I purchased a plant at a nursery last year that was labeled 'Red Amish Brandywine'. It was a potato leaf and the fruit was pink. I researched a bit and read about there being some seed out there that was mislabled, but I don't recall the details or source.

Obviously, there is a lot of confusion and several varieties with "Brandywine" and "red" or in the name. Some PL, some not. Were you looking for the Landis Valley Strain? I believe that is the one Carolyn refers to as the true Brandywine Red....but I could be wrong, it's been a while.

There has been quite a bit of talk regarding Red Brandywine, Brandywine(red), or whatever name has been brought into existence by the confusion. I quick search yielded this thread which should help clear things up on the subject...or maybe not...lol

Here is a link that might be useful: >>>Red Brandywine?

Tomato Growers Supply lists a Red RL Brandywine as well as a Red PL Brandywine.

I've noticed Quite a bit of confusion regarding brandywines for some time and I'm not even going to begin to try to sort it out. I bought a pack of Ferry~Morse seeds marked BRANDYWINE -"heirloom variety" because I wanted to try a PL variety. No mention of what kind of leaf was on the package but my $1.00 gamble paid off. What I don't get is why some catalogs refer to the PL & RL as different versions of the same variety. Genetically they are probably about as similar as a horse and a donkey. They can be the same color, size, and maybe even flavor. But what about those ears? Or in a plants case leaves? I was born late at night but it was not last night so don't even try to tell me it's a different version of the same thing.
Ken

It was reported last year that TOmatofest was not selling true RB b/c it was PL.

I didn't read thru the thread linked to but I bet I went into detail on the two RB's at TGS, neither of which are RB, one RL, one PL. And actually that's why Linda went out and got the Landis one, which is not a strain, there are no strins of RB.

And in that thread I'm sure I also went thru where RB came from, that is an SSE listing to Tom Hauch at Heirloom seeds and he sent seeds to Steve Miller at the Landis Museum, etc

To rename a known variety to Amish Red Brandywine is not good.

And I'm sure I also mentioned in that thread the it's been Seeds by Design, a wholesale place in CA that has distributed some wrong RB,s as well as other wrong varieties.

And I no doubt also listed in that thread places where I knew the Red Brandywine was correct.

Carolyn

I informed Tomatofest about the potatoleaf red two years ago and after that they changed the description to include that their's was potatoleaf (rather than admit that it wasn't really red brandywine). Did they change the description back?

The potatoleaf red is a pretty good tomato, and as far as I know it is the only red potatoleaf beefsteak available. Good selling points even if it wasn't called a brandywine.

From carolyn in the thread posted above:
"The wrong PL RB from Seeds by Design has been in circulation for many years now and Gary Ibsen at Tomatofest was offering it on sale until folks infomed it was PL, not RL, and then he added that info to his blurb as I recall."

And from the previous post by spiced ham:
"Did they change the description back?"

So to the different posts yes, apparently at one time, Gary Ibsen had changed the description to add the words "potato leaf" to the product blurb, but... It was removed and is not there currently - they changed it back, even though the seed they offer is still potato leaf.

At this point in time, I'm aggravated because I feel I was misled. I'm still going to grow it and hope it's a good tomato, but I don't know that I'll be purchasing seeds from there again. To be honest, I picked them as my seed source for convenience, all the varieties I wanted to grow were available there and easy to order. I just didn't want to pay shipping from 5 different seed sources just to get tomatoes for my garden.

I wanted to grow red brandywine (RL, true red brandywine) for trials to see if it might become a mainstay crop for me, so I may just order plants from SelectedPlants and try to fit them in - I'd rather not have to wait another year to grow them, I was rather looking forward to them to be honest.

I don't think I will ever figure this "BRANDYWINE" tomatoes thing out.lol

I got these FERRY MORSE seeds that says nothing about LEAFE shape. But it says the following(summary):
- It is a heirloom
- fruits color is pink(Nice pic on package)
- fruit size generaly 6 -10 oz, may get as big as 16 oz.

QUESTION???- what do I got ?

I got these FERRY MORSE seeds that says nothing about LEAFE shape. But it says the following(summary):
- It is a heirloom
- fruits color is pink(Nice pic on package)
- fruit size generaly 6 -10 oz, may get as big as 16 oz.

QUESTION???- what do I got ?

*****

I guess you'll find out when you sow the seeds and determine what the leaf shape is, but it does sound like Brandywine, as in pink, but I think the fruit size range given is a bit abnormal at that low range.

You know, it still remains a mystery to me why so many folks want to grow Brandywine. A lot of it is hype and that's why it's so well known and yes I agree it has a somewhat unique taste, but so do several other varieties I've grown.

One is Prue.

When I mean unique taste I mean that I can probably ID a variety blindfolded just by eating some of the fruits and not by looking at the plant OR looking at the fruits.

And there are darn few varieties I can ID by just looking at a plant or fruit. So many times someone puts up a picture and asks for an ID but no can do. Just talking about large fruited pink PL varieties, there are maybe 500-1000 of them known. Sigh.

Just my opinion .

Carolyn

Homegardenpa, I have some true Red Brandywine seeds from heirloomseeds.com, and will send them to you if you'd like. Or, if you're really in a hurry and live anywhere near here (Harrisburg area), you could pick them up. Send me an e-mail if you're interested (I can't seem to find a way to e-mail you). BTW, if you're in southwestern PA, that company is local to you, and is an excellent source.
Paula

Here is a link that might be useful: Red Brandywine seeds

I grow several hundred Red Brandywine seed each year. They are popular, productive, and have decent flavor. I also produce a lot of Red Brandywine seed because the true Red Brandywine can be difficult to find. Sandhill Preservation sells the real deal.

