That ain't Olpaka

Agree. It isn't Opalka.

Dave

I had the same problem last year - planted four "Opalkas" and all were vigorous and lush, and the tomatoes looked like standard Romas. This year I bought the seeds from TGS and all of the plants are wispy as they should be.

TomNJ

Crap.

No fruit set yet, am i paranoid or does my opalka not look wispy either? I traded amish paste's spot for opalka this year. Ah well nothing I can do about it this season.

{{gwi:1341816}}

Same thing here, except my mystery Opalkas from Sand Hill. I had a few seeds left from TGS and ordered fresh from Sand Hill. The TGS plants are the usual droopy, sad looking things, and the ones from Sand Hill are really vigorous and not droopy at all. I figure I'll wait till we get fruit to know for sure, then I will let Sand Hill know. Kind of disappointing, as this is the one we most look forward to each year, but it will be interesting to see what we get.

Interesting. I also got Opalka from SHP and they look just like what you have. They're very bushy and stout. Definitely not what I'd characterize as wispy. They've only grown to about half the height of other varieties that were planted at the same time. Mine have some pretty good sized clusters of fruit on them. The fruit look like what I was expecting. Here are a couple of pics:

eloquinn,
When I looked at your pictures, my first impression was that those weren't exactly what I expected Opalkas to look like (but I've never seen them in person - full newb disclosure). I thought Opalkas were always pointy, like a chili pepper. Those look pear shaped. What do you think?

louster and eloquinn, Appalachian Seeds has a pic that shows a big batch of Opalkas. All are just like yours, without the point. See the link below, towards the bottom of the page.

Maybe SHPC ran out of Opalka seeds, then bought seeds from Appalachian to fill their orders (or from someone growing the same strain)?

The fruit shape, I suppose, could be some environmental effect -- I've seen Brandywines that were heart-shaped, which I've read can result from cool weather. But I don't know of anything except crossed seed that would change the leaf shape.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.appalachianseeds.com/tomato-plants/tomato-plant-catalog

That's an interesting observation. My 'opalka' (pic above) is also noticebly shorter than the other indet's I'm growing this year, they've all had similar care. My seed source for opalka was tomatofest.

First fruit is forming guess I'll know soon if it's pointy or plum like.

:) I had this trouble last year... I ordered seed from TT and the opalka I got were like this:

This was no opalka I've ever had prior. The foliage was
wrong, the fruit was wrong (to me). SO, this year I ordered from Sandhill Preservation. Hopefully I'll get
tomatoes that look like this:

This is the 'opalka' I've grown to know and love.

Cleo88 I must have sent you seed that I had left over from TT b/c I
did not save seed on these last year...

I did send an e mail (or tried to) that indicated that if I sent you seed last year that I shared (what I've experienced) as the wrong opalka.

I have no fruit on my SHP plants yet...

Cleo asked me to post here b'c she knew that I was the person who introduced Opalka quite a few years ago.

Some comments.

I would never ID a variety with RL foliage just by what the foliage looked like, especially for immature plants.

Same comment for the fruits of Opalka. They can look different when immature and different shapes can be seen and not all fruits have a nipple at the end.

Yes, I have described the foliage as droopy and wispy but that's with a fully mature plant.

If Sandhill is out of a variety they don't buy seeds from anyone else, they say it's out and send a sub if the order form says sub. I know Glenn and Linda very well and have for years and they are two of the most honest folks I've known.

If it were me I'd let the plants that some of you think might not be Opalka get to maturity before you draw your conclusions so that you can see what the mature foliage does and what the fruit shape(s) is/are.

Environmental conditions can also alter fruit shapes so that should be kept in mind as well.

If some of you like Opalka I'd suggest you might also like Sarnowski Polish Plum, which I think is close to Opalka in many ways. The yield is terrific, fruits are fat kinda but not exactly plums, actuallylong fat whatevers, LOL,sometimes doubles and triples and it has good fresh eating quality as well.

I hope that helps.

