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Old April 29, 2015   #1
Starlight
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Default Black Brandywine

I got seeds of Black Brandywine and of all the different Brandywines I have planted so far this one has survived through storms, hail, tornado and straight line winds and looks as pretty as can be and is standing tall.

Since it is raining again, I am trying to look up some info on these plants I am growing.

When I googled, I saw entries for Black Brandywine and True Black Brandywine. Is their a difference between the two?

For those of us growing heirlooms for the first time seeing things like this is very confusing. When I go to save seed and share it, how do you mark it when you see two names like that?
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Old April 29, 2015   #2
carolyn137
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Starlight View Post
I got seeds of Black Brandywine and of all the different Brandywines I have planted so far this one has survived through storms, hail, tornado and straight line winds and looks as pretty as can be and is standing tall.

Since it is raining again, I am trying to look up some info on these plants I am growing.

When I googled, I saw entries for Black Brandywine and True Black Brandywine. Is their a difference between the two?

For those of us growing heirlooms for the first time seeing things like this is very confusing. When I go to save seed and share it, how do you mark it when you see two names like that?
Yes, Black Brandywine and True Black Brandywine are VERY different. When confronted with such a situation I think it's best to go to Tania's website first.

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Brandywine,_Black

Linda Sapp of Tomato growers was having seeds produced for her at the time by Seeds by Design in CA and there was a natural cross as you can read above. She offered it in her catalog/online and many found it was very unstable. I remember Craig L saying that some plants looked like Black from Tula and other plants gave fruits that he called a bag of seeds/

Linda pulled that variety from her offerings many many years ago, so I wonder who is offering it.

Where did you get your seeds from and how many plants do you have out?

Now True??? Black Brandywine

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/B...ne,_True_Black

Tania mentions that many do not believe what Will Weaver said about this one, and that's so true. Please go to the Legacy Foum here, I'd do it for you but I don't want to lose this post and links, and find the thread about so called True Black Brandywine and see for yourself.

Despite the discussion of True Black Brandywine and its origin, some seem to like what they get with this variety.

If you don't know for a fact which one you have IMO you shouldn't save seeds from what you are now growing. Just my opinion. ( smile)

Carolyn
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Old April 29, 2015   #3
heirloomtomaguy
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I bought black brandywine seeds from Garden Harvest Supply a few years back and have grown it ever since with exception to this year. What i got was true to description that was given. For me it is an incredibly prolific producer of slightly smoky brandywine flavored fruits. The seeds i saved and regrew stayed true to type also. Everyone around here loved them. Now i dont know who's black brandywine these seeds originated from but i have never been disappointed.
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Old April 29, 2015   #4
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I bought mine from Morgan County Seed. It grew well. I agree it was smoky flavored, mine was a little overly musky for my liking. It's one of the few varieties I won't grow again, but that's just my own opinion. Hopefully you will like it better than me. I grew Cherokee Purple next to it and liked it a lot better.
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Old April 29, 2015   #5
Starlight
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Originally Posted by carolyn137 View Post
Yes, Black Brandywine and True Black Brandywine are VERY different. When confronted with such a situation I think it's best to go to Tania's website first.

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Brandywine,_Black

Linda Sapp of Tomato growers was having seeds produced for her at the time by Seeds by Design in CA and there was a natural cross as you can read above. She offered it in her catalog/online and many found it was very unstable. I remember Craig L saying that some plants looked like Black from Tula and other plants gave fruits that he called a bag of seeds/

Linda pulled that variety from her offerings many many years ago, so I wonder who is offering it.

Where did you get your seeds from and how many plants do you have out?

Now True??? Black Brandywine

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/B...ne,_True_Black

Tania mentions that many do not believe what Will Weaver said about this one, and that's so true. Please go to the Legacy Foum here, I'd do it for you but I don't want to lose this post and links, and find the thread about so called True Black Brandywine and see for yourself.

Despite the discussion of True Black Brandywine and its origin, some seem to like what they get with this variety.

If you don't know for a fact which one you have IMO you shouldn't save seeds from what you are now growing. Just my opinion. ( smile)

Carolyn
My seed was a gift from a friend. They are not home right now so they don't have the records on hand of where they got their seed from , but think it was some commercial site. They have both the True Black Brandywine and the Black Brandywine and had sent me seeds of the Black Brandywine.

I have 4 plants left. I had 6 but gifted a couple of plants to a friend. Told him we'd both see what they like and I have more seed of it.

Rain out through the rain drops and all my plants are RL, so I guess that means I have the just Black Brandywine.

I read alot of threads about the Brandywine's. Was excited to know that some different seeds I have are Brandywine's. Read Cameo's thread about how Cowlick was supposed to be good even for hot areas, so I guess I'll start a few of those seeds.

Quote:
Originally Posted by heirloomtomaguy View Post
I bought black brandywine seeds from Garden Harvest Supply a few years back and have grown it ever since with exception to this year. What i got was true to description that was given. For me it is an incredibly prolific producer of slightly smoky brandywine flavored fruits. The seeds i saved and regrew stayed true to type also. Everyone around here loved them. Now i dont know who's black brandywine these seeds originated from but i have never been disappointed.
Did you have any problems with Fusarium Wilt on yours? Bill, b54red, said he had lots of problems with the Brandywine's which is why he is grafting them and his conditions are pretty close to mine.

