Brandywine tomatoes

Seems to be wasted space,they are not setting fruit. I have 3 other varieties planted here and there in thier own groups,they are doing fine.
Someone suggested Blossom set spray,so I Just did that.Never had this problem before,could be a bad strain maybe?
Anyone else have probs with Brandywine? Thanks, SB

only problem i ever had with them... was here in the deep south.
When I lived up north they were an excellent tomato, here the fruits grow so quickly that they tend to crack.

still a great tasting mater.

I raised these last year and they are prolific growers in bush and tomato size but I didn't care for them as much as some others. And now this year in the garden they are coming up volunteer everywhere I had them last year. I am pulling them like a weed.

Finally gettin' some........I think this part of the hill has too much nitrogen,really hUGE foliage. SB

I think huge foliage is just of the Brandywine tomato.

Hmmmm..Never grew these before so ditto on the leaf size....TNX,..........Almost an idea for stuff in a flower garden for interest....;-) SB



This message was edited Friday, Aug 8th 6:12 PM

Looks like big foliage for Brandies.Either too much nitrogen or you've got some seed that might be crossed with something else.

That said,they can be tempramental.They don't do well here in the South,but you shouldn't have the heat problems we do. Great tomato though.Looks like you'll at least get to taste and find out.

Tnx melody, on the otherside of my "Hill" some of the greenbeans are huge leafed and production on the low side,that is why I suspect nitrogen levels too high in spots.
I started late when I got this brain-storm,[ see... Digging in my soiless garden]. and after I planted we had a record breaking early heat wave and everything just stood still for a couple weeks at least.Happy Harvesting,>^,,^< SB

I never had 'maters throw up so many shoots from the buried plant stem as these
brandywines do. SB

Sounds like high levels of nitrogen then.Plant something that will suck it out next year like corn.

I only have one plant of brandywine tomatoes, it is now August 25th and I just got my first ripe tomatoe, It looks delicious can not wait to eat it.

sgtdot....ummm -um looks yummy!
After my late start followed by a record breaking heat wave,causing the plants to just sit dormant we are really loaded.Guessing a week or so for mine to be ready...
better boy and jet star have given many already.
Traditionaly here, the first of any variety does NOT make it out of the garden...lol
My thread...so here's my garden humour....
later, >^,,^< shirley

Scooterbug, like your humour.

This was our first year with the Brandywine here in Northwest Illinois. With our record heat we had a hard time keeping everything watered. We have just in the past two weeks started putting up the Brandywine. They sure took a long time to take off tho.

impiefish,
I know where Byron is...hard to believe you are in a diff zone. I got a dog from a kennel out your way.
The 'maters were worth the wait,huh?
SHirley, >^,,^< SB

I grew Brandywine once. Like you, Scooterbug, they took forever to set fruit and then grow and ripen. I am allergic to tomatoes, so I almost never succumb to the temptation to eat them, so I can't say that I like the taste (didn't eat any). The ones who did said they weren't better or worse than other kinds, so I never bothered to plant them again. Too many other kinds that are more productive for me.

Scooterbug,

Yes they are worth every bit of wait. You must have been to Lynnwood Kennels. We take out dog there for boarding and grooming. They are great...Good luck with the tomatos.

I grew brandwine two years in a green house and it was really big and strong however it had small fruit and the largest of them consistently split. My feeling is brandywine is best left grown by someone else because I grow several that beat it for size number color and taste. I did find that my quail think brandy is dandy. I won't grow that one again,

This message was edited Sunday, Sep 7th 2:39 AM

impiefish,
......Boy oh boy oh boy! You were right ,was it ever worth the wait [ and all the whining...lol ].
......Pretty pinkish red 'maters.Different texture from modern hybrids,with a lot of smaller seed cavities and a mellow flavor.
Big 'uns too, 18 -22 oz. not uncommon. Definately going to save seed to see what comes up next year.
...........BTW what kinda dogs do you have?
.........I'm outta here,,It's a jungle out there ;~)
.........SB >^,,^< shirley

eweed....
....Ya know what they say....... If'n it don't grow for ya,grow the ones that will.
...Like me and roses,i kill off all the big beauties but the old fashioned & wild ones love me....kinda like kin I guess ....LOL
....Back to my embryonic jungle,(the flowerz)
shirley >^,,^< SB

I tried Brandywine seeds that I got as a bonus from my seed provider this year and it was a total disaster. I gave two of my friends plants to try and none of us got but a few tomatoes. It ended up getting a disease that I still haven't diagnosed and spread it to the rest of my plants.
Bottom line run from Brandywine heirloom tomatoes.

Larry,I'm sorry your Brandies were a disaster,but don't blame the tomato...sounds like a problem with your seed supplier.

