Thanks & Recommended Tomatoes Like Sudduth's Brandywine

[rellis]

Hi Everyone,

First, I have been a member of Tomatoville for 2 years. Rarely have I posted, but I have spent a lot of time lurking. So, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone on this forum for sharing their knowledge and time. I especially would like to thank Mischka for creating this valuable site.

Second, the opinion of my whole family last year was that Sudduth's Brandywine had the best taste. Last year was the first time we grew it and we have never grown any other type of brandywine. However, as many have said before it was not that productive. I was hoping for suggestions on other varieties to try that have a similar taste profile as Sudduth’s with a better yield.

I have read on this site some positive feedback about Cowlicks, but I have not found a vendor that carries the seed. So if you do recommend a variety that is not common, I would be very grateful if you could also suggest a vendor that carries the variety.

Last year I purchased seeds from TGS and Sandhill. This year I’m getting ready to submit another order to Sandhill and for cost reasons if possible I would like to incorporate any suggestions before I place any additional orders with other vendors.

Thanks again everyone.

Rellis

[bigcheef]

I grew Marianna’s Peace and Stump of the World side by side with Brandywine Sudduth’s one year and found both to be comparable. To be fair, there is truly no substitute for BWS. Although I prefer Cherokee Purple, Gary O’Sena, and some of the other black/purple varieties, BWS has so many complexities to its flavor that it stands alone. With all of that said, Earl’s faux comes close to the flavor your looking for and has had better production for me here in the South than BWS, MP, or SOTW.

[mjc]

Cowlick's has no vendors...it is distributed by trade/request only (at least for now)...there is a thread about it...

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=12594

[scottfsmith]

I am also in Maryland and have had good luck with Stump of The World. It is similar in flavor and most years has good productivity. Mariannas Peace has been low productivity for me like Brandywine.

Scott

[camochef]

rellis,
I'm responsible for naming and circulating Cowlick's Brandywine, which for the past few years has done much better than Sudduth's both in production and taste, for me here in south central Pa. Seeds are not available commercially, but there are plenty of members that are distributing them. Unfortunately, I've already sent out all my surplus seed.
Brandywine -Glicks is almost as tasty as Cowlick's and produces better than Brandywine-Sudduth's. (Amishland)
Sandul Moldovan is a very tasty pink, that produces very similar tasting tomatoes here. (tomato fest).
Amazon Chocolate is another great tasting tomato that has done very well for me the past few years and I recommend highly. It too is from Amishland and is a "black" tomato.
JD's Special C-Tex is another dark tomato with comparable size and taste to the aforementioned Brandywines.
Others that may be a little more difficult to find but are well worth the effort of locating are:
Lillian Maciejewski's Poland Pink,
Barlow Jap,
Mrs Benson,
Tarasenko6,
Swisher Sweet,
Gary O'Sena,
Dora,
Dana's Dusky Rose, (which I think was the best tasting tomato of the year),
Gigantesque, (another from Amishland),
Most of these are traded between tomato gardeners, here and on other forums. I'm sure with some time spent posting you can come up with most of them. Enjoy the search, and more importantly enjoy the taste of each one, once discovered!
Camo

[rnewste]

Camo,

My first Cowlick's seedlings are about 3 inches tall today, and I am looking forward to see how they do in a SWC environment. I am also growing Gary'O Sena, Brandywine Sudduth, Ed's Millennium, Marianna's Peace, etc. so it will be interesting to compare production and taste of these varieties.

BTW, thanks for introducing Cowlick's!!

Raybo

[camochef]

Originally Posted by rnewste

Camo,

My first Cowlick's seedlings are about 3 inches tall today, and I am looking forward to see how they do in a SWC environment. I am also growing Gary'O Sena, Brandywine Sudduth, Ed's Millennium, Marianna's Peace, etc. so it will be interesting to compare production and taste of these varieties.

BTW, thanks for introducing Cowlick's!!

Raybo

Raybo,
I'm jealous, it will be months before I'll be getting any seeds going. I hope yours do very well. My plants have always been the largest in the gardens so it will be interesting to see how they do in a SWC enviroment.
I had a lot of luck with Gary'O Sena last year as well as Dora. I've never had good luck with Marianna's Peace for the last three years so I'm letting that go by the wayside in the future. I always grow a few Brandywine Sudduths, as sort of a control guide, but do much better with both Cowlick's and Brandywine-Glicks. This past year BW-Glicks were very impressive, all over one pound and many close to two pounds. Their taste was top notch, but the production wasn't much better than BW-Sudduth's. No where near Cowlick's.
I've never grown Ed's Millennium, and I'm not familiar with it at all.
I wish you the best of luck with them all, and looking forward to the results! I'm still jealous too!
Camo

[rnewste]

Camo,

I would have liked to get a few Glick's seeds to try this Season, but no joy. Perhaps next Season I can score some to grow out and compare in my SWC environment. In any event, I am really looking forward to the Cowlick's the Season.

