A clearer view of the Brandywine histories?

[stevenkh1]

Its possible....it sorts leads back to he Acme thread and a brief exchange by Craig and I that many of the vanity tomato varieties of today(for a lack of a better term eg, Aunt Ginny's, etc) just might be different strains of these original tomatoes from the 1800s/early 1900s whos real names are long lost. And Craig kinda touched on it with this thread: is Brandywine Pink actually Mikado?

Personally, I think Craig is right.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by stevenkh1

Its possible....it sorts leads back to he Acme thread and a brief exchange by Craig and I that many of the vanity tomato varieties of today(for a lack of a better term eg, Aunt Ginny's, etc) just might be different strains of these original tomatoes from the 1800s/early 1900s whos real names are long lost. And Craig kinda touched on it with this thread: is Brandywine Pink actually Mikado?

Personally, I think Craig is right.

I have never been one to conclude that Brandywine (pink) originated in Ohio. I don't have time to go back and read this whole thread where perhaps Craig got seeds for Mikado from the USDA and shared them with me and it did not resemble BW at all.

There have been many claiments to the original BW from Johnson and Stokes, Burpee and I can't remember all the others.

In my faves I have a lithographic picture of what was called brandywine which turned out to be Red Brandywine ( Chester CO, PA, 1865).

I do know that the hype for growing Brandywine and the history started pretty much when the Sudduth/Quisenberry one became available and also in the Legacy Forum Ben Quisenberrys nephew appeared and talked about his father and his viewpoint. He called him papaberry.

And I do know that unlike many others that I don't consider BW to be the epitome of taste , yes, it has a distinctive kind of winey taste, and yes, I've grown lots of so called strains of it, but there are others that I think have a unique taste as well.

First Brandywine

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Brandywine

And then the Sudduth/Quisenberry one Where origin is placed in TN, not Ohio

I think I counted something like 14 different pages at Tania's site for different Brandywine ones, said to be different strains by some, which then led us to to have a long thread about WHAT a strain meant here at TV and there are two different reasons why some of us see the word strain to be confusing


http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/B...e,_Sudduth%27s


Ah, sweet mystery of life, etc.

Carolyn/

[MrBig46]

I do not understand why it should be the same as Mikado Brandywine. Mikado is Turner´s hybrid, Brandywine was possibly one of the parents. So I understand.
Vladimír

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by MrBig46

I do not understand why it should be the same as Mikado Brandywine. Mikado is Turner´s hybrid, Brandywine was possibly one of the parents. So I understand.
Vladimír

Vladimir, I think the following link should help clear up some confusion, it's from Tville in 2008.

First, Turner's Hybrid is not an F1 hybrid, it's open pollinated/

And in the link you'll see that there is no ONE Mikado as Craig and others also posted and Craig went on to say that the Mikado situatio is a mess,his word.

He also described when he got Mikado out of the USDA, I don't think he mentioned, maybe he did, that he shared seeds with me, so we both grew it, and what we got.

http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=8121

Hope the above link helps.

Carolyn

[chancethegardener]

I'm hoping that this post will contribute to the discussion on Pink Brandywine's origin. Picture below comes from Maule's 1897 catalog. I'm entering the whole description here as it might be hard to read:

Nothing I have ever introduced has excited so much comment as this magnificent tomato. It is unquestionably one of the largest, most solid and most productive tomatoes grown. They ripen very early, evenly up to the stem, are free of all core, and in flavor surpass anything you ever tasted, especially when eaten raw. Skin, thin, but so tough that they will keep longer in good condition than any other. Color, a rich, unsurpassed red. A strong, vigorous grower, its foliage differs from all others, leaves being entire and not cut. In enormous productiveness it leads all. Over 75,000 gardeners, have pronounced it the most remarkable tomato they have ever seen. In 1886, hearing of just half an ounce of seed taken from selected specimens of the Turner Hybrid, I paid $50 for it, or at the rate of $1,600 per pound. The seed raised from the $1,600 stock can only be obtained from me, and from no other source. The $100 premium in 1895, was secured by J. S. Hunter, Savannah, Mo., with a mammoth tomato, the largest raised. If you wish to surprise your neighbors with finer, larger and more delicious tomatoes than you have ever seen, you must sow this $1,600 strain of Turner Hybrid.



- In the first line of his description, Maule claims that this specific strain is introduced by him.
- Turner Hybrid in Maule's 1897 catalog is certainly a potato leaf variety (leaf illustration on the left also confirms the description).
- Maule's original seed stock apparently comes from a selection of The Turner Hybrid (AKA Mikado) obtained in 1886, same year as the regular-leaf Brandywine (AKA Red Brandywine) was released by Burpee. I don't know what Maule means by 'unsurpassed red.' Is the variety he offers red or pink, this is unclear to me. It is possible that the selection from 1886 is pink and this is what he means by 'unsurpassed red.' Hence, the seeds he offer will later on transform into Pink Brandywine as we know today.
- I believe that regular-leaf Brandywine is also a selection from Mikado (AKA The Turner Hybrid) which was released the same year as the original Brandywine because Mikado is known to be a large tomato whereas Red Brandywine is a mid-size variety.

TH.JPG
MikadoManTSP.jpg
MikadoMan2TSP.jpg

[travis]

Iowa, huh.

[chancethegardener]

... occasionally some fruits are of light color... likely refers to pink fruits as well.