Cowlick tomatoes

[yopper]

Do you prune cowlick tomatoes ? YOPPER

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by yopper

Do you prune cowlick tomatoes ? YOPPER

Camo, found a Brandywine plant at a nursery named Cowlicks, so he named it Cowlick;s Brandywine,

If you prune any large or small pink or any other color fruited varieties ,either PL or RL, Cowlicks is PL but an Rl has also appeared then you can prune, your choice.

Carolyn, who pruned none of her tomato plants, grown mostly by sprawling and caged,

[b54red]

I have to prune because of intense disease pressure but on Cowlick's I use Missouri Pruning as I also do on Sudduth's. I usually keep mine to two or three main stems because of my support system. When I tied them up on a very large trellis I kept them to 5 or 6 main stems.

Bill

[Ed of Somis]

Originally Posted by b54red

I have to prune because of intense disease pressure but on Cowlick's I use Missouri Pruning as I also do on Sudduth's. I usually keep mine to two or three main stems because of my support system. When I tied them up on a very large trellis I kept them to 5 or 6 main stems.

Bill

I wish I could have found one of those varieties of Brandywine. I only found "Red" Brabdywine. It is a PL. It is a nice looking plant, but it is a shy producer. Not sure about taste yet. Maybe next year...

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Ed of Somis

I wish I could have found one of those varieties of Brandywine. I only found "Red" Brabdywine. It is a PL. It is a nice looking plant, but it is a shy producer. Not sure about taste yet. Maybe next year...

True Red Brandywine is not PL.

Linda Sapp at TGS lists two RB's, onr RL and one PL, but neither one is true RB, they were mistakes sent to her by Seeds by Design in Ca, a wholesale place. I've pleaded with her to correct the situation but she says that lots of folks like them.

But she did get true RB frim the Landis Museum in PA and then said it was a strain but there are no strains of RB, which is RL.

Other places also got the wrong PL from Seeds by Design, and I think that Tania also discusses that.

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com:88/wiki/Brandywine,_Red

Where did you get your wrong PL RB from, just curious.

And when at Tania's page for RB, click on seed availability to see where correct seed is being sold. And after that on the same page at top left click on HOME and see all the ways you can check out the now over 4,000 varieties she has pages for, most with comments from others as well as pictures. When I know a variety name I click on that option and the A,B, C table comes up and just click on the letter of the first name of the variety, But with the Brandywines, you have to click on B and then look at all the Brandywines she lists, and not all are true Brandywines, but whatever.(smile)

Carolyn

[Ed of Somis]

C...I bought the RB at a nursery in California. I can check the plastic stake and get back to you...as to what it says. Anyway, the PB I had last year seemed to be a better producer than this RB.

[AKmark]

I would prune it, 2-4 stems, I have about 25 Cowlick's going, one of them has 54 tomatoes set, and I have harvested several pounds already, many over a pound,and it has 4 branches. Cuttings from it have 2-3 branches, are about 4ft tall, and have about 30 tomatoes already set. I also have other seed Cowlick's from other sources, all go back to Camo, and all are big yielders of nice shaped tomatoes, for Brandywines that is.

[MrBig46]

I have Brandywine Sudduth´s from Tania seeds (I also have cowlik´s). Brandywine Sudduth´s is my most beautiful tomato plant from across the garden. On the figure of 15 June 2014 is not to see the lowest flowers on which I have two nice, yet green tomatoes (flowers were packed and number of flowers is limited to two). The plant is conducted on one stem, two suckers are excised, the third under flowers is limited Missouri pruning. I look forward to taste this BW.
Vladimír

[Wi-sunflower]

Carolyn,

Some big seed source must still be selling the wrong PL Red Brandywine seeds.

I buy some plugs at a local greenhouse supply company. They get the plants from a big grower "Natural Beauty" who has a huge GH range near Green Bay. This spring they had a PL "Red Brandywine". I don't know where Natural Beauty gets their seeds, but I know they have had other things besides that 1 that were wrong for the name and or mixed up. I know because I've gotten some of the mixed up stuff in the past.

