Thanks & Recommended Tomatoes Like Sudduth's Brandywine

[rellis]

Hi Everyone,

First, I have been a member of Tomatoville for 2 years. Rarely have I posted, but I have spent a lot of time lurking. So, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone on this forum for sharing their knowledge and time. I especially would like to thank Mischka for creating this valuable site.

Second, the opinion of my whole family last year was that Sudduth's Brandywine had the best taste. Last year was the first time we grew it and we have never grown any other type of brandywine. However, as many have said before it was not that productive. I was hoping for suggestions on other varieties to try that have a similar taste profile as Sudduth’s with a better yield.

I have read on this site some positive feedback about Cowlicks, but I have not found a vendor that carries the seed. So if you do recommend a variety that is not common, I would be very grateful if you could also suggest a vendor that carries the variety.

Last year I purchased seeds from TGS and Sandhill. This year I’m getting ready to submit another order to Sandhill and for cost reasons if possible I would like to incorporate any suggestions before I place any additional orders with other vendors.

Thanks again everyone.

Rellis

[bigcheef]

I grew Marianna’s Peace and Stump of the World side by side with Brandywine Sudduth’s one year and found both to be comparable. To be fair, there is truly no substitute for BWS. Although I prefer Cherokee Purple, Gary O’Sena, and some of the other black/purple varieties, BWS has so many complexities to its flavor that it stands alone. With all of that said, Earl’s faux comes close to the flavor your looking for and has had better production for me here in the South than BWS, MP, or SOTW.

[mjc]

Cowlick's has no vendors...it is distributed by trade/request only (at least for now)...there is a thread about it...

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=12594

[scottfsmith]

I am also in Maryland and have had good luck with Stump of The World. It is similar in flavor and most years has good productivity. Mariannas Peace has been low productivity for me like Brandywine.

Scott

[camochef]

rellis,
I'm responsible for naming and circulating Cowlick's Brandywine, which for the past few years has done much better than Sudduth's both in production and taste, for me here in south central Pa. Seeds are not available commercially, but there are plenty of members that are distributing them. Unfortunately, I've already sent out all my surplus seed.
Brandywine -Glicks is almost as tasty as Cowlick's and produces better than Brandywine-Sudduth's. (Amishland)
Sandul Moldovan is a very tasty pink, that produces very similar tasting tomatoes here. (tomato fest).
Amazon Chocolate is another great tasting tomato that has done very well for me the past few years and I recommend highly. It too is from Amishland and is a "black" tomato.
JD's Special C-Tex is another dark tomato with comparable size and taste to the aforementioned Brandywines.
Others that may be a little more difficult to find but are well worth the effort of locating are:
Lillian Maciejewski's Poland Pink,
Barlow Jap,
Mrs Benson,
Tarasenko6,
Swisher Sweet,
Gary O'Sena,
Dora,
Dana's Dusky Rose, (which I think was the best tasting tomato of the year),
Gigantesque, (another from Amishland),
Most of these are traded between tomato gardeners, here and on other forums. I'm sure with some time spent posting you can come up with most of them. Enjoy the search, and more importantly enjoy the taste of each one, once discovered!
Camo

[rnewste]

Camo,

My first Cowlick's seedlings are about 3 inches tall today, and I am looking forward to see how they do in a SWC environment. I am also growing Gary'O Sena, Brandywine Sudduth, Ed's Millennium, Marianna's Peace, etc. so it will be interesting to compare production and taste of these varieties.

BTW, thanks for introducing Cowlick's!!

Raybo

[camochef]

Originally Posted by rnewste

Camo,

My first Cowlick's seedlings are about 3 inches tall today, and I am looking forward to see how they do in a SWC environment. I am also growing Gary'O Sena, Brandywine Sudduth, Ed's Millennium, Marianna's Peace, etc. so it will be interesting to compare production and taste of these varieties.

BTW, thanks for introducing Cowlick's!!

