Brandywine's

danielnc84 · May 8, 2013

out of the different strains of Brandywine which is your favorite? I planted Pink and yellow and Sudduth strain. which are your favorites?

edweather · May 8, 2013

I have good results with Suddeth's Strain. Not sure how well they'd do in NC. I think your Yellow might be your best.

**carolyn137** · May 8, 2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by danielnc84

out of the different strains of Brandywine which is your favorite? I planted Pink and yellow and Sudduth strain. which are your favorites?

Brandywine is pink, so no need to say pink Brandywine.

Yellow Brandywine is not a strain, it's a different variety.

Red Brandywine is not a strain, it's a different variety.

Yes, there are many strains of Brandywine, the Sudduth/Quisenberry is I think the best, then there's the other strains with names like Glicks, and on and on.

I have several good friends in NC, and I guess that would include my brother as well, but I'm thinking of Craig LeHoullier in Raleigh, nctomaoman here, and we've been friends since 1989 and he now grows my plants for me and ships themuphere, then Lee is near Raleigh and he does some seed production for me and has been co-host of Tomatopalooza in thepastalongwithCraig, and then there's Shoe in Efland who does LOTS of seed production for me as well.

All to say that any and ALL of the different Brandywine varieties I noted above do just fine in NC and all of the strains of Brandywine do well too.

Just get them out in time so they set fruit before the hottest part of the summer comes along and you'll be fine and so will they.

Carolyn

Carolyn

mensplace · May 13, 2014

Carolyn's note reminded me of my granddad who was from Chenango County NY. Even when he could do little else he always grew exclusively yellow tomatoes and enjoyed cut into wedges with a light sprinkling of sugar and vinegar. I never saw yellow tomatoes elsewhere in the south. Later, my sister in law fro Elmont, NY always praised the Beefsteak, another "foreign" tomato in the south. Tastes surely change, as the Brandywine is now pushed as the top dollar tomato "gourmet heirloom" while at the local market here folks still wanted that "old timey" high acid, red tomato flavor. Wonder which Brandywine stands up best to our high heat, high humidity, virus plagued conditions here? Funny encounter the other day as I met a man at Lowes here who went on at great length asserting that he was the one who developed the seed for the "Pink Brandywine" now being distributed by Bonnie.

b54red · May 14, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by mensplace

Carolyn's note reminded me of my granddad who was from Chenango County NY. Even when he could do little else he always grew exclusively yellow tomatoes and enjoyed cut into wedges with a light sprinkling of sugar and vinegar. I never saw yellow tomatoes elsewhere in the south. Later, my sister in law fro Elmont, NY always praised the Beefsteak, another "foreign" tomato in the south. Tastes surely change, as the Brandywine is now pushed as the top dollar tomato "gourmet heirloom" while at the local market here folks still wanted that "old timey" high acid, red tomato flavor. Wonder which Brandywine stands up best to our high heat, high humidity, virus plagued conditions here? Funny encounter the other day as I met a man at Lowes here who went on at great length asserting that he was the one who developed the seed for the "Pink Brandywine" now being distributed by Bonnie.

For me all Brandywine tomatoes need to be grafted onto very fusarium resistant rootstock otherwise they are just too disappointing. They get 5 to 7 feet tall with nice fruit set then they die. I just couldn't take it anymore so I started grafting all the really great varieties I have found that suit my tastes and now I get to actually see them ripen on the vine. Last year I had fairly good luck with a Sudduth grafted and this year I actually have a couple of Cowlicks and a Sudduth graft in the garden so if the pests, diseases and the weather cooperate I will get to have a side by side taste test. I have had decent luck with both varieties but never in the same year.

From what I have seen Cowlicks may be a bit better because I had frequent splitting on the large Sudduth's that didn't show up on the Cowlicks. But of course this year it will probably be the opposite. The only thing that makes you look like an idiot faster than a child is a tomato.

Bill

mensplace · May 14, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by b54red

For me all Brandywine tomatoes need to be grafted onto very fusarium resistant rootstock otherwise they are just too disappointing. They get 5 to 7 feet tall with nice fruit set then they die. I just couldn't take it anymore so I started grafting all the really great varieties I have found that suit my tastes and now I get to actually see them ripen on the vine. Last year I had fairly good luck with a Sudduth grafted and this year I actually have a couple of Cowlicks and a Sudduth graft in the garden so if the pests, diseases and the weather cooperate I will get to have a side by side taste test. I have had decent luck with both varieties but never in the same year.

