Any other tomato varieties that taste like Brandywine OTV?

[artis]

I picked my first Brandywine OTV today and it tasted great! My only complaint is that the plant itself is gigantic and I have only about 20 fruit set on a monster bush with almost 10 stems (in a cage).

Since I can only grow 5 tomato plants each year on my flimsy deck in 10 gal pots, I was wondering if there are more compact and more productive varieties that would still offer the same great taste of Brandywine OTV.

The other tomatos I have tried that tasted somewhat similar although quite a bit weaker than BrOTV are Marmande and Earl of Edgecombe. I like tomatoes with a very strong taste. However, I dislike the standard pink heirlooms such as Cherokee Purple and Brandywine Sudduth (at least the samples I have tried). I would greatly appreciate any suggestions!

Artis


Here is a picture of my little deck garden, the plants are over 6 feet tall:

[carolyn137]

Artis, it's so very hard to know what a variety tastes like to you personally. But I know OTV Brandywine quite well since it resulted from a natural cross in Craig LeHoullier's garden and I dehybridized it from seeds that were sent back to Craig and we named it OTV Brandywine b'c at the time Craig and I were publishing a newlsetter on heirloom tomatoes called Off The Vine.

A few others that you might consider that are not sweet, at least to me, and have some taste complexity, might include:

Chapman ( not from TGS)
Red Penna
Wes
Neves Azorean Red
Aker's West Virginia
Aunt Gertie's Gold
Earl of Edgecombe, you've mentioned
Jaune Flammee
Andrew Rahart's Jumbo Red ( not jumbo)
Milka's Red Bulgarian
Russian Bogatyr

and smaller fruited varieties:

Vodar
Vehza
Green Zebra, for some but not me
Silvery Fir Tree
St Pierre
Picardy

[Andrey_BY]

Two small comments to Carolyn's post.

She wanted to mention Vezha and Russkiy Bogatyr Sedek (Russian Bogatyr, Sedek's) since there two Russian varieties with the name Russkiy Bogatyr distributed by two Russian seed companies Sedek and NC Seeds. Those from Sedek is much more vigorous and prolific with larger fruits.

One more adding from Belarus with non-sweet old-fashioned flavor is Peramoga 165 (aka Peremoga)

[artis]

Carolyn,

Thank you very much for your suggestions! There are many varieties on your list that I have not seen or tried before. I guess, I'll have more things to explore next year!

In my opinion, BrOTV is the best tasting tomato I have tried within the last couple of years. It was also my personal favorite at the last year's MAGTAG (out of over 50 varieties). I guess the taste of BrOTV reminds me of the tomatoes from Northeastern Europe, where I am originally from.

Andrey,

Thanks for the additional information! Looks like am going to try one tomato variety from Belarus next year.

Artis

[carolyn137]

She wanted to mention Vezha and Russkiy Bogatyr Sedek (Russian Bogatyr, Sedek's) since there two Russian varieties with the name Russkiy Bogatyr distributed by two Russian seed companies Sedek and NC Seeds. Those from Sedek is much more vigorous and prolific with larger fruits.

*****

I goofed on the spelling of Vezha once more and spelled it Vehza. I am not yet perfect.

Andrey, actually I didn't know that there were two Russian Bogatyrs. I got my seeds from Earl, initially. Which seed company source do I have that you sent the seeds to Earl?

I'd say Sedek except I've not grown the NC ones so cannot compare.

[Andrey_BY]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

She wanted to mention Vezha and Russkiy Bogatyr Sedek (Russian Bogatyr, Sedek's) since there two Russian varieties with the name Russkiy Bogatyr distributed by two Russian seed companies Sedek and NC Seeds. Those from Sedek is much more vigorous and prolific with larger fruits.

*****

I goofed on the spelling of Vezha once more and spelled it Vehza. I am not yet perfect.

Andrey, actually I didn't know that there were two Russian Bogatyrs. I got my seeds from Earl, initially. Which seed company source do I have that you sent the seeds to Earl?

I'd say Sedek except I've not grown the NC ones so cannot compare.

I believe it was Sedek's version I've sent to Earl since NC's is usually determinate (or semi-det.) and bears much smaller fruit.

Here is my Russkiy Bogatyr (Sedek's). The plant usually has fruits of different shapes (round-oblate, round and even heart shaped).

[carolyn137]

Here is my Russkiy Bogatyr (Sedek's). The plant usually has fruits of different shapes (round-oblate, round and even heart shaped).

*****

I have always gotten just the one shape, a very large red beefsteak shape, and the plants are definitely indeterminate.

And taste is just delicious.

[artis]

"Did you start your plants really early indoors?
How many tomatoes are you getting on a plant?"
--------

squibT,

I started my tomato plants during the last week of March under fluorescent lights and repoted them twice (2 inch -> 5 inch -> 8 inch pots). I set them out in mid-May, which is probably too early for Brandywine OTV because it had problems setting fruit for the first couple of weeks outside (cold weather or lack of insects) despite that it had already set some fruits before moving outside.

Brandywine OTV has set about 20 tomatoes, some of them slightly catfaced. Aunt Gertie's Gold has about the same number of fruits set. Gregori's Altai and Lida Ukrainian have many more, probably closer to 50. To maximize the yield, I let the plants develop as many stems as they want, usually 3-10, and cut the tops off when they reach 6-7 foot height. This probably results in significantly smaller fruit size than typical, which is not necessarily a bad thing when growing in containers. Having multiple stems inside a cage also helps enormously at supporting the heavier fruit.

[organichris]

I find it quite remarkable that you could get plants that big in such small pots. When I grew in pots, I only had comparable results with cherry tomatoes. Because of the intense summer heat, I had to give them each about a gallon of water per day.

[artis]

"I find it quite remarkable that you could get plants that big in such small pots. When I grew in pots, I only had comparable results with cherry tomatoes. Because of the intense summer heat, I had to give them each about a gallon of water per day."
---------

organichris,

The pots are 10 gal and 5 gal plastic foam containers that I bought from Home Depot. I could not use clay pots because they are way too heavy for my deck. The soil inside the pots is ProMix (peat/vermiculite/perlite).

Although I would have prefered to grow organically, unfortunately I have to use a lot of chemical fertilizer because the pots are relatively small. I feed the plants with a complete hydroponic solution several times a week. During hot weather, I water twice a day (about 1 gal of water per plant). I have never used any pesticides such as Daconil.

In my experience, it is extremely difficult to find a fertilizer that is suitable for containers (no urea, no chloride, low ammonium, correct proportions of elements). Miracle Grow is maybe good for growing in soil, definitely not for containers. Most hydroponic solutions are marketed for illegal drug growers, who seem to care about psychedelic colors on the label more than the actual content of the bottle.

[tomatoguy]

1. Earl's Faux
2. New Big Dwarf

mater

[squibT]

Hi artis,

Really nice showing. Nice pots also.

Did you start your plants really early indoors?
How many tomatoes are you getting on a plant?

squibT

[lumierefrere]

I grew the Bogatyr determinate and it was okay but on the quite firm side. I think the Persey is a much better determinate.

As for the Vezha, it's a very productive variety I'm growing for the 3rd season.

[Grub]

Tough question... I think I would go with OTV and prune after fruitset down low, to make more compact.

[BigdaddyJ]

Closest to Sudduth Brandy according to my taste buds is Pruden's Purple.