There are many different varieties and several strains of "Brandywine" tomatoes - all named Brandywine - Yellow, Pink, Red, OTV, Black, Purple, Suddth's, Quisenberry, Amish, Radiator Charlie, etc. - some very similar to each other, others quite different. So any comments about them would need to be strain-specific.

A good way to learn about many of the different strains and their pros and cons would be to browse through all the previous discussions here about them.

Best Brandywine discussion

Brandywine tomato discussions

Dave

digdirt,

Thank you for the information. I think he called them Quisenberry. What I would like to know is how do the Brandywine tomatoes do in a hot humid area like Eastern Central Oklahoma where I live ? Or are they more for the milder Eastern parts of the US ? Because it can get quite hot and dry here at times during the summer.

digdirt,

I am sorry to ask so many questions. I know I should just plant some and see for myself how they do.

In our garden ..... Pros: Most of the BWs are great tasting (our opinion); Cons: Low yields in most years.

We've grown many of them over the years. The best for us have been Cowlick's, Sudduth's and Burpee Brandywine Pink (similar to Sudduth's).

These days we grow BWs to get a few large great tasting fruits. We do not count on them for any production. We are located 40 miles south of Kansas City.

Shell

Nothing wrong with asking questions of course, no need to apologize. But it is always helpful to do a forum search for any previous posts of that question and all the info they contain.

In this case you'll see in them that, with only a couple of exceptions, all the BW varieties are known for low production regardless of the climate. The further north and cooler the location the more chance of production improving, especially if more hand pollination is done, but as a general rule it still remains low.

Bottom line - as Kansas Farm Girl said, BW is grown for flavor of the few, not production.

Dave

Thank you for the information. I am more interested in flavor than production in the BW and have other tomato varieties for more production. I am curious as what other gardeners have to say about their flavor as I want tomatoes that taste good. I like a tart or acidy taste over a sweet taste.

digdirt,

You are always very helpful and have good information. Thank you.

The most tangy from the BW types for us was Lucky Cross --- but, took 90+ days to ripen. Brandy Boy was next in acidic taste and was more prolific and took 78 days for the first ripe ones.

A truly delicious and tart one was Limmony (took 65 days) but was the 1st to die from wilt.

Each season the disease problem here is getting worse, and the only tomatoes that thrived were VFFT or better resistance hybrids.

The Italian hybrid BOLSENO was the outstanding one. It produced non-stop for over a 4 month period exceptionally delicious, juicy and tangy fruits. From July 8th (1st ripe one) till Nov 12th when the first hard frost killed it. We picked over 60 lbs from this one, planted in an 18 gal container! Bolseno will be our mainstay next season.

Here is were we got the seeds for it.

Tony

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/tomatoes/beefsteak-tomatoes/bolseno-f1-tomato-seed-2771.html

Digdirt,

I'm rather disappointed now to learn that the Brandywine is sweet, I was told that it wasn't. Well this really puts me in a quandary now, apparently I'm not sure what I mean by acidy or tart taste. I just know that I don't prefer the real sweet tasting tomatoes. I received some seed from a Mr. George McLaughlin of Tahlequah, Ok. called Baker Family Heirloom that are the best tasting tomatoes that I have grown in many years. It wasn't sweet it was what I would call the old fashion tomato taste. It was good all by it's self with a little salt or on a sandwich, and made some of the best tasting tomato juice after being canned. Thank you for all your help.

authereray --- Dave is spot on!

The BW crosses are were you can get some tangy flavors.

We also love tangy tomatoes, so, I'll recommend Brandy Boy --- fairly early, some disease resistance, and more prolific (if we weren't in such a highly disease prone area, with our constant humidity of 99% all summer nights, we'd make Brandy Boy our mainstay).

It is a very large, beautiful pink beefsteak. Has thin skin, creamy flesh, very juicy, old-fashioned tomatoey complex flavors that have a hint of sweetness, but are predominately tangy. We loved its taste!

Tony

There's sweet and there's sweet.

Also, some people think tomatoes are sweet that I wouldn't say are sweet (and vice versa). For instance, a relative of mine really thinks Green Giant is sweet (but it just tastes like average tomato sweetness to me; it was not sour, however). I really think a Husky Cherry Red F4 I grew was super sweet, but at least one other relative thought it was sour (the very same tomato I tasted). I had a hard time understanding that.