Raybo

[b54red]

Camo,
Maybe it is just the weather or your soil or something else causing the problem with Marianna's Peace. I have never been able to grow successfully any Brandywine type except for Brandy Boy and it is a hit and miss for me. The one thing I did notice this past year when I made a lot of successive plantings of different varieties was that the early planted Marianna's Peace did terrible while the ones set out late did great. With the Brandy Boy it was just the opposite.
The one thing that made the Marianna's Peace stand out from the other OPs was the length of time it produced tomatoes. When most of my other OPs were just growing vine and a few small fruit during the hottest part of the summer, the Marianna's Peace vines kept on producing good size toms though not as large as the earlier ones.
I am going to try Cowlick's this year and see if I can finally beat the Brandywine curse. I will also continue to grow Brandy Boy even though I sometimes only get one or two toms per plant, the taste is worth it.

[rellis]

Bigbeef, mjc, Scott, and Camo:

Thanks for your responses.

I find my preference lean more towards the dark tomatoes like Cherokee Chocolate and Cherokee Purple. But when I tried BWS for the first time last year, I felt like I had never eaten a tomato before.

Last year we also grew Earl’s Faux and JD’s Special C-Tex. We liked them a lot, but thought they, along with the rest of the varieties we grew, were eclipsed by BWS. There was just something unique about BWS.

Everyone,
I know taste buds are different, but if BWS is my benchmark and it happens to be your benchmark, I would love for you to tell me which of the following varieties you think are the closest taste wise with noticeable higher productivity to BWS.

Brandwine-Glicks (Sounds like its very close in taste, but based on one of Camo’s above posts to Raybo, it sounds like it is not noticeable higher in productivity than BWS)
Stump of the World
Dora
Gary O’Sena
Amazon Chocolate
Brandywine Red - Landis Valley Strain (Have heard some good things about this variety)
Brandywine OTV (Have heard some good things about this variety)

Does anyone know if Dana’s Dusky Rose is the same as Sandhill’s Dana variety?

What is everyone’s thoughts and experience with Amishseed. I checked out their website and if I purchased a pack of Brandwine Glick’s and Amazon Chocolate it would cost $8.50 for 10 seeds of each. Seems a little high, but if it’s a good company I might consider giving them a shot. Personally, I’m a very big fan of Sandhill. I have always had a positive experience with them, I like their mission, and I think their prices are very reasonable. Ordering from them makes me feel like my purchase is supporting a greater good. I've also thought of joining SSE, but right now the cost is a little prohibitive.

Thanks again to everyone.

[BigdaddyJ]

BrandyBoy is closest to Sudduth IMO than all others I've tried. I'd also say Marianna's Peace is close as well.

I'd love to try this Cowlick's...

[camochef]

Originally Posted by rellis

Bigbeef, mjc, Scott, and Camo:

Thanks for your responses.

I find my preference lean more towards the dark tomatoes like Cherokee Chocolate and Cherokee Purple. But when I tried BWS for the first time last year, I felt like I had never eaten a tomato before.

Last year we also grew Earl’s Faux and JD’s Special C-Tex. We liked them a lot, but thought they, along with the rest of the varieties we grew, were eclipsed by BWS. There was just something unique about BWS.

Everyone,
I know taste buds are different, but if BWS is my benchmark and it happens to be your benchmark, I would love for you to tell me which of the following varieties you think are the closest taste wise with noticeable higher productivity to BWS.

Brandwine-Glicks (Sounds like its very close in taste, but based on one of Camo’s above posts to Raybo, it sounds like it is not noticeable higher in productivity than BWS)
Stump of the World
Dora
Gary O’Sena
Amazon Chocolate
Brandywine Red - Landis Valley Strain (Have heard some good things about this variety)
Brandywine OTV (Have heard some good things about this variety)

Does anyone know if Dana’s Dusky Rose is the same as Sandhill’s Dana variety?

What is everyone’s thoughts and experience with Amishseed. I checked out their website and if I purchased a pack of Brandwine Glick’s and Amazon Chocolate it would cost $8.50 for 10 seeds of each. Seems a little high, but if it’s a good company I might consider giving them a shot. Personally, I’m a very big fan of Sandhill. I have always had a positive experience with them, I like their mission, and I think their prices are very reasonable. Ordering from them makes me feel like my purchase is supporting a greater good. I've also thought of joining SSE, but right now the cost is a little prohibitive.

Thanks again to everyone.