From what I have seen Cowlicks may be a bit better because I had frequent splitting on the large Sudduth's that didn't show up on the Cowlicks. But of course this year it will probably be the opposite. The only thing that makes you look like an idiot faster than a child is a tomato.

Bill

You certainly mirrored my experience, but not just with Brandywine, but many of the heirlooms. I'm reminded of many of the heirloom apples such as the Black Ben Davis, which was once one of the most popular. Some of those heirlooms and European apples were great, but MANY are generally unknown since the advent of the Delicious. It took people's tiring of the Delicious to lead breeders to bring back flavor..many through crosses with the heirlooms, but there were also many heirlooms that became history specifically because of so many negative traits re lack of disease resistance, poor flavor, and textures like sawdust. Today, almost all apples are grafted onto superior rootstocks just as the American rootstocks saved the French grape industry. Yes there are many wonderful heirlooms, but it would seem naïve to think that all heirlooms will do well in all location, whereas grafting onto more disease and weather resistant varieties may well be the key to success. I am now experimenting with a heat and virus resistant variety from Florida that is supposed to keep producing throughout the hot summers. No doubt that some day we will see rootstocks classified for conditions in soil, disease resistance, and size as a logical means of enabling growing those cultivars of heirlooms that might otherwise fail. Today, it seems that too little is known about the role of rootstocks, interstems and scion effects upon success or failure in the many areas in which heirlooms are grown, but it is clear that many heirlooms were grown in their day because that was all they had.

travis · May 14, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by mensplace

Funny encounter the other day as I met a man at Lowes here who went on at great length asserting that he was the one who developed the seed for the "Pink Brandywine" now being distributed by Bonnie.

Say What??? Pray tell!!

I would love to hear that story..

Was he passing thru, or does he live near you in Georgia?

What will it take to squeeze a few more details out of you?

mensplace · May 14, 2014

He was in his seventies and talked for about 15 minutes about how long the development took him and how much work he went through, but insisted that he was the one who developed the variety and then provided the seed to Bonnie for the "PINK BRANDYWINE". He was a nice old fellow, so I didn't feel the need to burst any balloons and moved on to re-join "she who must be obeyed". I really didn't think much of it as I thought the name redundant anyway and hadn't a clue where Bonnie got that particular seed stock.

barkeater · May 8, 2013

As far as I'm concerned, a Brandywine is a Brandywine is a Brandywine. A strain is just that - someone is "straining" to say the one they grew is better than the original. I've tried 5 different "strains" and they are all the same - which they should be if they aren't crossed. Just because the weather was favorable that year, and your results are much better than the previous year, doesn't change a variety. If the variety is that much different for more than once then it crossed with something, and you can attribute that to the hybrid vigor of crosses. JMHO!

Virtex · May 9, 2013

My standard brandy-wine is 5'3" I love how large the leaves are. Makes me feel like I growing something really majestic.

camochef · May 9, 2013

Having grown hundreds of tomatoes year after year for over 50 years now, Brandywines have been my favorites for quite some time now. My favorites have been Cowlick's Brandywine, Brandywine-Glick's, and Brandywine-Sudduths.
I quit growing Red Brandywines, Yellow Brandywines, Black Brandywines, Purple Brandywines, years ago.
I still grow Brandywine crosses like Liz Birt, Bear Creek, Dora, and Gary O'Sena and Brandywine like types such as Earl's Faux Barlow Jap, Ed's Millenium, and others now and then... but as I reduce my gardens from hundreds each year to a record breaking 23 last year and even less this year, Cowlick's, Glick's, and Sudduth's still top my list.
The past couple years, Liz Birt has been my first to ripen, but many years that honor went to Brandywine -Cowlick's. Which had been my leading Brandywine for about 5 years. The past couple years I think Brandywine-Glick's and Sudduth's have done better.
Over the past 6 years or so, I've sent seed for Cowlick's Brandywine all over the world. it's done amazingly well everywhere. including southern states that used to claim they couldn't grow Brandywines to places like Germany, South Africa, Phillipines, Canada, and elsewhere.
Hope you try a few different ones and that you have good luck with them all, and decide for yourself which does best for you in your location. Most years, I've planted mine out the first week of may...not happening this year! Too much crazy weather, they're calling for severe frost this coming Monday and Tuesday again.
Enjoy!
Camo

**carolyn137** · May 9, 2013

Mike, I knew when you saw the word Brandywine you'd post, and you did, and thanks, but I do wish you'd post more often, even about non-Brandywines.