Yes,it's finickey about where it likes to live,and won't tolerate hot weather,but seeds from a supplier with a good strain of BW should at least give you something close to what scooterbug experienced. There are many strains of BW floating around,and some are better than others.

That said...Welcome to DG! I hope you enjoy it here.

larry,
....Welcome to DG......and by the way,stop on in if you are in the neighborhood,got lots 'a BW 'maters to share...;~D
shirley >^,,^< SB

Ding! Ding ! Ding! ...Lunnch time!-------- ;-))
Brandies on left ~~~Jet Star on right ....& oh yeah....bread in middle lol
Plants so loaded I'm always knocking greenies off.

I notice different strains of Brandywine in the catalogs but no explination as to good or bad who likes which? Ernie

Brandywine has become a somewhat generic name for at least seven cultivars. The more famous is the Pink Brandywine. The Suddarth strain is the most highly touted of this cultivar. I don't any problem growing the Pink Brandywine in Georgia. It is a lot more disease resistant than most of the pink beefsteaks. Vines are huge and yield is light but they do ok. I personaly prefer Giant Belgium and Mortgage Lifter. The Yellow Brandywine also grows well, but yield light and I prefer the taste of Goldie, Georgia Giant and Golden Ponderosa. Ther are also two types of Black Brandy wine and at least two types of Red Brandywine.

I had the pinkish-red Brandywine type strain and after a slow start due to a very bad early heat wave they turned into the most prolific bearers of huge , average 18 oz. to 2# very meaty, small seeds, excellent mild flavor.
.......... The shape is like a modified beefsteak, smoother so not so much waste. I froze most of them for cooking purposes. I definately will plant these again. Saved plenty of seeds.
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Scooter ok you talked me in to it. I tried some kind a couple of years ago and they were not very good to me but I grew them inside a green house in probably containers not large enough.

I have since moved the tomato and pepper program into what I call a hippie hoop house or tunnel. Whatever you call it the results were awesome.

So if I buy seed described as pink and 1 to 2 lb I should get ones that grow well?

Seems to me you had some issues with Husky Red and I told you mine were great and they were until later in the season and they spoiled both colors did the same. I may have to take back my total endorsement of that one.

Regards Ernie at home in the snow yuk Greenhouse is 70 right now and quite nice. Sugar and mary the cats don't mind 70.

Ernie,
......You want some seeds?
This is my first crop of BW tomatoe seeds ,so they should still be pretty true.
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In the mud in my shirt sleeves...I'll take it!
LOL

Farmerdill there are a lot of them hence my confusion over what to grow. Thats why I need to ask people who know.

I am really playing catch up with this tomato and pepper growing because they don't do well here on their own. For years I just didnt bother much but that changed when I traded birddogs for troybuilts.

My true speciality was shooting things untill I got a different mind set. Still love working dogs. I have two left they both work me over for milk bones.Thanks for the nice reply you have enlightened me a bit.Regards Ernie.

Scooter if you are sure you have enough for yourself and if I can pay you or trade you for some.

I don't save seeds so they would have to be store bought ones of which I have several kinds and am going to order several more soon that you could pick from.

But thats the deal I don't want a row marker saying Ernie the sponge.

Thank you so much for the offer and I shall promise to withold any Husky seeds from you ha ha, Ernie

I offered!!!!
...... I also have Jet Star and Better Boy tomato seeds. I have a lot so you can have all 3 if you like. LMK

These are the only 'maters I will be planting this year.

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Jet Star, Husky's and Better Boy's won't grow true from saved seeds...they are hybrids. No use saving or wasting planting space on them. You'll have to buy fresh seeds from the company,or purchase plants to get the same tomatoes that you expect from those varieties.

There are only 2 true colors of Brandywine. Pink and yellow.All the others are something else with the Brandywine name stuck on them to sell seeds and plants (it's legal to do this in the plant world) Suddeth strain Brandies are the best tasting to most folk and you can get seeds at Tomato Growers Supply.

Another similar tomato to Brandywine is Pruden's Purple.It seems to be less tempramental for me in hot,humid West KY and I tend to plant it instead of Brandywine. They will all shut down production during the hottest months and refuse to set fruit, but will go again as the temps moderate in the fall.

Well melody, this may be true but my saved seeds have always performed to my satisfaction and I have no complaints from peeps I've given them to.
.......Consider that "ANY" seed grown outdoors has been influenced by a bugs pollination.
Shirley

This message was edited Dec 30, 2003 1:06 PM

Saved seeds are fine as long as you understand that hybrids cannot reproduce the same plant. They just can't. It's a genetic impossibility for the F2 generation to produce a plant that is identical to the F1 generation.The F1 generation is the generation that you purchase in the seedling stage from a grower, or order named seeds, such as Better Boy from a suppiler.The F2 generation is from the harvest of seeds from these plants. There will be a mix of plants that have characteristics of whatever parents were used to create the hybrid in this generation. And hybrids can have more than 2 parents. That is why we don't recomend saving or trading hybrid seeds.

