Are there any Hearts that have "normal" or even PL foliage?

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Greatgardens
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Are there any Hearts that have "normal" or even PL foliage?

#1

Post: # 142876Unread post Greatgardens
Wed Jan 15, 2025 1:03 pm

I've grown several Hearts, but they have all had sparse ("wispy") foliage.

Any dwarf Hearts the have normal foliage? It would probably be rugose for dwarfs.

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MissS
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Re: Are there any Hearts that have "normal" or even PL foliage?

#2

Post: # 143022Unread post MissS
Fri Jan 17, 2025 4:09 pm

There are hearts with normal foliage and there are PL hearts too. Bleeding Heart has PL foliage. If I'm recalling correctly Cherokee Purple and Curtis Cheek did not have wispy foliage. Most hearts do have wispy foliage but certainly not all of them.
~ Patti ~
AKA ~ Hooper

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karstopography
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Re: Are there any Hearts that have "normal" or even PL foliage?

#3

Post: # 143031Unread post karstopography
Fri Jan 17, 2025 6:37 pm

I’m under the impression hearts aren’t well adapted for lower latitudes spots so I have mostly avoided growing any. I think Amish Paste is the only heart tomato I have grown and it did have the wispy foliage. Pineapple produces heart shaped tomatoes at times, but the foliage is anything but wispy.
"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden."
Thomas Jefferson

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Whwoz
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Re: Are there any Hearts that have "normal" or even PL foliage?

#4

Post: # 143040Unread post Whwoz
Sat Jan 18, 2025 1:18 am

@KarenO has breed a line of potato leaf hearts, Midnight Sun, Tundra and two or three others

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Paulf
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Re: Are there any Hearts that have "normal" or even PL foliage?

#5

Post: # 143088Unread post Paulf
Sat Jan 18, 2025 3:19 pm

Knowing that I have grown a pile of hearts I was going to try and answer with a comprehensive list of non-whispy leaved varieties. After my list was twenty or more long the decision was made to view the best list of tomatoes on the web. Go to tatianas tomatobase and under the tomato heading there is a section to find types of tomatoes. Under the heart shaped listing is a list 200 or so hearts. About 2/3 are considered whispy regular leafed. There are a number of potato leaf varieties as well. Of that list about 1/3 or more may be difficult to find other than in trades, but like I have said,"There is not a heart I didn't love." Growing hearts is like a subset of heirlooms/OPs; once begun you will be hooked.

tyrupp
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Re: Are there any Hearts that have "normal" or even PL foliage?

#6

Post: # 143089Unread post tyrupp
Sat Jan 18, 2025 3:51 pm

What ae your to five?

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Paulf
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Re: Are there any Hearts that have "normal" or even PL foliage?

#7

Post: # 143090Unread post Paulf
Sat Jan 18, 2025 5:00 pm

Top five? No such thing. Top fifteen maybe: Bulgarian Heart, Butter and Bull Heart, Canadian Heart, Coeur De Valours, Eagle's Beak, Fish Lake Oxheart, Hungarian Heart, Joe's Pink Oxheart, Koral Londona, Ludmilla's Pink Heart, Nicky Crain, Oleyar's German, Sylvan Game, Tsar Kolokol, Zore's Big Red.

Not all are exceptional every time but often enough to be my "go to" varieties.

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Re: Are there any Hearts that have "normal" or even PL foliage?

#8

Post: # 143094Unread post Tormato
Sat Jan 18, 2025 6:49 pm

Paulf wrote: Sat Jan 18, 2025 3:19 pm Knowing that I have grown a pile of hearts I was going to try and answer with a comprehensive list of non-whispy leaved varieties. After my list was twenty or more long the decision was made to view the best list of tomatoes on the web. Go to tatianas tomatobase and under the tomato heading there is a section to find types of tomatoes. Under the heart shaped listing is a list 200 or so hearts. About 2/3 are considered whispy regular leafed. There are a number of potato leaf varieties as well. Of that list about 1/3 or more may be difficult to find other than in trades, but like I have said,"There is not a heart I didn't love." Growing hearts is like a subset of heirlooms/OPs; once begun you will be hooked.
I didn't have the heart to release Wretched Heart.

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Shule
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Re: Are there any Hearts that have "normal" or even PL foliage?

#9

Post: # 143232Unread post Shule
Mon Jan 20, 2025 7:37 pm

PL tomatoes can have the wispy trait. However, when PL tomatoes have the wispy trait they tend to look floppy rather than wispy. Taiga is an example.
Location: SW Idaho, USA
Climate: BSk
USDA hardiness zone: 6
Elevation: 2,260 feet

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Shule
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Re: Are there any Hearts that have "normal" or even PL foliage?

#10

Post: # 143235Unread post Shule
Mon Jan 20, 2025 7:39 pm

I don't know any oxhearts offhand without the wispy trait, but I do know non-oxhearts with it.
Location: SW Idaho, USA
Climate: BSk
USDA hardiness zone: 6
Elevation: 2,260 feet

Tormato
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Re: Are there any Hearts that have "normal" or even PL foliage?

#11

Post: # 143241Unread post Tormato
Mon Jan 20, 2025 11:06 pm

What is the definition(s) of wispy?

Sparse? Droopy? Narrow? Dissected? Other?

Unfortunately, I do not write down precise descriptions of the plants of tomato varieties, other than for the tomatoes. I do remember a few PL heart varieties, HESHPOLE and Zore's Big Red, that (in my garden) have had exceptionally sparse (few) branches and leaves, along with branches being droopy. But, I wouldn't call any of the leaves as being narrow or dissected.

There are a few RL heart varieties that, in my garden, appear much like normal RL plants of other tomato types, Dotson's Lebanese Oxheart being the only one that I currently recall. I do remember that these normal looking RL plants often produce a mix of heart and some beefsteak (oblate) tomatoes on the same plant.

This thread is a good reminder for me to grow out the experimental PL hearts in my collection, that have been collecting dust.

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