Croatian Brandywine Questions

[travis]

Raybo kindly sent me several Croatian Brandywine seeds. I planted 5 seeds on March 5th. All 5 seeds germinated, but one had a hull helmet that distorted the cotyledons, and I culled it.

Of the other 4 sprouts, one is potato leaf and the other 3 appear to be regular leaf. Have any of the other people who Raybo sent seeds to started them yet? If so, what are the leaf shapes you are seeing in your sprouts?

Raybo, did you have all regular leaf results from your seed starts this year? And if you bought transplants from that gardening group who distributes Croatian Brandywine, were they all regular leaf? Did you see any potato leaf transplants at their plant sale?

[rnewste]

Travis,

When I bought 7 plants labeled as Brandywine from Croatia at the Santa Clara Master Gardeners event last April, when I got home I noticed one of them was PL. At that time, I assumed that this one plant was simply a Sudduth mis-labeled at a BfC.

I segregated the fruit for saving seed to only the RL plants in a remote area of the yard so little chance here in cross pollination.

Raybo

[travis]

Thank you for the clarifying reply, Raybo. It may be that the one potato leaf plant out of your 7 purchases indicates segregation of a previous cross rather than a stray Sudduth seed. And I might assume that the one PL sprout out of my 4 is continuing segregation rather than stray pollen in your garden.

In any case, I intend to grow both leaf types and see what gives. I'll plant the rest of the seeds you gave me for a later crop or next year, and take a look at those leaves too. Thanks for the seeds!

[Mark0820]

My seedlings aren't quite big enough to determine leaf shape, but once I can make an accurate identification, I will post the results.

[Timbotide]

One out of the six that i germinated came up potato leaf type. Looks like this will be a vigorous grower to say the least.

[ArcherB]

I have one. It's RL.

[barefootgardener]

Here is a pic of my BFC seedlings. I planted six seeds, and had 100% germination..The one plant on the far left is showing potato leaf, while the other three are regular leaf. (I had to cull two other seedlings.). The reg. leaf are a bit more vigorous so far. I plan on transplanting later this evening, so will see how long it takes for the PL to catch up..I am going to grow them all out and segregate to see what I get.

Ginny

[TightenUp]

i too have a potato leaf plant growing along side a bunch of RL plants. i am going to grow it out and see what happens.

thanks again for the generous seed offer

[travis]

Thank you all for your responses. So far, it looks as if folks who have sprouted 4 or more seeds each have at least one potato leaf seedling. Since Raybo sent seeds out only from the regular leaf plants, all of which he obtained from the Santa Clara Master Gardeners event last April, the results we are getting indicate one or more of the plants Raybo got were regular leaf but still segregating for the recessive potato leaf expression (in other words, the cross pollination happened before Raybo acquired his plants).

[mysidx]

My first batch which I just moved to the garden are all RL, I have backup seedlings, so I guess I need to check those.

[attml]

I was very fortunate to get some BFC seeds by way of kygreg. They went into the seed cell last night. When I have germination I will report back with my results! I am extremely excited about this variety. From the pictures I have seen it is a beautiful tomato!

Mark

[afrance30]

Mine haven't sprouted yet, so I'll have to wait and see what I get.

[Mark0820]

I planted three seeds, and all three seedlings are regular leaf. I wish I would have planted a fourth seed. I agree with others that this variety looks like it is going to be a very vigorous grower.

[velikipop]

I planted two seeds and only one sprouted and it is PL. I started another three seeds to see if I get any RL. Looks interesting.

[Elizabeth]

I planted 4 seeds, but only 1 came up, and it is most definitely PL.

I'm bummed. Such a healthy little plant and it seems to be an illegitimate offspring.

So I guess I should I not be calling this a Brandywine from Croatia and get started planting more to see if I can get a RL. I want to save the seeds for this variety so I need to be sure it's the real deal.

Sorry about the blur - it's from a larger photo that has been cropped