How to Grow Stupice Tomato
The Stupice tomato plant, which is an heirloom, originally hails from Czechoslovakia – now the Czech Republic. It’s an indeterminate tomato variety.
It’s very early in terms of the fruit maturing. The fruits, which are particularly flavorful and weigh around 3 to 4 ounces each, are borne in clusters of five or more.
Stupice provides early yields and almost every time you’ll find that the fruits are near to perfection in terms of appearance and flavor. Color is intense red while the flavor is richly tangy and sweet. Is there are more perfect tomato than that?!
Stupice tomato plant height: 5-7 feet.
Further, Stupice doesn’t really mind what the prevailing weather conditions are like, providing the temperatures are above freezing. Come hot or cold, rain or shine, and Stupice will perform on a consistent basis.
Stupice tomatoes are often ready for harvest within a mere 40-45 day period from transplanting. That’s quick!
The Stupice tomato plant is highly resistant to late blight, has intermediate resistance to early blight, and is resistant to numerous other diseases that are prevalent among other tomato plants.
Read: 7 Beneficial Insects for Tomato Plants
How to Grow Stupice Tomato Plants
Plant your Stupice tomato seeds to a depth of 1/4 of an inch/ 0.65 cm and around an inch (2.5 cm) apart. Keep the substrate nicely moist but don’t allow it to become soggy (or the seeds will literally float to the top).
For indoor growing, start your seeds around six weeks prior to the final springtime frost. Soil temperatures at this stage should be around 75-80 degrees F/ 24-27 degrees C.
Sow Stupice seeds at the rate of two or three to each pot/ cell. Transplant to individual 4-inch (10 cm) pots after the seedlings have developed a third set of leaves or when they are 2-2.5 inches (5-6.3 cm) tall.
Every seven to ten days provide the seedlings with some proprietary tomato fertilizer. Dilute the fertilizer to around a quarter of the suggested strength at the seedling stage so as not to burn the root system.
After the final forecasted springtime frost, transplant your seedlings outdoors (if appropriate to do so). Nighttime temperatures should be around 55 degrees F / 13 degrees C.
Spacing between plants in rows should be 24-36 inches / 60-91 cm.
If transplanting to pots use a fresh potting mix to avoid the introduction of soil-borne diseases and/ or pests. A good potting mix for tomato container planting is FoxFarm 12- Quart Ocean Forest Garden Potting Soil. It comes with a pH of 6.3-6.8 which is perfect for tomatoes.
FoxFarm 12-Quart Ocean Forest Garden potting soil for tomatoes
Introduce some kind of staking system early on – individual stakes or a cage. When fully mature Stupice tomato plants reach approximately 5-7 feet (1.5-2.1 meters) in height.
The stacking ladders for tomatoes by K-Brands are a good staking system for tomato plants. Support is up to 72 inches and the ladder system, as the name suggests, can be built up. So these tomato supports are plenty high enough for taller, indeterminate tomato plants.
And don’t forget your tomato plant ties. These Velcro adjustable plant ties are reusable, gentle on the plant stem, and gentle on the wallet as well.
All tomato plants want well-drained fertile soils in which to grow. Stupice is, of course, no different.
Amend your soil with compost and add mulch around the base of each tomato plant. Soil pH is ideal at 6.2-6.8.
Plant your seedlings outdoors to just below the lowest leaves to encourage a denser root system.
Unlike most other fruit and vegetables, tomatoes do well when the stem is buried in the soil. This encourages more roots to develop.
Every two weeks indulge your tomato plants with tomato fertilizer. Preferably one that is not nitrogen-rich since a nitrogen-rich fertilizer will encourage vegetative growth (leaves in particular) at the expense of fruit production.
To encourage healthy and abundant fruit, I like to go for a fertilizer that has a low nitrogen content and is high in potassium and phosphorus. Why low nitrogen and high in potassium and phosphorus?
Nitrogen encourages plenty of foliage. Phosphorus encourages root growth. Potassium encourages additional fruit – fruit that is healthy.
A good choice of tomato fertilizer at this stage in the lifecycle is Lilly Miller Morcrop Tomato and Vegetable Food (5-10-10).
Lilly Miller Morcrop Tomato and Vegetable Food (5-10-10)
If your Stupice tomato plants are in containers, when the weather is hot the containers may require watering daily.
Even if your tomato plants are not grown in full sunshine, you should still enjoy some harvests. This tomato variety is a real performer, come what may!
Once the fruit has turned red and firm it’s time to harvest. The fruits when ripe should weigh around 3-4 oz. (85-114 g) and be the size of a golf ball.
Preferably the fruits should not be kept in the fridge. Why not? If tomatoes are stored below 54 degrees F they lose some of the chemical formation that adds to the flavor. Apparently, scientists are working to breed tomatoes that can be stored at low temperatures without damaging flavor.
What’s Stupice Good for in the Kitchen?
Stupice has a lovely sweet flavor. As such it’s ideal for snacking, adding to salads, and for sauces including tomato sauces and BBQ sauces.
If you cook Stupice it brings out complex, delicious flavors. Apparently it also makes more lycopene available. Lycopene is an antioxidant that helps to protect against cell damage. In the U.S., U.K, Canada, Australia, and in N.Z., approximately 80% of our lycopene intake comes from tomatoes.
And if you consume a lot of tomato sauce then you’re doing yourself a favor since there’s high lycopene content in tomato sauces.
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