Carolyn

Thanks for your response, Carolyn. I really do hope that the SHP plants do turn out to be the Opalka we've come to know and love. It's just that the difference between those and the TGS plants is so drastic (if we were up with technology and owned a digital camera, I would post pictures), that it's hard for me to believe that they are the same variety. We didn't notice it until the plants were 6 to 8 inches tall, till then there really was no difference. But the longer they grow on in the garden, the bigger the difference is. Each type has the same environment, so I can't believe that that is the cause.
Still, surprises can be interesting, who knows, maybe it will be a new favorite, so we'll just wait and see.....

I double checked my opalka plants. They do not have wispy foliage. So, Cleo, we'll see what we get! :)

I'm also trying Sarnowski Polish Plum which I'm looking forward to - glad you mentioned it Doc Carolyn.

My Opalka seed came from TGS. The plants are currently about five feet tall and I would not describe the foliage as wispy at all. Medium bushiness might better describe them. The foliage actuallly resembles that of the Neves Azorian Red next to them. The green fruit do have long pointed tips. There is a New Zealand Pink nearby with much less dense foliage.

The tomatoes of the pointy odd shaped buggers above were
from TGS. I will go back to them if SHP's seeds do not
produce the same fruit... Not knocking SHP b/c they have
an amazing selection and frankly I like what they stand
for!

I think the foliage is more droopy and ferny too. A million years ago - I
embarrassingly enough - not knowing ditty pulled up my
first group of oxheart/opalka plants b/c I thought they
were diseased.

Cleo88 pointed me towards this thread. My Opalkas are looking like something other than Opalkas as well. I bought the seeds from SHP in the Spring of 2008 but didn't have a chance to plant them til this season. I just dont think they are Opalkas....and I apologise to anyone I shared them with :(

Oh, and the plants and fruit dont really look as yellow-y as they do in this picture...I think it is my camera LOL.

Donna : )

This might explain my experience with Opalka. My seeds were also sourced from Sandhill 2-3 years ago. My fruit turned out looking like the ones shown by other Sandhill customers in this thread.

Inconsistently sized fruit, but mostly small, Roma shaped, and not nearly as productive as a Roma and not really any huge improvement on taste(maybe even worse). Sunnyk's first pic a is a good representation of what I got - and the fruit ended up looking much the same when ripe(except they were obviously red). The foliage looked the same too, although it did seem a little more temperamental when it came to watering.

So, looks like Sandhill had/has something different entirely. Whatever it is, I won't be growing it again. Too bad, as I really wanted to give Opalka a shot after all the positive things I read on the forum.

Name for this variety: Fauxpalka

Just thought I'd update on my "Fauxpalkas". They are producing loads of roma-shaped, kind of bland tasting fruits. Oh well....I have four plants that are correct that were from TGS seed from 2007. I am saving seed from them. Maybe I will send Sand Hill an e-mail....I too, love what they stand for and really admire what they do, and will continue to order from them. Anyone can make a mistake, it's not a big deal. I don't know how they manage to do all they do and still hold down full time jobs. It's all I can do to keep up with my garden and house, and I don't even work during the summer (school employee). And, truth to be told, my garden is in great shape, neat, tidy and well cared for.....my house....well, not so much!!!

well!

i got my seed from tomato growers and i have about 80 plants.

in the green house they looked droopy and thin. now two month after setting them out in the garden they look healthy and more robust. not as robust as many others but they do look healthy now.

i would describe them as thin light green leaves and the fruit has a point. they are distinct from the other tomatoes i have.

last year we tried but with one thing or another none of the plants made it.

this year we started with 300 seed and got about 250 plants. i am looking forward to getting some production from them.

also i live in a high (5,500 feet) mountain valley. this is desert. although we have a pressurized irrigation system and the valley is quite green compared to the area around us. that might contribute to my opalka's appearance.

i just know that it's appearance matched the description in tomato growers cat.

thanks for bringing us the Opalka Doctor.

WM