Brandywine..dare I ask

[Jeannine Anne]

Can't stop laughing.

I was just googling for Italian tomato varieties in general, had to read all they offered of course and one site offered Italian Brandywines and Italian Black Brandywines.

XX Jeannine

[feldon30]

There are so many known good varieties from reputable seed providers, I'd steer clear of the fly-by-nights, eBay scams, and the more insidious sites like Amishland that rename existing varieties to drive sales.

I find it almost more productive to say "ok, what are the 10 most popular black/purple varieties?" or "what are the 10 most popular pink beefsteaks?" or maybe "What are tomato varieties that do consistently well for my area?"

Wessel's Purple Pride is a fantastic meaty dark plum/roma/heart/whatever. Tony's Italian has a similar shape, but it's pink, and has a really full flavor in my experience. There are so many examples, and what grows in Houston may not grow well in your neck of the woods. Also this year has been a bizarre year for weather, so it's difficult to make any future predictions just based on this year. It's not normal to have weeks and weeks of 105-110 degrees in Austin and Houston. Dallas maybe, but even they are setting records.

Of the pink beefsteaks, I love Brandywine, but Earl's Faux always has an edge over it for me. Brandywine is sweet, meaty, smooth, and has a great tomato flavor BUT it doesn't have that "zing" finish that I like. Earl's Faux has the whole package including the zing.

Best of luck to you!

[Jeannine Anne]

Thank you Feldon, I have Earls Faux so will include that one next year.I too like the zing!!

Actually I have quite a lot of seeds that I will probably never be able to grow now due to less space so I will be cutting down in the spring to ones that are favourites or come reccomended etc and a some new to me ones.

I find one of the great things about this forum is the sharing of info, even allowing for the different weathers it is a good place to get info.

I appreciate the sharing very much..you are a great bunch you know.

XX Jeannine

[feldon30]

I've got more seeds than I could ever grow too.

[tomakers]

Originally Posted by feldon30

Of the pink beefsteaks, I love Brandywine, but Earl's Faux always has an edge over it for me. Brandywine is sweet, meaty, smooth, and has a great tomato flavor BUT it doesn't have that "zing" finish that I like. Earl's Faux has the whole package including the zing.

Best of luck to you!

Feldon,
I couldn't agree with you more. EF always seems just a little bit better. It's always very late for me, but I always grow it, because it's just about the best(highest praise I can give until I finish tasting the other 5000 or so varieties).
Tom