Which Brandywine strains, and your experiences with them?

[wodehouse]

I've got two plants of Brandywine Cowlicks--one growing in a 5 gallon growbag, the other in regular soil in the garden. Both are among the healthier of the 30 tomatoes I'm growing, and both production and taste are worth a repeat for next year. Can't recommend them highly enough, at least for this part of the country!

[bboomer]

I have grown Brandywine, Cowlick's, Suddoth's, Black and this year I am trying the Landis Valley Red. I get great production from Brandywine. I have grown it now for 30 years and it never disappoints me. No I am not going to say that this is now Patti's strain. I just keep this one going because it does well for me and I bought my first plants as Brandywine's and have saved seed ever since. Suddoth's has always gotten some ailment and only given me one or two fruit. I did not care for the Black at all but it did produce well for me. Cowlick's was good and tasted like Brandywine but it did not produce as well for me.

I love Brandywine tomatoes but production in my garden has been terrible. I'd get a few and then nothing for the rest of the season. I tried Suddoth's but not the others. What do you recommend?

[Sue_CT]

Brandywine red is very good, also.

[Ken4230]

Over the last 30 years, I have grown every tomato that goes by the name Brandywine, red, yellow, pink, black and had absolutely no luck with them. I did get 3-4 tomatoes once. The taste was what my grandfather called a "sock knocker" and I have been searching for that taste every since. Thought I had found it at the first taste of a small ripe Dwarf BrandyFred.

The next 2 were monsters, one 8-1/4", the other slightly smaller. I made BLT's with them on National BLT Day. All 8 plants started dying, some before they were a foot tall. At first I blamed Early Blight but now I think it was the heat, humidity and all the excess rain in July. No Brandywine parents in all the Dwarfs I am growing next year. I think @MissS is right again.

[Shule]

Along the lines of this thread, has anyone ever tried various Brandywine types against Tomato Spotted Wilt virus and fruit-circling viruses? I ask because my version of 'Brandywine Pink' seems to be entirely resistant as far as I can tell. The other Brandywine types I've grown were from before we had any Tomato Spotted Wilt virus in the garden.

[Shule]

Over the last 30 years, I have grown every tomato that goes by the name Brandywine, red, yellow, pink, black and had absolutely no luck with them. I did get 3-4 tomatoes once. The taste was what my grandfather called a "sock knocker" and I have been searching for that taste every since. Thought I had found it at the first taste of a small ripe Dwarf BrandyFred.

The next 2 were monsters, one 8-1/4", the other slightly smaller. I made BLT's with them on National BLT Day. All 8 plants started dying, some before they were a foot tall. At first I blamed Early Blight but now I think it was the heat, humidity and all the excess rain in July. No Brandywine parents in all the Dwarfs I am growing next year. I think @MissS is right again.

I'm guessing it's the combination of all those things. I don't think it's just the heat by itself, personally (heat plus moisture, yes, especially if you have warmer nights and fungus with it).

Kentucky seems to have a lot of limestone (a personal observation from when I was there), and more red clay than we have. Is that true for your garden? If you have a lot of calcium, very little magnesium, and a lot of iron, I wonder if those are things that Brandywine doesn't like.

Humidity/heat nullifying the pollen aside, soil composition and fertility can definitely make an impact on how a variety does in the heat (magnesium is very important for heat-tolerance; potassium is also important). Different tomato varieties like different compositions, it seems, and this can play a big role in heat-tolerance.

Oh, Brandywine is naturally very cold-tolerant as a seedling compared to other tomatoes, I've noticed. This is very important to know with regard to what it might prefer in its soil. It probably utilizes calcium very well (I've noticed that calcium plays a big role in cold-tolerance with my Poinsettia); so, if there's a lot of calcium compared to magnesium, it possibly imbalances the magnesium for Brandywine, making it less heat-tolerant.

Phosphorus is also important for cold-tolerance. So, because Brandywine is more cold-tolerant, it's possible that Brandywine doesn't need as much phosphorus (or that it utilizes phosphorus better). So, a phospohorus-heavy soil might be an issue in the heat (phosphorus is more available in the heat and less available in the cold; the inverse of potassium and magnesium there; potassium is supposed to be helpful for heat-tolerance, too).

Making sure the calcium and nitrogen are balanced is probably also something that would help, especially with production.

Anyway, this is mostly just speculation, but it might provide some starting points for experimentation/research.

[slugworth]

I bought a Jersey Boy late in the season price reduced 2gal plant and I put it in a bigger container and left it on the east side of the house
for morning light til noon.
I let the bees do their thing and brought the plant indoors with green tomatoes on it last week.
I will continue growing it indoors for a fall crop.Possibly tomato breath on thanksgiving.

[Tormato]

As for Brandywine "strains", I consider Brandywine Sudduth aka Brandywine Pink having only one other strain that I know of, Brandywine Joyce's. From what I've read, all other tomatoes with Brandywine in the name, are not strains of these Brandywines.

And Brandywine Sudduth is one of only a few varieties, in my garden, that get the morning shake down, in an attempt for better fruit set. I've had medium low to medium high production, and the rare event of high production. The rarest of all, is where I once had a 14 flower truss set 5 tomatoes.

[karstopography]

Has anyone done a Brandywine family tree?