Sandhill

DarJones

carolyn137
You know, it still remains a mystery to me why so many folks want to grow Brandywine.

It's reaching for a taste that will transport one into the realm of the gods. Now, the decision to choose Brandywine is surely based on hype and declarations about its succulence and most divine taste. That it's not terribly productive and seems to be difficult for some of us to grow suggests that even nature is going to make us work hard to get that heavenly tomato. And that's as it should be in the psychology of "this will blow your mind..."

Need I say more? The promise is too irresistible for most of us, who must at least try it once and decide for ourselves. It doesn't seem to make much impact when somebody pops up to say, "Well, they weren't the best I'VE had!" as you just did. Enough people are on the bandwagon to drown out those who refuse to credit the evidence of their own experience. And of course, the Brandywines WILL be the best-tasting for some people, just not all.

I find myself going back in time to see if I can recapture old tomato tastes, and if I've gone overboard THIS time, I'm going to blame it on you, Carolyn. :-)

When you wrote about Harris Seeds coming back on-stage, I resisted for a couple of weeks but finally ordered Moreton, Jet Star, and Supersonic Hybrid tomatoes because I grew them back in the 70s and was overwhelmed with delicious tomatoes. If I'm being a bit whiney about these Harris tomatoes, it's because I don't even have room to grow them this year and will have to wait until next year.

Well, unless some of the ones I've already started fail to thrive -- then I'll start some of the Harris tomatoes in mid-June for a fall crop and fill in any holes in the tomato patch...

"Well, they weren't the best I'VE had!" as you just did.

****

Actually I didn't say that, at least in the above post I didn't. What I did say is yes, they do have a unique taste but there are others that I also think have a unique taste.

And I controlled my fingers on even that b'c as a matter of fact after growing about 2500 varieties to date Brandywine isn't the best tasting variety I've had. LOL

No, it's not my place to list some I like better. That's better done by all of you by selecting what you want to grow, growing it and then tasting it for yourselves. ( smile)

Carolyn

homegardenpa - the taste debate on Brandywine aside, you still have plenty of time to start another variety. But I urge you to not write off a very reputable seed supplier simply for one mistake - if indeed it turns out to be one since BW Red is available with both leaf forms.

Mistakes happen, usually as a result of simple human error, and often are not even the sellers fault. If we all refused to deal with a vendor that may have made an error then there wouldn't be any vendors we could use. ;)

Dave

Dave, but the Brandywine Red's that are available in both PL and RL, as listed at TGS aren't Brandywines. Both were boo boos from Seeds by Design in CA, that wholsale place . And as I think I said above, since neither of those are true RB that's why Linda at TGS went out and got true RB which she lists separately as Landis.

LInda continues to list the two wrong RB's b/c many folks like them.

SBDesign also sent the same wrong varieties to other places and Mike at Victory Seeds was offering the PL RB until several of us told him to drop it and he too went out and got true RB.

There are plenty of places that do offer true RB such as Sandhill and Heirloom Seeds to name a couple of them.

I'm not aware of any true RB that's PL.

Carolyn

OK, Carolyn...I realize that the tomato taste is personal, it must be or there would not be so many from which to chose.

You must have a few favorite....????Aw, comeon....puleeze?

Selling an imposter is worse than switching babies at birth!!! Amen.

I've tried Brandywine seeds from about six suppliers, one orange and one purple, the rest red. The plants never developed a lot of fruit, but the fruit was excellent. I did have to watch the watering, and even put down extra compost as mulch to absorb any heavy rains.

I never planted Brandywine plants as more than 25% of total tomato plants. My best luck is always with red and yellow cherry tomatoes.

Can I add Tomatobob.com to the list for false red brandywine? Last year I bought RB from them and got PL plants with less than outstanding flavor. I still buy seeds from them though, just not RB anymore. I've got some great seeds from them but I've also got a few mix-ups or varieties that didn't grow true. This year I bought Bhut Jolokia peppers from them as they just started carrying them. I hope they turn out well.

While we are at it;
The red BW that I got from Valerie-bluepeahen in Neb is PL
I feel that if you are going to SELL seeds, you should know what you are doing.

"Mistakes happen, usually as a result of simple human error, and often are not even the sellers fault. If we all refused to deal with a vendor that may have made an error then there wouldn't be any vendors we could use. ;)"

I do agree, and perhaps I was a little more upset about the whole deal than I should have been; however, I wasn't as upset until I realized that at one point, the seed was labeled potato-leaf in the product description, but the note was removed - even though the stock they sell is still potato-leaf.

I don't have tons of space (or time) and it took me quite some time to narrow down the exact varieties I wanted to grow. I understand this can happen, and in the end, I'm just going to grow things out and see what comes of it.

Since I couldn't bear to toss any of the plants I've grown and I've already given away a bunch extras of other varieties, I just decided to add another row to my garden and grow a few more than expected. I was able to get a hold of some RL red brandywine (thanks for the offers from others), so it looks like I'm be growing RL Red Brandywine and PL (Faux) Red Brandywine. Who knows, I might actually like the Faux kind.

I'm already growing way more than my family needs anyhow, come August I'll probably be doing the rounds at local charities giving all that I can't use.