I don't know anyone that would compare Brandywine's sweetness to SunGold F1's offhand, but tomatoes can be a lot less sweet than that to be called sweet. I would personally guess it's probably about as sweet as Green Giant or even Roma. I'd really like to know the brix readings in various people's gardens and soil-types for it.

[FYI: Green Giant has a *lot* of really good flavor, but I don't think it's particularly sweet or acidic, personally.]

However sweet it is, though, I'm guessing most people would agree that Brandywine is not acidic.

If you like acidic tomatoes, you should probably look somewhere else besides the super popular, large-fruited heirlooms, and OPs, that everyone seems to like. Most of them are mild (and not acidic). Those types for me have historically been very mild. I prefer acidic tomatoes.

If you like acidic tomatoes, I recommend gardening with low potassium, dry conditions (don't water the soil too much, except early in the season until the plants can handle drought), and harvest before the tomatoes are very ripe. Grow on years with a high UV index, too (like this year was).

Most big (1lb+) tomatoes aren't very acidic. I don't know any that come to mind, in fact (but I believe there are some); well, Pruden's Purple can be pretty big and it can be mildly acidic, at least. Most of the acidic tomatoes I've had were cherry/small/medium. I think the 2 to 8 oz tomatoes are most likely to be what you'll like. Acidic cherries can taste different altogether, and a lot of cherries are sweet (so, I'd recommend small to medium tomatoes most, for you).

If you do grow Brandywine types, I don't recommend using soil with much clay in it (especially if you water a lot). Our soil has some clay in it. I think that can contribute to mealiness and texture changes in those types (which can make an already mild tomato bland).

Also, try to get a good harvest before it turns cold, if you can. Brandywine isn't early. Cold weather can perhaps make some tomatoes bland. So can too much rain and watering.

If I were to grow a Brandywine type again, I'd probably do Mat-Su Express, Brandyboy, or Brandywine OTV, as I've read great things about them.

Some tomatoes you might want to try taste-wise are these (in dry conditions; they won't all be acidic in wet ones):

• Early Girl F1
• Lemon Boy F1 (some people think this is mild, but not in my garden; it's easily as acidic as Early Girl F1)
• Manitoba
• Mountain Princess
• Sasha's Altai
• New Yorker V
• Silvery Fir Tree (people love to hate this tomato for its acidity; I've had more acidic tomatoes, though, but I do agree that it's acidic)
• Matina
• Pruden's Purple
• Thessaloniki

Nineveh is also supposed to be very acidic. I didn't get any production out of it (when attempting it in wet conditions). I'd try it in dry conditions if I were to do it again.

The only tomatoes that come to mind that were nicely acidic in wet conditions for me were McGee, Ovita, maybe Super Sioux, maybe Missouri Pink Love Apple, and maybe Pink Stuffer. McGee tastes different in dry conditions (I haven't tried the others in dry conditions, except for MPLA, which ended up crossed with GGWT and was excruciatingly mild, and Pink Stuffer, which I didn't taste knowing it was Pink Stuffer). I think Matina tastes better in wet conditions (depending on my preference for the day), but it's not acidic in them (just tangy). Some tomatoes may be more prolific in wet/dry conditions than the other, though (e.g. Thessaloniki and Matina seem to produce more and larger fruit in wet conditions; they taste a lot different, too; they were some of my most prolific tomatoes in wet conditions and some of my least prolific in dry conditions).

Anyway, last year, I watered too much and then most of my ~100 tomato varieties were bland. This year, I stopped watering earlier, and most of the tomatoes had a *lot* more flavor (I grew about 105 varieties). It was awesome. Some of the bigger types were still mild, though.

I've gained an appreciation for some kinds of non-acidic tomatoes, though, but they're usually not the most popular ones. That's me, though. You could be completely different, and you might love lots of popular ones or even think they're acidic.

digdirt,

What tomatoes do you like the best ?

If in doubt, grow some green tomatoes, you probably won't be disappointed. They are rather balanced so both people who like sweet and sour like them. And they have great flavour.