Raybo

Raybo,
I'm jealous, it will be months before I'll be getting any seeds going. I hope yours do very well. My plants have always been the largest in the gardens so it will be interesting to see how they do in a SWC enviroment.
I had a lot of luck with Gary'O Sena last year as well as Dora. I've never had good luck with Marianna's Peace for the last three years so I'm letting that go by the wayside in the future. I always grow a few Brandywine Sudduths, as sort of a control guide, but do much better with both Cowlick's and Brandywine-Glicks. This past year BW-Glicks were very impressive, all over one pound and many close to two pounds. Their taste was top notch, but the production wasn't much better than BW-Sudduth's. No where near Cowlick's.
I've never grown Ed's Millennium, and I'm not familiar with it at all.
I wish you the best of luck with them all, and looking forward to the results! I'm still jealous too!
Camo

[rnewste]

Camo,

I would have liked to get a few Glick's seeds to try this Season, but no joy. Perhaps next Season I can score some to grow out and compare in my SWC environment. In any event, I am really looking forward to the Cowlick's the Season.

Raybo

[oc tony]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Prudence Purple yet.

[farmall]

Hi Rellis
This year I grew quite a few varieties along with Brandywine suddeth a couple that are close to taste and are better producers are
Ed's Millenium
Lincoln Adams
Tidwell German

Adam

[sic transit gloria]

Wes, Neves Azorean Red, Earl's Faux are comparable. I still think BWS is the best tasting tomato there is. The problem is that production is very low. I'll be trying Cowlick's this year, and we'll see if it compares to BWS.

[rellis]

Thanks everyone for the additional responses.

Camo – Special thanks to you for taking the time to post such a thorough and detailed response. I found it very insightful.

I just want to reiterate, how wonderful of a site Tomatoville is. Everyone is so generous with their time and knowledge. Hopefully one day I’ll be more of a contributor, instead of just a user of this great resource.

[no charge]

Rellis,

I grew about 400 plants last season,which included Sudduth BW (40 plants), Red BW 75 plants), Black BW (20 plants), Yellow BW 40) plants, Cowlick BW (only 2 plants), Cherokee Purple (5 plants).

Like you, I find the Sudduth's to be the benchmark of taste. I found the Yellow BW to be a close 2nd to Sudduth's. The Yellow's were later than the Sudduths, but were quite large and were well worth waiting for.

In all fairness, I can't really say much about Cowlick as they went down with Septoria early, as did the Cherokee Purple's before I could get more than a few tomatoes from them. I'll be growing more of them this coming season, so will know more then.

I think you would be happy with Yellow BW.

John

[mtbigfish]

Will be growing Cowlicks this year
but here in So Calif my experience has been Blk BW, Cherokee Purple, Suddith BW, Red BW and Yellow BW last - in order of how they tasted - I think what I have heard many times that the blacks, purples do better in the south for taste - I guess So Calif counts - because I agree
Have tasted some of the same grown in Iowa and Mo where relatives live and the black and purple drop behind the red BW - yellow BW still last of these

Dennis

[camochef]

Originally Posted by mtbigfish

Will be growing Cowlicks this year
but here in So Calif my experience has been Blk BW, Cherokee Purple, Suddith BW, Red BW and Yellow BW last - in order of how they tasted - I think what I have heard many times that the blacks, purples do better in the south for taste - I guess So Calif counts - because I agree
Have tasted some of the same grown in Iowa and Mo where relatives live and the black and purple drop behind the red BW - yellow BW still last of these

Dennis

Blacks and Purples do pretty good here in Pa. too! Although it is south Pa.
2008 season I was quite impressed with Black BW, It didn't fair to well this past year. I find it to be too unstable in both fruit shape and leaf type. Taste varies quite a bit too. In '08 it was one of the best blacks I grew, edging out Amazon Chocolate by a narrow margin. This year they all (had quite a few plants from quite a few sources), fell pretty far down the list.
Still, I find myself favoring the Pinks, with Blacks/purples close behind!
Camo