Carolyn

camochef · May 10, 2013

Carolyn,
Your so right! Brandywines always get my attention.
I try not to post too often as I don't like getting into disagreements and I can be a little hardheaded when it comes to Brandywines and Brandywine crosses. For years they were one of my best tomatoes. Cowlick Brandywine is still the best producing tomato I ever grew, and for years, Brandywine-Glick's and Brandywine-Sudduth's were a close second and third.
In 2011, Purple Dog Creek jumped out in front as the best tasting tomato, and last year it was the Grafted German Johnson that blew the doors off everything!
Over the years there were hundreds of great tasting tomatoes, many fantastic producers too. As I was determined to reduce the size of my gardens, many have fallen by the wayside. Some have been all but forgotten, like Lillian Maciejewski's Poland Pink or Shannon's South African Mystery Black. Great tomatoes!, but I couldn't keep growing them all without killing myself in the process. I'm sure you can relate.
Then we get a year like this one. Crazy weather They're calling for frost here next Monday and a hard freeze Tuesday. Joyce and Jane have been having snow out in Denver this week. Hail storms all around us here. Sure can be discouraging to an old man. I know, don't say it

Hope you have a good year this year and things improve for us all, very soon.
Enjoy!
Mike

Cole_Robbie · May 10, 2013

Mike, you remind me of myself 20 or 30 years from now. I am just getting the Brandywine bug and have five or six different ones for the first time this year. I also have several Brandywine crosses and other big pink tomatoes. Last year Brandywine was my grandma's favorite tomato that I grew. She just turned 80, her health is starting to decline, and I want her to have every Brandywine there is.

Elliot · May 14, 2014

We have had difficulty with Brandywines over the years. If we get two fruits on a bush, it is a success. part of the problem maybe the fact that we grow everything in large containers. Maybe Brandywines need ground soil. The other is lack of complete sunlight.

We do well with grape and some of the small midsize tomatoes.

May 8, 2013	#1
danielnc84 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: North Carolina Posts: 37	Brandywine's out of the different strains of Brandywine which is your favorite? I planted Pink and yellow and Sudduth strain. which are your favorites?

May 8, 2013	#2
edweather Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Southeast GA, USDA 9a, HZ9, Sunset Z28 Posts: 396	I have good results with Suddeth's Strain. Not sure how well they'd do in NC. I think your Yellow might be your best. __________________ You'll be surprised what you'll never have to do, if you put it off long enough.

May 8, 2013	#9
barkeater Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NE Kingdom, VT - Zone 3b Posts: 1,439	As far as I'm concerned, a Brandywine is a Brandywine is a Brandywine. A strain is just that - someone is "straining" to say the one they grew is better than the original. I've tried 5 different "strains" and they are all the same - which they should be if they aren't crossed. Just because the weather was favorable that year, and your results are much better than the previous year, doesn't change a variety. If the variety is that much different for more than once then it crossed with something, and you can attribute that to the hybrid vigor of crosses. JMHO! __________________ barkeater

May 9, 2013	#12
carolyn137 Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Upstate NY, zone 4b/5a Posts: 21,169	Mike, I knew when you saw the word Brandywine you'd post, and you did, and thanks, but I do wish you'd post more often, even about non-Brandywines. Carolyn __________________ Carolyn

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May 13, 2014	#4
mensplace Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: USA Posts: 1,013	Carolyn's note reminded me of my granddad who was from Chenango County NY. Even when he could do little else he always grew exclusively yellow tomatoes and enjoyed cut into wedges with a light sprinkling of sugar and vinegar. I never saw yellow tomatoes elsewhere in the south. Later, my sister in law fro Elmont, NY always praised the Beefsteak, another "foreign" tomato in the south. Tastes surely change, as the Brandywine is now pushed as the top dollar tomato "gourmet heirloom" while at the local market here folks still wanted that "old timey" high acid, red tomato flavor. Wonder which Brandywine stands up best to our high heat, high humidity, virus plagued conditions here? Funny encounter the other day as I met a man at Lowes here who went on at great length asserting that he was the one who developed the seed for the "Pink Brandywine" now being distributed by Bonnie.

