Brandywine Sudduth

[recruiterg]

Picked one today for lunch. Absolutely unbelievable. Taste is head and shoulders above any other tomato in my garden.

That being said, what can one do to increase production?

Someone out there must have some good ideas.

Would starting the seed earlier in the spring be something that would help?

[TZ-OH6]

I have pretty good production from Bw-S, and I had good luck making crosses but I wonder if overall production would increase if you simply collected a bunch of pollen from whatever plant could spare it (variety doesn't matter if you are not saving seed) and dabbed the tips of open flowers with it. For pollen I simply collect a bunch of flowers, pull off the anther cones, let them dry for a day, put them in a little capped container and shake like crazy to release the pollen and then take a butter knife and scrape pollen off the side/lid of the container and dab it on the stigmas.

The overload of pollen might help fruit set.

[jcmorse33]

I had pretty good production from my BWS this year (maybe 20 lbs)... but I think there were two factors at play. One was I planted early in a generously ammended hole and the plant got huge before the weather settled down enough to allow fruitset (it was a very wet cool spring here) so the plant was big enough to support a large fruit load. The second was perfect temperatures and humidity for fruitset the entire summer -- 85 to 92 for highs 60 to 75 for lows with only moderate humidity.

I also had BWS in a metal cage which I would give a few taps / shakes every time I walked past until fruitset was high enough that I stopped worrying about it.

[recruiterg]

Jcmorse33,

What do you use for soil ammendments?

Pat

[jcmorse33]

This year my BWS was grown in a manner pretty close to "Earl's Hole Method"...

I had about a 2 foot diameter 2 foot deep hole. I put in a 5 gallon bucket full of what basically amounted to leaf mold from my compost pile. I also put in half a 40 lb bag of composted manure from one of the big box stores and a handful of greensand. I sprinkled about a cup of pulverized dolmite lime around and over the hole. Then I put the original soil over the leaf mold and composted manure and did the best I could to mix it all together. When I planted my seedlings a week later I added a little more leaf mold and a cup of the new Espoma Garden Tone in the immediate volume around where the seedling root ball was planted.

This was a new garden area for me, but the soil was fairly decent to start with as it was beyond the area the developer had bulldozed when building my house so I never hit pure red clay when digging. I mulched the entire area around the planting holes with corregated cardboard and covered that with grass clippings. I also started fertilizing with Fish Emulsion and Neptune's Harvest Sea Weed on a bi-weekly basis once fruit set started. Perhaps this was a bit excessive but I'm going to follow the formula pretty closely next year given how well it did this year.

I really can't claim to be a pro at this since I've only been gardening for a few years now. But my harvest this year was very good. I credit it mostly to advice I've read on this forum and also the great weather we had in this area over the summer.


--Justin

[organichris]

Originally Posted by recruiterg

Picked one today for lunch. Absolutely unbelievable. Taste is head and shoulders above any other tomato in my garden.

That being said, what can one do to increase production?

Someone out there must have some good ideas.

Would starting the seed earlier in the spring be something that would help?

To me, the only consistent thing about Brandywine is low production. I've been wanting to try Brandy Boy, which is supposed to have some of the BW taste on a much more productive plant. I don't grow from seed and I haven't found any Brandy Boy plants around these parts, but if you find some or get a hold of the seeds you may give it a shot.

[Gobig_or_Gohome_toms]

I have only grown Brandy Boy and plan in growing Brandy Boy and Brandywin Sudduths so I can give a comparison. Pat I think I did slip a few Brandy Boy F1 seeds in with the KBX and Spudakee seeds that I sent you this spring, I would recomend trying them next year they are one of my favorites to date.

Craig

[feldon30]

Brandy Boy wasn't any more productive for me. I think the only answer is to hijack your neighbor's yard.

[Gobig_or_Gohome_toms]

LOL Fledon!! I cannot make any comparisons since I grew Brandy Boy in 2008 and have not grown sudduths yet, the Brandy Boy got pulled to desease this year very early on and replaced but from what I remember in 2008 I had plenty of fruits from my one plant I was for sure not saying I only got 3-5 fruits from the plant I would say 20+ was what I had that year from the one plant and the taste was very good to me.

Craig

[BigdaddyJ]

I've grown Brandyboy and Sudduth Brandy 3 or 4 years straight now. I get good production from both but slightly better with Boy. Both great tasting. I have read many southern growers saying that starting Sudduth Brandy a couple weeks earlier than normal helps with production because the flowers will set before the temps get too high and weather too sticky. But like I said, I have no complaints with the production of each where I grow.

[jcmorse33]

I've grown BWS from seeds purchased at TGS the last two years.

From what I can tell, it sets alright up to 90 degrees F (perhaps more) so long as the humidity isn't too bad. Throw moisture into the mix and things change. This spring when it wasn't at all hot but it was raining almost every day I had very little fruitset. Once it dried out I got very good fruitset. Last year was alot hotter with high-90's and 100's in May and June. That did stop fruitset, but I do remember getting some fruitset when the temps dropped into the upper-80's and low 90's.

--Justin

[no charge]

Planted BW-S and got good production, considering the cool,wet summer. But, Red BW out produced by far;

[no charge]

Red BW directly up from Suddeth on other table

[recruiterg]

I have both Red Brandywine (RBW) and Brandywine Sudduth (BWS) in my garden. RBW is pumping out massive amounts of tomatoes. It is outproducing BWS 10 to 1.

However, I don't want something like BWS, I want BWS.

Thus, the question remains...does anyone have any tip/techniques/ideas on how to improve the production of BWS.

[stevenkh1]

Originally Posted by recruiterg

I have both Red Brandywine (RBW) and Brandywine Sudduth (BWS) in my garden. RBW is pumping out massive amounts of tomatoes. It is outproducing BWS 10 to 1.

However, I don't want something like BWS, I want BWS.

Thus, the question remains...does anyone have any tip/techniques/ideas on how to improve the production of BWS.

I don't. I think it's just how this plant is. I grew heirlooms exclusively this year. I started indoors with Miracle Gro Organic, hardened them, dug holes, lime & more MiracleGro Organic and had to lime a few more times (due to blossom rot early on) plus Triple 12 fertilizer. (several applications throughout spring/summer. Plus the occasional water routine.

Brandywine Suddeth tomatoes came in pretty large in size but I only get 3-5 per plant.

Compare to the Hillbilly Tomatoes which are absolutely HUGE and - I have double that number on the plant plus some Hillbilly tomatoes are approaching 8" in diameter!!! Absolute GIANTS!

Interestingly, I planted the same number of Amish Paste as Brandy-S and talk about prolific - we have them coming out of our ears - even after freezing/giving them away!

We've never tasted Brandywine Suddeth before and my wife and I agree there's no tomato like it. Absolutely fantastic!