Which is better?

[b54red]

Well I am probably closer to you than anyone else that has posted so far and I have had some experience with Brandywines. First if you want a true heirloom then grow the Sudduth's which I think is the most well known; but I prefer Cowlick's. Though I try to grow them both each year and for the spring garden I find little or no difference in the time required to get a ripe fruit off either. I do find that Sudduth's has a tendency to split along the bottom surface a day or two before it is fully ripe and that really cuts down on the shelf life. As far as taste and size they are both exceedingly good tomatoes but like many have posted they are not the heaviest fruit setters.

I have managed to get decent fruit set most of the time even in our oppressive heat but it takes a few tricks and some time and effort. First I mulch the plants heavily with cypress mulch which keeps the ground cooler than any other mulch I have tried and maintains the soil moisture very well. Second I feed the plants with Texas Tomato Food every 5 to 10 days and make sure the soil never gets too dry in hot weather. The TTF really seems to stimulate fruit set like nothing else I have tried and allowing the plant to get too thirsty will guarantee blossom drop in our heat. I also stimulate the blossoms most mornings with an electric toothbrush.

I have grown Brandy Boy and it is an excellent tomato with good production and will probably give you far more fruit than the true heirlooms will in the southern heat. Unlike many hybrids it is just as susceptible to some of the soil plagues common down here like fusarium and nematodes as are the heirlooms.

Another good option that is really productive is Pruden's Purple. Though not as large or quite as tasty as a true Brandywine it more than makes up for it with an abundance of similar tasting tomatoes.

I now graft all my heirloom tomatoes onto strong disease resistant rootstock which has helped me maintain a fairly high success rate with even some of the more temperamental heirlooms like Brandywine Sudduth's and by using the techniques I discussed above I even get some fruit set during high heat times when they aren't supposed to set at all.

Bill

Worth,

You can buy shade cloth on the internet and specify the amount of sunlight you want the cloth to reject.

I set up a misting system on 1/4" tubing on one of our decks to see how well it worked. The water supply was a garden hose. On a 100 degree day, the deck temp was 75 degrees. The mist evaporated so fast nothing was wet from the mist.

I thought it was a great system to protect my tomato plants from the heat. In order to direct the mist into the area for the plants, I had to mount it pretty close to the bed. I couldn't prevent water from condensing on the leaves which in turn seemed to magnify the sunlight resulting in sun burned leaves. I never did resolve the condensation problem. If I ever try it again, it will be under shade cloth. I think the reason it worked on the deck but not in the garden, was the fact that the deck is covered and protected from the hot sun.

Our chicken run is covered and I installed a couple of misters in it to help keep the chickens cool in the hot summer. It works well also.

Ted

Bill is right about Prudens Purple. I had forgotten about it but it always out performed Brandywine in my garden. Someone else mentioned Stump Of The World. It's also a great replacement in warmer climates. I've pretty much gone to Dester and Limbaughs Potato Top for varieties which are highly productive, fairly heat tolerant, and produce large, great tasting tomatoes in my mid south garden.

Ted

[AlittleSalt]

Personally, I won't grow any Brandywines. I've read too many arguments about them.

Bear Claw, Stump of the World, and Rebel Yell all have much better reviews without all the controversy. Rebel Yell is a cross between Bear Claw and Stump of the World.

[Starlight]

Originally Posted by b54red

Well I am probably closer to you than anyone else that has posted so far and I have had some experience with Brandywines. First if you want a true heirloom then grow the Sudduth's which I think is the most well known; but I prefer Cowlick's. Though I try to grow them both each year and for the spring garden I find little or no difference in the time required to get a ripe fruit off either. I do find that Sudduth's has a tendency to split along the bottom surface a day or two before it is fully ripe and that really cuts down on the shelf life. As far as taste and size they are both exceedingly good tomatoes but like many have posted they are not the heaviest fruit setters.

I have managed to get decent fruit set most of the time even in our oppressive heat but it takes a few tricks and some time and effort. First I mulch the plants heavily with cypress mulch which keeps the ground cooler than any other mulch I have tried and maintains the soil moisture very well. Second I feed the plants with Texas Tomato Food every 5 to 10 days and make sure the soil never gets too dry in hot weather. The TTF really seems to stimulate fruit set like nothing else I have tried and allowing the plant to get too thirsty will guarantee blossom drop in our heat. I also stimulate the blossoms most mornings with an electric toothbrush.

I have grown Brandy Boy and it is an excellent tomato with good production and will probably give you far more fruit than the true heirlooms will in the southern heat. Unlike many hybrids it is just as susceptible to some of the soil plagues common down here like fusarium and nematodes as are the heirlooms.

Another good option that is really productive is Pruden's Purple. Though not as large or quite as tasty as a true Brandywine it more than makes up for it with an abundance of similar tasting tomatoes.