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Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie View Post
I bought mine from Morgan County Seed. It grew well. I agree it was smoky flavored, mine was a little overly musky for my liking. It's one of the few varieties I won't grow again, but that's just my own opinion. Hopefully you will like it better than me. I grew Cherokee Purple next to it and liked it a lot better.
I hope I can at least get one tomato. I have no idea what a smokey flavored tomato tastes like. Surprisingly Cherokee Purple does well here. Never had any problems with it. It was the first heirloom I ever grew and the one that sort of got me hooked on other heirlooms.
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Old April 29, 2015   #6
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No problems on my plants they were champs. I would have grown again this year but a couple hundred new ones took its place.
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Old April 29, 2015   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Starlight View Post
My seed was a gift from a friend. They are not home right now so they don't have the records on hand of where they got their seed from , but think it was some commercial site. They have both the True Black Brandywine and the Black Brandywine and had sent me seeds of the Black Brandywine.

I have 4 plants left. I had 6 but gifted a couple of plants to a friend. Told him we'd both see what they like and I have more seed of it.

Rain out through the rain drops and all my plants are RL, so I guess that means I have the just Black Brandywine.

I read alot of threads about the Brandywine's. Was excited to know that some different seeds I have are Brandywine's. Read Cameo's thread about how Cowlick was supposed to be good even for hot areas, so I guess I'll start a few of those seeds.



Did you have any problems with Fusarium Wilt on yours? Bill, b54red, said he had lots of problems with the Brandywine's which is why he is grafting them and his conditions are pretty close to mine.



I hope I can at least get one tomato. I have no idea what a smokey flavored tomato tastes like. Surprisingly Cherokee Purple does well here. Never had any problems with it. It was the first heirloom I ever grew and the one that sort of got me hooked on other heirlooms.
If all of your plants have RL foliage then you have neither Black Brandywine nor True Black Brandywine since if you reread Tania's pages for both, they are both supposed to be PL.

And just noting that you said you read a lot about Brandywines and referred to Camo ( Mike) and his Cowlick's Brandywine and noting that Camo gardens in PA whereas you are in Alabama and there are large differences in the weather between the two which can lead to different performances. Camo has said he's sent seeds all over the world and they perform well, but that's not what I've read at the several message sites where I've participated. Sometimes OK, sometimes not, which is true for any variety grown in different geograpic locations,

Carolyn
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Old April 30, 2015   #8
Starlight
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If all of your plants have RL foliage then you have neither Black Brandywine nor True Black Brandywine since if you reread Tania's pages for both, they are both supposed to be PL.

Carolyn
According to what both Craig and Tania wrote, yes I can have a Black Brandywine. Craig said he had both RL and PL leaves and Tania has this section about the RL Black Brandywine when I followed her links from link you sent me.

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/B...,_Regular_Leaf
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Old April 30, 2015   #9
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There is a very old thread here on this very subject that I believe I started or at least contributed to a lot. Probably from 08 or 09.

I know Black Brandywine is supposed to be PL, BUT there is no source that I know of that has a PL. Way back when, Totally Tomatoes did have a PL. But when I re-ordered seeds the next batch I got was RL. That was about the time I was first getting into saving seeds and before I was a member here.

In trying to get a PL Black Brandywine, I ordered seeds from Sandhill. His description says PL but every plant I grew was RL. The plant is a good producer and had nice fruit so I saved seeds from them.

When I have my site up I actually have both Black Brandywine RL and True Black Brandywine (WWW variety).

Carol
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Old April 30, 2015   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Starlight View Post
According to what both Craig and Tania wrote, yes I can have a Black Brandywine. Craig said he had both RL and PL leaves and Tania has this section about the RL Black Brandywine when I followed her links from link you sent me.

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Brandywine,_Black



http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/B...,_Regular_Leaf
Let me repeat your link to Tania's link for Black Brandywine and please note all the comments about genetic instability, I gave much more background on this one and said that Linda deleted her listing for it b'c it WAS so unstable.


http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Brandywine,_Black

Now the RL version and note thecomment about several lines that are still segrgating.

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki...,_Regular_Leaf


Now True Black Brandywine and again note the history and I asked you to go to the Legacy Forum to read about this one,

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com/wiki...ack_Brandywine


Summary?

Black Brandywine and True Black Brandywine are supposed to be PL. When RL's appear it indicates genetic instability and still segregating lines as Tania mentioned.

Carolyn
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Old April 30, 2015   #11
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I grew Black Brandywine a couple of years ago and while it was OK, it was only OK. The fruit was small and took well into late summer for the tomatoes to lose mushiness and lack of flavor. They finally turned out to be a nice small black, but not interesting enough to regrow. I think I got seeds from Carol (Wi-Sunflower) so whatever she says goes for me.
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