Carol

[Ed of Somis]

C...actually it is quite easy for me to compare the plant I grew last year labeled "Pink Brandywine" and the labeled "Red Brandywine" I grow this year. Because they are labeled incorrectly (you are the expert on that)...that does not affect my comparison of the two plants. I know it must be frustrating for historians to see incorrect information passed along as the gospel. I do still wish I could have found a "Cowlick's" or a "Sudduth's" this Spring...based on what reviews here have said in the past about these.

[mensplace]

I don't know whether it is the grower (a LARGE one) or customers at the megachains, but this year I wound up with six cherry tomatoes instead of what I was seeking. It's mighty frustrating when you were trying to grow other varieties!

[Ed of Somis]

Originally Posted by mensplace

I don't know whether it is the grower (a LARGE one) or customers at the megachains, but this year I wound up with six cherry tomatoes instead of what I was seeking. It's mighty frustrating when you were trying to grow other varieties!

I feel your pain mens....I always try to look for little nuances in regard to labeling that might indicate an identifying label was monkey'ed with at the nursery. I avoid those trees/plants. I am sure the grower makes an occasional mistake, as well. For those of us trying to learn and get better...it is especially frustrating to have a great plant and NOT know what it is!

[VC Scott]

Originally Posted by yopper

Do you prune cowlick tomatoes ? YOPPER

I take out the first sets of lateral shoots to get the plant growing up and off the ground. After that, I just let em grow, or perhaps just prune to allow air flow. This may sound funny, but Brandywine Cowlicks produces such big fruit, I prefer to allow a lot of fruit to set even though it means smaller tomatoes.

If I had your much shorter growing season, I might do some extra pruning in hopes of getting fruit ripe faster. For example, toward the end of the season you might want to prune any suckers and cut off growth stems so the plant's energy can be concentrated on ripening the fruit on the vine.

[camochef]

Yopper,

I always prune, not just my Cowlick Brandywines, but all my tomatoes.Now when I say prune, its not the upper reaches of the plant, but everything below the first set of blossoms. This gives each plant plenty of air circulation and removing the lower leaves seems to help prevent soil-borne diseases.
Right now my Cowlicks are loaded with huge tomatoes near the bottom of each plant and smaller ones as you go towards the top. I know some of the huge ones have to be about 1 1/2-2 lbs each...but all are still green. They are shifting to that yellow-green color that you see just before they ripen.

Carolyn,
It's been a number of years since I last grew red Brandywines. At that time I had both R.L. and P.L. Both produced well and tasted similar although neither leaf type got near as large as my other Brandywines.
This Spring I was in Agway and looking at their tomato plants. They were selling a "Tomato Brandywine Red Heirloom" by Homegrown Harvest. It was small but definitely P.L. So I just had to buy one and see what it produced. The tag that came with it gave a brief history including its being an old Amish heirloom, dating back to 1885 and named after Brandywine Creek in Chester County, Pa. It went on to say that the red variety is disease tolerant and is a regular leaf plant. Fruits are red, globe shaped, and full of flavor.The medium to medium large fruit has some slight ribbing and is fairly crack tolerant. It is uniform in ripening with consistently high yields and well balanced fine flavor. Disease tolerant. Indeterminate.
Sounds Wonderful! Wonder what this Potato Leaf plant is going to produce? Will they be Red?...or Pink? or something totally different? Right now the plant is loaded with green tomatoes, some of which are good sized. They also include a web address; www.homegrown-harvest.com

To those wishing for Sudduth's Brandywine, I only have one Sudduth's Brandywine growing this year, compared to 8 Cowlicks, 8 Cowlick crosses, 8 German Johnson-Benton strain, and an assortment of others including 3 hybrids which are Mountain Fresh, and they are so like my favorite Brandywines and similar slicers that they will become a permanent addition to my favorites.
This is going to be my last year growing Brandywine -Sudduth's! Its always a couple weeks later than Cowlick's or Glick's; produces less and peters out a couple weeks before the other, better tasting Brandywines.

Don't be afraid to try some others like Earl's Faux, Ed's Millennium, Barlow Jap, or Brandywine crosses like Liz Birt, Bear Creek, Dora, or Gary O'Sena.
Or try, Dana's Dusky Rose, Amazon Chocolate and Bear Creek if you like dark (black) tomatoes.

Enjoy!
Camo

[MrBig46]

This is my cowlick´s.
Vladimír