May 14, 2014	#8
mensplace Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: USA Posts: 1,013	He was in his seventies and talked for about 15 minutes about how long the development took him and how much work he went through, but insisted that he was the one who developed the variety and then provided the seed to Bonnie for the "PINK BRANDYWINE". He was a nice old fellow, so I didn't feel the need to burst any balloons and moved on to re-join "she who must be obeyed". I really didn't think much of it as I thought the name redundant anyway and hadn't a clue where Bonnie got that particular seed stock.

May 9, 2013	#10
Virtex Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: California Posts: 121	My standard brandy-wine is 5'3" I love how large the leaves are. Makes me feel like I growing something really majestic.

May 9, 2013	#11
camochef Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Posts: 707	Having grown hundreds of tomatoes year after year for over 50 years now, Brandywines have been my favorites for quite some time now. My favorites have been Cowlick's Brandywine, Brandywine-Glick's, and Brandywine-Sudduths. I quit growing Red Brandywines, Yellow Brandywines, Black Brandywines, Purple Brandywines, years ago. I still grow Brandywine crosses like Liz Birt, Bear Creek, Dora, and Gary O'Sena and Brandywine like types such as Earl's Faux Barlow Jap, Ed's Millenium, and others now and then... but as I reduce my gardens from hundreds each year to a record breaking 23 last year and even less this year, Cowlick's, Glick's, and Sudduth's still top my list. The past couple years, Liz Birt has been my first to ripen, but many years that honor went to Brandywine -Cowlick's. Which had been my leading Brandywine for about 5 years. The past couple years I think Brandywine-Glick's and Sudduth's have done better. Over the past 6 years or so, I've sent seed for Cowlick's Brandywine all over the world. it's done amazingly well everywhere. including southern states that used to claim they couldn't grow Brandywines to places like Germany, South Africa, Phillipines, Canada, and elsewhere. Hope you try a few different ones and that you have good luck with them all, and decide for yourself which does best for you in your location. Most years, I've planted mine out the first week of may...not happening this year! Too much crazy weather, they're calling for severe frost this coming Monday and Tuesday again. Enjoy! Camo

May 10, 2013	#13
camochef Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Posts: 707	Carolyn, Your so right! Brandywines always get my attention. I try not to post too often as I don't like getting into disagreements and I can be a little hardheaded when it comes to Brandywines and Brandywine crosses. For years they were one of my best tomatoes. Cowlick Brandywine is still the best producing tomato I ever grew, and for years, Brandywine-Glick's and Brandywine-Sudduth's were a close second and third. In 2011, Purple Dog Creek jumped out in front as the best tasting tomato, and last year it was the Grafted German Johnson that blew the doors off everything! Over the years there were hundreds of great tasting tomatoes, many fantastic producers too. As I was determined to reduce the size of my gardens, many have fallen by the wayside. Some have been all but forgotten, like Lillian Maciejewski's Poland Pink or Shannon's South African Mystery Black. Great tomatoes!, but I couldn't keep growing them all without killing myself in the process. I'm sure you can relate. Then we get a year like this one. Crazy weather They're calling for frost here next Monday and a hard freeze Tuesday. Joyce and Jane have been having snow out in Denver this week. Hail storms all around us here. Sure can be discouraging to an old man. I know, don't say it Hope you have a good year this year and things improve for us all, very soon. Enjoy! Mike

May 10, 2013	#14
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Mike, you remind me of myself 20 or 30 years from now. I am just getting the Brandywine bug and have five or six different ones for the first time this year. I also have several Brandywine crosses and other big pink tomatoes. Last year Brandywine was my grandma's favorite tomato that I grew. She just turned 80, her health is starting to decline, and I want her to have every Brandywine there is.

May 14, 2014	#15
Elliot Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Hicksville, New York Posts: 503	We have had difficulty with Brandywines over the years. If we get two fruits on a bush, it is a success. part of the problem maybe the fact that we grow everything in large containers. Maybe Brandywines need ground soil. The other is lack of complete sunlight. We do well with grape and some of the small midsize tomatoes.