I now graft all my heirloom tomatoes onto strong disease resistant rootstock which has helped me maintain a fairly high success rate with even some of the more temperamental heirlooms like Brandywine Sudduth's and by using the techniques I discussed above I even get some fruit set during high heat times when they aren't supposed to set at all.

Bill

Thanks for jumping in Bill. After reading what you said, since you know what our heat and humidity can be and some other reviews. I decided on Suddith's. I have never eaten a brandywine, so I want to see what this good flavor is everybody says about them.

I dug around in my box and found 4 Cowlick seeds. I didn't realize they were a brandywine. I just had it listed in my C's as Cowlick.

I'll have to see about that Texas Tomato Food. Where do you get yours at? Last year I heard somebody mentioning a spray that supposedly would help with setting, but they couldn't remember the name and when I checked in Lowe's and Home Depot I didn't see anything like that from all the products I read that they had.

Originally Posted by tedln

Bill is right about Prudens Purple. I had forgotten about it but it always out performed Brandywine in my garden. Someone else mentioned Stump Of The World. It's also a great replacement in warmer climates. I've pretty much gone to Dester and Limbaughs Potato Top for varieties which are highly productive, fairly heat tolerant, and produce large, great tasting tomatoes in my mid south garden.

Ted

I have some Prudens Purple and a couple older seeds of Limbaughs Potato Top that I got in a trade so they going to sown , may have to try Carolyn's "wake em up" recipe for the LPT.

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

Personally, I won't grow any Brandywines. I've read too many arguments about them.

Bear Claw, Stump of the World, and Rebel Yell all have much better reviews without all the controversy. Rebel Yell is a cross between Bear Claw and Stump of the World.

I just got Rebel Yell from Marsha. I'm anxious to see how that one does. As somebody who likes history, I had picked it from her because of the name, though she too has said it is a good one. Stump of The World I just got some seeds of too. The name was too funny, so I had to get some seeds of it, not realizing you all think it is a good one.

I appreciate the heck out of the sharing and advice as you all have been there and done that. With planting seeds of those you mentioned I just might have some tomatoes this year.

I figure I'll probably have a bunch of failures while I learn, but I am so excited for this year and to see what I can try and grow.

Hopefully come this fall, when your all showing off pics of your tomatoes I will be able to say I got more than oodles of Sunrise Bumblebees and two perfect Texas Star maters for the whole season.

Srarlight,
Google "Stump Of The World". I understand it was another Ben Quizenberry variety. I've read he was a very committed Christian who named the variety from the biblical "root of the world". Some have interpreted the original Hebrew, Greek; or Aramaic as "Stump Of The World".

Ted

[b54red]

You can order Texas Tomato Food from Urban Farms the link is below. I also get some of their Vegetable each year and Apples & Oranges for my citrus. Both of these are good for just about any vegetable you can grow and easy to apply to the soil with an Ortho sprayer if you are feeding a lot of plants.
http://theurbanfarm.com/legr1.html

I have never grown Rebel Yell but if it is nearly as good tasting as a Suddith's or Cowlick's and more productive then I guess I need to obtain some seed and give it a try.
I rarely try a new tomato now since I'm basically through experimenting but if it does as good as everyone is saying down here in the heat then I need to try it.

I love Stump of the World but have not had much success with it in grafting and only had one season when it did good before the fusarium hit. For some reason every rootstock I have grafted it to has cause it to produce much fewer and smaller tomatoes than the original. I am going to try a couple of new ones this year and see if I get better results. Limbaugh's on the other hand has been a champ producing great nearly every year.

Bill

[Stvrob]

Originally Posted by b54red

.....I love Stump of the World but have not had much success with it in grafting and only had one season when it did good before the fusarium hit. For some reason every rootstock I have grafted it to has cause it to produce much fewer and smaller tomatoes than the original. I am going to try a couple of new ones this year and see if I get better results. Limbaugh's on the other hand has been a champ producing great nearly every year.

Bill

Hmmmm....I just set out several stump of the worlds grafted onto Big Beef hybrid rootstock. I was hoping this would give me a boost in production and extend it a little further into the summer. Maybe i will plant an ungrafted plant next to it to help me decide whether there is any difference.

[gregory]

I never heard of brandywine tomatoes until I started reading different forums.
I guess it's because we have a short season as opposed to those much further north.
High humidity and temps in the evenings pretty much ends early in July here in mobile.
So I want to find plants that are 75 days or less.

[Starlight]

Originally Posted by tedln

Srarlight,
Google "Stump Of The World". I understand it was another Ben Quizenberry variety. I've read he was a very committed Christian who named the variety from the biblical "root of the world". Some have interpreted the original Hebrew, Greek; or Aramaic as "Stump Of The World".

Ted

Thanks for that bit of information Ted. I'll add it to my note cards. I'm learning that it is very important to record everything you can find when it comes to tomatoes and peppers.

