Brandywine help

[DeanRIowa]

I have three Brandywine plants and I just picked 9 tomatoes. I think the Leafs are PL, but not sure. The fruits do appear pink and not Red. I am wondering what strain/type of Brandywines I might have?

What can I look for in the tomatoes to better identify them?






Thanks,

Dean

[carolyn137]

I am wondering what strain/type of Brandywines I might have?

What can I look for in the tomatoes to better identify them?

****

The leaf form you show is PL.

Brandywine is PL, so you have Brandywine with the expected pink beefsteak fruits. It's the ***variety*** Brandywine and there's no way to know what strain it is unless you received it so identified, as, for instance, Brandywine ( Sudduth).

Red Brandywine has RL foliage and med red fruits.

I know you also post as GW so I suggest that you go to the FAQ section there and take a look at the article, with pictures, on the different leaf forms. I think it might be of help to you since you said above you weren't sure about leaf form.

[DeanRIowa]

there's no way to know what strain it is unless you received it so identified, as, for instance, Brandywine ( Sudduth).

****

What are the other possible strains that it could be?

I did taste one, the flavor is that of a Rutgers. Maybe just a little different(fuller tomato flavor), but not much, not sweeter as I expected. What flavor profile should I be looking for in the pink Brandywine? What should be the difference between the Rutgers.

Note: We had 12 inches of rain in the last 12 days, I do not know if that makes a difference.

[cecilsgarden1958]

Dean, that seems like a decent harvest. Are there more on the plants? I had always assumed Brandwine was extremely stingy.

CECIL-who with a new account , is 'trying' to post again.

[carolyn137]

[quote=DeanRIowa;72006]there's no way to know what strain it is unless you received it so identified, as, for instance, Brandywine ( Sudduth).

****

What are the other possible strains that it could be?

*****

Dean, there used to ge quite a few different strains of Brandywine listed in the SSE Yearbooks but growouts have shown very little difference between them and few are listed now, and even fewer available commercially.


******
I did taste one, the flavor is that of a Rutgers. Maybe just a little different(fuller tomato flavor), but not much, not sweeter as I expected. What flavor profile should I be looking for in the pink Brandywine? What should be the difference between the Rutgers.

Note: We had 12 inches of rain in the last 12 days, I do not know if that makes a difference.

*****

I experience Rutgers and Brandywine as having two completely different tastes, but it isn't possible for anyone to give you a profile you should be looking for since taste is an individual perception. In addition, no two folks grow their tomatoes the same way, use the same amendments, have the same weather in any one season, use the same seeds, and on and on.

So whatever you personally experience is going to be true for you, not what you should experience as I and others might describe what we each experience.

[korney19]

There's regular old unnamed pink (Brandywine) which is common. There are many others like Sudduth strain, Glick's strain, Joyce's strain, etc... not to mention the various different PL Brandywines like Purple Brandywine (a.k.a. Marizol Bratka), which is a stable cross of Brandywine x Marizol Purple...It, too, is pink.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by korney19

There's regular old unnamed pink (Brandywine) which is common. There are many others like Sudduth strain, Glick's strain, Joyce's strain, etc... not to mention the various different PL Brandywines like Purple Brandywine (a.k.a. Marizol Bratka), which is a stable cross of Brandywine x Marizol Purple...It, too, is pink.

One of the problems is that you can look at the word strain and see it used in two different contexts.

A strain of a variety usually means that the strain can be Ided as a particular variety but has some features that are different than the original variety. Yellow Brandywine ( Platfoot) and Golden Queen ( USDA) and Mortgage Lifter ( Mullens) are a few that come to mind.

Alternatively there are varieties listed in the SSE Yearbooks that are listed as strains but are no different at all than the original variety. They just have a person's name attached to them indicating the source of the variety.

Those examples would include the Glck and Joyce's strains of Brandywine as well as the Pawers strain, and I keep forgetting the name of the person for that last one, but it was a goof and the person was (Pawers) from PA and his name was ( I found it) Roger Wentling.

Ok, here's the deal. SSE members are known by personal codes. I'm NY MA C, which means I'm from NYS, the first two initials of my last name are MA and the first initial of my first name is C.

So the Pawers name came about b'c someone just plain goofed and used Roger's code name as a strain

Way back when in my earliest SSE Yearbooks I think there were maybe 10-12 so called Brandywine strains listed, but as I said above, a few folks took the time to grow all or most of those so called strains out at the same time in the same season and saw little difference.

In the 2007 Yearbook still listed as strains are Glick's, Joyce's, Liams and Pawers and Sudduth/Quisenberry, and the listers don't make much distinction between them except some do for the Sudduth one which is also my favorite having grown many of the so called strains in the way past .

[korney19]

Yeah, what she said.

[DeanRIowa]

Thanks for all of the info.

I prepared them in a Greek Salad and bruschetta, and the flavor was better then my Rutgers. The taste has seem to improved a little for some reason, or my tastes have changed. Still not a big difference though.

I am having them on BLTs tonight.

Note: I have given away a few of the Rutgers this week, but not one of the Brandywines, so they must be better.

Thanks,

Dean

[DeanRIowa]

I just back from SSE and tasted their Brandywine(Sudduth), it looked and tasted the same as mine.

I think the rain we had lately affected the flavor. People in front and behind me stated that is not how theirs taste.