Rellis,
I've grown every variety that you've mentioned. As many know, I am a lover of Brandywines. That said, lets shed some light on that statement. Red Brandywine doesn't even fit in with the Pink Brandywines. Its a regular leafed plant where the pinks are a potato leafed plant. I would have to give the Red Brandywine credit for producing lots of red tomatoes on a plant that is significantly smaller than the pinks.
Taste wise I find Cowlicks and Glicks very close and Sudduths close behind. It's in their production that there is a great difference. Cowlick's have always been my number one producer, Glicks falls behind but still produces plenty of nice sized tomatoes. Sudduths produces less than Glicks. Pink or just Brandywine doesn't do as well as the top three. but I still grow them every year.
Brandywine OTV has been the worst of the brandywine named tomatoes that I've grown, and last year I didn't even bother to plant it. Its a cross between Yellow Brandywine and an unknown red tomato. Yeild is generally less than Red Brandywine and according to many more than the pinks, which I find to be untrue. as both Cowlick's and Glicks out produce it for me.
Both Dora and Gary O'Sena are Cherokee Purple/Pink Brandywine crosses and I was pleased with both last year. Production was decent on both and I though taste was pretty good too. I rated Dora the better of the two at #22 and Gary O'sena at #33.
Amazon Chocolate has been a fantastic tomato the past few years for me, beating all the Brandywines last year and one of the top five the year before.
As far as your question about Amishland, the past few years over half of my top ten tomatoes came from there. This past season being the exception, as only Amazon Chocolate made the cut. I blame that on this past years weather and the different times I planted them out. It seemed that all my early plantings didn't fair as well as those planted much later.
Stump of the world has also done well for me in the past, but not as good as many others.
I cannot see Sandhill's Dana being the same as Dana's Dusky Rose as there were only a few growing it this past season after Dana discovered it. I was fortunate to be one that had a plant. I know Dana lost hers to late blight and I think one or two others had a plant or two. I don't know how they faired with the horrible weather.
I think Sandul Moldovan which I had purchased from tomatofest a couple years ago, is one of the closest, non brandywine varieties that will be closest to what your looking for. It tasted better than any brandywine this year and its production is higher than most.
Also, Cherokee Purple and Cherokee Chocolate are supposedly the same tomato with only a skin mutation as a difference. I've found Cherokee Purple's taste to vary from year to year and even between themselves in the same year. I also find their production to be much less than your average tomatoes.
I have done reviews on all that I planted the past couple years at idig. you might want to browse through and see what you think. Again, I wish you luck!
Camo

[camochef]

Originally Posted by b54red

Camo,
Maybe it is just the weather or your soil or something else causing the problem with Marianna's Peace. I have never been able to grow successfully any Brandywine type except for Brandy Boy and it is a hit and miss for me. The one thing I did notice this past year when I made a lot of successive plantings of different varieties was that the early planted Marianna's Peace did terrible while the ones set out late did great. With the Brandy Boy it was just the opposite.
The one thing that made the Marianna's Peace stand out from the other OPs was the length of time it produced tomatoes. When most of my other OPs were just growing vine and a few small fruit during the hottest part of the summer, the Marianna's Peace vines kept on producing good size toms though not as large as the earlier ones.
I am going to try Cowlick's this year and see if I can finally beat the Brandywine curse. I will also continue to grow Brandy Boy even though I sometimes only get one or two toms per plant, the taste is worth it.

b54red,
Not sure the reasonings, I've planted them early and late, just haven't lived up to expectations, but then there are a lot of others that fall into that category. I have had fantastic results with Cowlick's for quite a few years now, as have many that have received its seed. It has made many converts not just in this area but in Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Florida, Georgia and other southern states as well as Germany, England, Canada, and other countries around the world.
The first year I grew Cowlick's I got over a hundred lbs of tomatoes off one plant! It's been my favorite in both taste and production ever since.
This past year it didn't fair as well as normal but it was a horrible year for tomatoes here, both wet and cold and various diseases kept us all busy.
I've planted many varieties each year, usually starting between 600-800 plants and transplanting around 250 of the best to my gardens. I then give away the remainder to friends and neighbors. When a variety fails for 3years or more it's usually gone for good. This allows me to keep the best of the best and still have garden space for new and different varieties that are generally other gardeners favorites. This allows me to have a list of favorites that surpasses the average home gardeners. Unfortunately this year is going to be much different. I plan on planting very few tomatoes this year. Actually, I'm hoping to reduce all my gardens and allow the ground to rest. Last year really took a toll on my body and my mind!
I wish you much luck with your cowlick's and the other varieties too!
Camo

[oc tony]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Prudence Purple yet.

[farmall]

Hi Rellis
This year I grew quite a few varieties along with Brandywine suddeth a couple that are close to taste and are better producers are
Ed's Millenium
Lincoln Adams
Tidwell German

Adam