Originally Posted by b54red

You can order Texas Tomato Food from Urban Farms the link is below. I also get some of their Vegetable each year and Apples & Oranges for my citrus. Both of these are good for just about any vegetable you can grow and easy to apply to the soil with an Ortho sprayer if you are feeding a lot of plants.
http://theurbanfarm.com/legr1.html

I have never grown Rebel Yell but if it is nearly as good tasting as a Suddith's or Cowlick's and more productive then I guess I need to obtain some seed and give it a try.
I rarely try a new tomato now since I'm basically through experimenting but if it does as good as everyone is saying down here in the heat then I need to try it.

I love Stump of the World but have not had much success with it in grafting and only had one season when it did good before the fusarium hit. For some reason every rootstock I have grafted it to has cause it to produce much fewer and smaller tomatoes than the original. I am going to try a couple of new ones this year and see if I get better results. Limbaugh's on the other hand has been a champ producing great nearly every year.

Bill

I appreciate the link Bill. If you want to give Rebel Yell a try, pm me your addy , I have 4 or 5 seeds that I send you from what I got.

Also, and I have looked and looked and haven't found it yet, so I may have passed the package on to somebody who was working with rootstocks at the time for a project. It didn't have the name of the tomato used on the package, so I didn't know what it was at first.

But, I had received the package of rootstock seeds from a friend in the Netherlands. Ay least I think this company is in the Netherlands and here it is.

https://www.vreeken.nl/291100-onders...maat-armada-f1

Takii Seeds has more info on it for the disease resistance. Armanda F1 might be something to look into for those that don't work so well with your Big Beef

http://www.takiiseed.com/goods_list/...ARMADAF1Tomato

Originally Posted by gregory

I never heard of brandywine tomatoes until I started reading different forums.
I guess it's because we have a short season as opposed to those much further north.
High humidity and temps in the evenings pretty much ends early in July here in mobile.
So I want to find plants that are 75 days or less.

Gregory, have you tried two grow for two seasons. Until it was pointed out to me, I didn't realize we could do such a thing. If I remember right, starting seed in Aug was the right time and that by the time the plants got up big enough to start flowering, we should have cooler temps start coming in and a bit less humidity for diseases.

Starlight,

Always fact check anything I tell you. My wife told me recently that I was once wrong about something and she is always right.

Ted

[AlittleSalt]

Starlight, I've meant to mention this. "Very nice user name"

The seeds you got from Marsha are fresh and ready-to-grow now. The most sound advice I can give - If Marsha sent it to you - grow it.

[Starlight]

Originally Posted by tedln

Starlight,

Always fact check anything I tell you. My wife told me recently that I was once wrong about something and she is always right.



Ted

Originally Posted by AlittleSalt

Starlight, I've meant to mention this. "Very nice user name"

The seeds you got from Marsha are fresh and ready-to-grow now. The most sound advice I can give - If Marsha sent it to you - grow it.

Thanks. It comes from star gazing and the children's rhyme. I like star gazing even though I couldn't pick out any of the zodiac forms at all.

I got a few others from her and am going to grow them too. I don't know the first thing about any of the others, but I liked the names and I like surprises. I did she pics of some of them that she posted in the galley. Made me go make a mayo, cheese and tomato sandwich with store bought tomato. I just closed my eyes and pretended it was slices from one of hers.

[gregory]

Originally Posted by Starlight

Thanks for that bit of information Ted. I'll add it to my note cards. I'm learning that it is very important to record everything you can find when it comes to tomatoes and peppers.





I appreciate the link Bill. If you want to give Rebel Yell a try, pm me your addy , I have 4 or 5 seeds that I send you from what I got.

Also, and I have looked and looked and haven't found it yet, so I may have passed the package on to somebody who was working with rootstocks at the time for a project. It didn't have the name of the tomato used on the package, so I didn't know what it was at first.

But, I had received the package of rootstock seeds from a friend in the Netherlands. Ay least I think this company is in the Netherlands and here it is.

https://www.vreeken.nl/291100-onders...maat-armada-f1

Takii Seeds has more info on it for the disease resistance. Armanda F1 might be something to look into for those that don't work so well with your Big Beef

http://www.takiiseed.com/goods_list/...ARMADAF1Tomato





Gregory, have you tried two grow for two seasons. Until it was pointed out to me, I didn't realize we could do such a thing. If I remember right, starting seed in Aug was the right time and that by the time the plants got up big enough to start flowering, we should have cooler temps start coming in and a bit less humidity for diseases.

Yes I tried last year but I think I was to late. They were transplants which I planted the first of September, although I feel like I was to late. November 10th it dropped to 30.
Plus they never flowered. I am going to take cuttings and perhaps grow some from seeds and try earlier to see what happens.
My biggest probably with insects was in September especially caterpillars. I didn't go to my garden for 2 days big mistake. By the time I figured out what was killing my ms silver crowder peas it was to late. At the very least I was able to salvage the broccoli

[sierrahiker]

Lets see now humm out of this mix I think Brandy Boy is your best bet ! lol lol