Dunno. I DO know Johnny's sells the real deal.

I second what Big Daddy reported; Johnny's Seed in Maine has the real thing.

Why go to the trouble of growing plants and wonder through the whole process what "tomato" you actually have?

Good luck,

John

The only persons who would know if they had the Sudduth strain would be the folks at that nurdery. And most folks who offer Brandywine, not Brandywine (Sudduth) don't know either.

Craig LeHoullier sent seeds for Sudduth to Johnny's and other places that list it that I trust and know about are:

Victory Seeds
SandHill Preservation
Tomato Growers Supply

......with the usual caveat that when talking about OP varieties seed purity from any place may not always be 100% correct but the above four places have a very good track record as to seed purity. And there no doubt are other places as well who list the Sudduth strain.

Carolyn

For seeds: Johnny's Selected Seeds
For plants: selectedplants.com

That's about it, in my opinion. But even the grower from whom LeHoullier got his seeds way back when, hence from where Johnny's comes, tells me he no longer can guarantee that his Brandywine runs true to the same characteristics it had when he got his seeds from Ben Quisenberry over 25 years ago.

That's about it, in my opinion. But even the grower from whom LeHoullier got his seeds way back when, hence from where Johnny's comes, tells me he no longer can guarantee that his Brandywine runs true to the same characteristics it had when he got his seeds from Ben Quisenberry over 25 years ago.

****

Yes, I know we're talking Ken Ettlinger here and yes, I have read what he wrote about his getting the seeds from Ben but I didn't know he was now saying that what he has now is not the same as what he got from Ben originally.

Subtle mutations? Crossing? What's his explanation?

Carolyn

Carolyn, I don't know whether it would be "subtle mutations" or just genetic wandering or outright stray pollen.

What happened is I saw a picture of a Brandywine tomato that Ken grew way back when and it was the most beautiful, blood red, juicy Brandywine I ever saw. I said to myself, I says, "I gots to have seeds for that Brandywine."

So, I emailed Ken and he replied something to the extent that he had seen some instability in the first few years he grew out the seeds from the original gift he got from Mr. Quisenberry; and that after all these years of growing Brandywine on his Long Island farm, he cannot swear now that what he has in the way of seeds will yield what he originally offered as Brandywine way back in the 80s from his Long Island Seed Company.

Those are not his exact words in the email, but a close approximation. I will post a link to his own description of the original Brandywine gift from Ben Quisenberry and his description of how he went about separating out Brandywine from the other two seeds in the same package:
Legendary Brandywine Tomato

Is that not the most beautiful pink tomato you ever saw? I mean talk about raspberry pink!

Some excerps from that article:

"The Seed Savers Exchange was already listing Brandywine Tomato (Ben Quisenberry was the original source of record) among it's members while I was still selecting the plants and fruit from Ben Quisenberry's seed for desirable characteristics. Ben noted that the Brandywine seed came from woman named, Dorris who said it was in her family, the Sudduth family for many years." [note: "while I was still selecting he plants and fruit ... for desirable characteristics."]

"I can't help but wonder though whether Brandywine which showed some diversity in its initial planting had crossed with other tomatoes in Ben's "Big Tomato Gardens," perhaps even the tomatoes contained in my gift packet. At the time, most of us accepted the then current idea that tomatoes were inbreeders. Many aren't. In fact, the older large fruited tomatoes produce flowers where the huge multilobed stigmas stick out beyond the flower's cone of anthers. It's ready and available for pollination from others tomatoes and there are bumblebees ready to do the work."

I'll leave the rest to your imagination and open for discussion.

Bill