An Open Pollinated plant is one that is stable genetically and will reproduce itself each year with identical offspring.There are many OP varieties of vegetables and flowers,but as you noted, care has to be taken to prevent cross-pollination...the result is a F1 hybrid. Tomatoes do not cross pollinate easily. The only ones that are exceptions to this are those with exerted stigmas. This makes it easier for the very few insects that are attracted to tomato blooms to move pollen around to another flower.There are many more varieties of tomatoes that do not have exerted stigmas than do.

Tomatoes are one of the best plants for a fledgling seed saver to learn on because of the low incidents of cross pollination.They have perfect flowers and can pollinate themselves with just a little rustle of breeze. No insects are needed to ever pollinate a tomato...or any other plant with a perfect flower.The pollen is not wind borne either, so transfer of tomato pollen to another plant is rare indeed. About 5 feet between varieties will lower the chances of that happening down to about 5%..or less.Any more distance than that cuts the cross pollination possibilities down to practically nothing.

Peppers, on the other hand have flowers that are very attractive to insects and although they are perfect flowers also, Meaning they have both male and female parts on the same flower and each flower can pollinate itself, will cross pollinate unless caged or isolated.

I grow a great many varieties of Open Pollinated vegetables and with just a little research, I am able to keep the strains genetically pure. A good book to get is called Seed to Seed by Susanne Ashworth. She explains this process in detail and my dog eared copy is invaluable to me.

Everytime I see the word "Brandywine" I just gotta come in and take a peek at the forum. :>)

In the past I've not had the best results with them...very small harvest, seem to take forever to come to fruition, and I've actually tasted better tomatoes than the "B-wine" that I've grown. (I must confess tho, I've not had the opportunity to grow the Suddeth strain and am nearly to the point of not trusting most catalogs these days. Perhaps I've become a bit jaded due to the commercialism of "heirlooms". I've grown pathetic, haven't I?) As an aside, please tell me the Suddeth strain is a Pink. I'd go for that one!

Here in the hot summers of NC I understand B-wine doesn't do so well so perhaps that is why I've not gotten to witness the tomato that folks love to brag about.

By the way, open-pollinated plants are the only ones I tend to save seed from. And, altho I've been a dedicated heirloomist for over 20 years now I must confess there are some pretty tasty hybrids out there now-a-days! However, no matter how tasty, what their growth habit is, disease resistance is, etc, the seed is only worth saving if you want to spend 7 to 10 years trying to stabilise it. (I have some hybrid seed I saved from last year and am one day hoping to "play" with it along the lines of stabilisation.)

That being said, Scooterbug...do you know what strain of B-wine you have? Would be glad to trade something to you for some of your seeds. Perhaps I should try whatever you've been growing up there, see if it makes a big difference for me.

Shoe,
....I may have the tag in the barn with all my stakes and twines.
............Not to sure tho, I had tackled too much that day and left stuff out there in a 5 gal bucket, so of course we had one of our winds come howling up this hill during the night.
........The BW and Husky Reds were new for me last season.
................ HR had a really poor growth habit,compact to the point of deformity.That was composted before the season was half over. the way I look at it is if a plant ,veggie or flower, does not perform well I sure don't have time to waste on it.
I'll get back at ya =)
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Shoe I grew brandy once and it did not do well for me. That was in a container inside a GH. Now I am going to put some in a tunnel to up the heat to see how they do. I am like scooter if it don't grow it can fall to the hoe. Ernie

I've grown Brandywine (Sudduth) and it is truly one of the great ones. I rate it in my top three favorite tomatoes for taste. Production was very good but not what I would call outstanding. Brandywine will make you wait quite a long time for that first fruit but it is worth it. I have grown other varieties that rival or exceed BW in flavor.


Jay

Jay ,
.... Do you think heat caused delayed fruit set for you?
...........I 'm thinking that may have been the reason for mine to take off late. Some other 'maters seemed slow to start also, I'm pretty sure that our freakish early heat wave had something to do with this.
.............It is very hot & windy down in the new plot I started last year, so I think I'll try hoisting some shade cloth so at least part of the day they can have light shade.
........I really like the size ,flavor and meatiness of the BW. Better than Beefsteak, IMHO , BW has smoother fruit and hardly any cracking compared to BS. At least in my area.
.............But , when they started ripening ,seemed like it was non-stop picking, chopping ,canning and freezing.
(-:
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