and 1970s. There were no forums like these and no organized seed saving. Hybrids had pr oved to be better than many and that's what were marketed. I once was given a 1939 Buckbee's catalog. 4 or 5 pages of tomatoes and the only one I still around was Abe Lincoln. By the time that SSE came along, none of the others were available from any company. I gave that catalog to *Bleep* Zondag to add to Jung's huge collection but foolishly failed to record the varieties available 80 years ago. It would been a fun project to pull them out of their graves.

Martin

Perhaps you could get in touch with them and ask?

[SusieQ]

So, not to sound stupid or anything, but is the WI55 tomato I just ordered (because of this thread), the same WI55 you all are talking about?

[Paquebot]

Susie, if you ordered Wisconsin 55 from anywhere, you should be getting the right one. In Jung's catalog, it had a special spot by itself after my 2003 campaign. Dottie Schultz was the catalog editor and it was "The Famous Wisconsin 55" when she was in charge. New one didn't know where to put it and has it with the determinates. Grrrr!

Remember also that WI55 has a sister, Y55. That was more fun than the WI55 discussions. Proved to be quite a dilemma since it had all of the qualifications for heirloom status but WI55 did not. It's Wisconsin 55 Gold and was probably 4 or 5 seeds away from extinction. Both are identical in everything but color which is almost unique as well. It's in the commercial seed system now from their "release" in 2005.

Martin

[SusieQ]

Susie, if you ordered Wisconsin 55 from anywhere, you should be getting the right one. In Jung's catalog, it had a special spot by itself after my 2003 campaign. Dottie Schultz was the catalog editor and it was "The Famous Wisconsin 55" when she was in charge. New one didn't know where to put it and has it with the determinates. Grrrr!

Martin

Thanks for setting my mind at ease, Martin. I can't wait to try this tomato you helped to save all those years ago.

And I'm sorry you're not feeling well. Although I don't know you (as I sense so many others here do), I've already learned a great deal from your posts on the Junction, and I appreciate your willingness to be so helpful with your experience and information.

Please know I'm praying for you, Martin. Truly.

[imp]

Susie, I think you will enjoy Wisconsin 55, it is a good garden "workhorse" and produces well for me. Hope you like it as much as I do.

[SusieQ]

Susie, I think you will enjoy Wisconsin 55, it is a good garden "workhorse" and produces well for me. Hope you like it as much as I do.

Garden workhorse? Maybe I better make a little extra room. LOL

[Greatgardens]

(snip...)

Remember also that WI55 has a sister, Y55. That was more fun than the WI55 discussions. Proved to be quite a dilemma since it had all of the qualifications for heirloom status but WI55 did not. It's Wisconsin 55 Gold and was probably 4 or 5 seeds away from extinction. Both are identical in everything but color which is almost unique as well. It's in the commercial seed system now from their "release" in 2005.
Martin

So the gold version should be of approximately the same size as the red (6-8 oz. typical)?

[Paquebot]

WI55 and WI55 Gold are identical in every way other than color. Size of both should be 6 to 12 ounces with some early fruit being bigger. I grew out some 2004 seeds last year to make certain that I had fresh pure seed.

Martin

[OneoftheEarls]

DSCN4353.JPG

[OneoftheEarls]

Photo from the archived book

[eyolf]

I grew Wi55 a few times and was dissapointed.
Seed savers who have room for 3 plants cant really struggle to keep a variety pure. Even Jung's seed seemed variable compared to what my parents grew in the 1960's.

I ordered a packet for myself from Johnny's in Maine this year: they say they found some good seed.
I placed an order with Jung, too, but they dont say if their offering is properly rogued and maintained. I will plant 3 of each and see.

As seed companies fall by the wayside, I have resolved to try to support them, and JSS used to treat me fair in the past (I have been away from gardening for 7 or 8 years). Jung's business model includes a lot of sundry activity, and limited staff means a mad scramble in the spring, so I expect a little less customer service.

In the past Jung maintained a site called "Egardenplace" that allowed users to order from all of the catalogs (Jung, Shumway, Vermont Bean, Totally Tomato and more) with a single log-in. I emailed and asked if it was still up, and it took 11 days to respond. In my case, it might result in more sales; Im not very interested in logging in to another site to order one or two seed packets not available under the Jung label. In the past, I counted on Tema green bean from Vermont Bean because the dark-colored seeds germinate well in cold soil. The hardware store in town carries Provider...almost as good.

[Paquebot]

eyolf, if you had followed the WI55 saga from Feb 2003, you would know why it was dropped. Sometime in the late '90s, the seed supplier either mixed or crossed them. I was made aware of it about 1999 when a high school classmate reported that half of her plants produced a Roma-type fruit. Apparently she was not alone and the supplier could not offer true seeds. Nobody pointed any fingers but there was only one wholesale source for WI55 seeds. That was SSE, the one place where you would probably expect to be the most reliablel.

Martin

[eyolf]

Hi, Martin.
I'm pretty certain I have seeds from Sun Prairie Wisconsin in my stores. As regards WI55, I tried 3 or 4 sources and while all were round, red tomatoes, the size and quality seemed variable. I never saved any seed, because none were very remarkable.

I am regrowing a variety called Martin's Super Roma this year. Somehow I got a cross in 2006 or 2007 and the 2010 grow out yielded an interesting tomatoe; more plum-shaped with a blunt point...and orange-yellow spots, a little like Striped Roma.

Only 3 seeds from the 2010 growout germinated, but two of them are tri-cots. I thought you might like to know...

[Paquebot]

You quite surely have Paquebot Roma before it was given a name. (I did not name it. Another GW member did.) When I was perfecting it, I was trying to determine if tricots were a gene which could be isolated. It seemed to stay at around 15%. Eventually, all Paquebot Roma seed distributed came from a tricot parent. Oddly enough, WI55 Gold also produces more tricots than normal

Martin