The reason for Brandywine sudduth's poor yield

[where_with_all]

Ok Lets get this thread back to what I was originally looking to discuss. Lets get past all the defeatist bais and just start with a thought experiment.

Lets imagine we were growing 2 brandywine sudduth plant in a 6 ft diameter pot filled with potting soil. You put in a bunch of organic fertilizer a bunch or earthworms, etc.

Now you take the pot and put it in a temperature controlled enclosed greenhouse. You make sure the weather coperates and you get 8 hours of sunlight a day through a glass roof that magically blocks out any unwanted rays of light. The temperature is controlled at 75 F or any other temperature you want. There are only two plants in the room- two brandywines. You have an automatic drip irrigation system that measures the moisture in the soil

You release a colony of bees into the sunroom and lock the door.

Will this unrealistic scenario improve the yields of brandywine? or is there still something intrinsic in the plants flower that makes it hard to fertilize? if the enviornment were perfectly controlled- does BWS still have problems- and what could they be?

Just looking to get educated.

Where_with_all

[WildLife]

Weather temps and humidity in timing with the flowering and
arc of the sun.


Edit
I do remember a discussion on the flowers being
hard to pollinate. Something about size? Shrug

[where_with_all]

thanks wildlife- why ?

[Cecilia_MD7a]

Hey, Craig - so far my Brandys have been very prolific this year, too, although none of them are ripe yet. I got them in the ground VERY late (around Memorial Day, instead of the begininning of May) and I wonder if this has anything to do with it.

[WildLife]

Originally Posted by where_with_all

thanks wildlife- why ?

Because the weather does not cooperate when we want it too.

Originally Posted by Cecilia_MD7a

Hey, Craig - so far my Brandys have been very prolific this year, too, although none of them are ripe yet. I got them in the ground VERY late (around Memorial Day, instead of the begininning of May) and I wonder if this has anything to do with it.

I also planted later than usual, I definitely feel it has helped
set fruit on the beef stake varieties.

[dice]

Brandywine could also be more sensitive to
temperature/humidity than average:

http://gardening.wsu.edu/library/vege016/vege016.htm

Perhaps it is a light pollen producer to begin with, and
any of the stresses described in the document at the URL
above easily push it over the "no pollenation" threshold?
(When I have been going around with my electric toothbrush
and plastic wrap collecting pollen to try hybridization with,
I have noticed a lot of difference in how much pollen seems
to be produced by the flowers of different cultivars. While
this informal observation does not involve any great number
of cultivars or scientific measurement, plants with a reputation
for high yield seem to produce a lot of pollen.)

[scottfsmith]

I believe the health of the plant also matters. I am getting much better fruit set on all my tomatoes including BWS this year, and I am treating my plants a lot better than I had been in past years. (I have 500 fruit trees which have been taking up all my time in the yard -- the tomatoes were just getting thrown in and forgotten about.)

Scott

[BVGardener]

Brandywine should not do well at all where I live. My growing conditions would not be described as ideal and yet Brandywine (Sudduth) does pretty good and sometimes performs with spectacular results. This year was one of those better years.

Below is a photo of just a portion of fruit harvested off of a single plant.

Jay

[Tomstrees]

Jay -

Those are some nice looking fruits ...

I tried Brandywine seeds last season from that were saved from a productive plant from seeds from "Livingston Seed Co." and my plant failed miserably.

I got a handful of fruits - taste was just "ok" ...
Red Brandywine is my super producer for my location - seems to "fit" our conditions ...

Some maters is like that

~ Tom

[where_with_all]

BigDaddyJ

Are these the seeds you use?
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/p...=498&item=2845

They are not called Brandywine Sudduth?

Where with All

[BigdaddyJ]

Where With All, yes these are the seeds I use. You got the right ones.

Here's a pic from last year. I picked these from 3 Brandywine plants on the same day.

[Fusion_power]

There are three factors to address to get good production from Brandywine in my climate.

1. Plant early so the flowers pollinate while it is still cool. The best production I've ever had was from plants set out on March 24th which is about 3 weeks before last frost.

2. Feed heavily with lots of organics. Brandywine should be a huge plant with lots of foliage. If underfed, it will never deliver the quantity of fruit and the flavor it is famous for. I've had exceptional crops when each plant was given about 30 pounds of rabbit manure.

3. Watch closely for diseases and don't let them get ahead of you. Neem and Daconil are effective against lots of pathogens and insects.

DarJones

[feldon30]

I will just say that based on what I saw at Deer Park's place, the addition of organic matter vs. using chemical fertilizers has a clear effect on gardening success. His use of mountains of shredded leaves provides an explanation for how so many of his varieties in the SSE Yearbook have earned the coveted "excellent flavor" label. Even what I consider ordinary tomato varieties tasted fantastic.

Even the ubiquitous Sungold tastes worlds better. I was really surprised and added 15 lbs of leaf mold to my prime tomato bed just before planting my fall crop and intend to make it a habit.

[carolyn137]

His use of mountains of shredded leaves provides an explanation for how so many of his varieties in the SSE Yearbook have earned the coveted "excellent flavor" label. Even what I consider ordinary tomato varieties tasted fantastic.


****

But Morgan, each of us who list varieties in the Yearbook write our own blurbs so I assume Michael wrote "excellent flavor" for his own listing.

Now that's not to say that using a lot of organic material can for many folks produce plants with great taste, it's just speaking to all SSE Yearbook listers who write their own blurbs.

[feldon30]

My explanation for why Michael lists so many varieties as having "excellent flavor", even varieties which have been dismissed by others, is his growing methods.

Not sure how that can be misunderstood.