What's going on is that Early Girl is an early variety and so will set fruits much earlier than will Brandywine which is a late midseason to early late season variety which sets fruits much later.

Different varieties set fruits at different times depending on what their genes tell them to do and that's why varieties are usually classified as early, midseason and late season varieties. ( smile)

Carolyn

Agree with Carolyn. BW is always a late season for me. I get some earlier blooms of course but no real fruit set until mid-July here.

Dave

I grew Brandywine for the first time last year and got frustrated waiting for it to fruit. I posted a few times here "I'm not growing this variety ever again!!!" LOL

Turns out it was well worth the wait - best tomatoes ever. The one plant I had took a while to produce but when it did there were bags full of fruit and like I said the taste was phenomenal.

It's a late season tomato, although not much later than a lot of mid season tomatoes for me.

There's something about the way the blossoms are formed that makes them less successful at pollinating than many other varieties. I'm sure Dr. Carolyn could give you a more exact explanation. Suffice to say, really warm and humid conditions can impede fruit set. When you notice it flowering, give them a light flick or shake the whole plant. This might help pollination. But mostly you probably just need more time.

Thank you all for your comments.
As kdawg mentioned, BW has unusual flowers that look very smallish.
The plants are close to 30" tall already, with lush green color, with slightly rolled leaves.
I have to mention that mine are PL type. The seed package said it is "heirloom", whatever that means.
So, as it seems it will be a while before I can taste a BW tomato.
This is a whole new adventure for me. I have also heard that BW will not do well when it gets real hot and humid. But that is what is going to happen very soon
around here.
But not to worry I have other varieties. I am counting on Cherokee Purple, Black Krim and Rutgers.

Cyrus, "heirloom" means it's open-pollinated (not hybrid) and it's been around for at least 50 years and/or passed down through generations. However the exact criteria for the term "heirloom" are debated and I often refer to all my OP's as heirlooms whether or not they're 50+ years old. Either that or I just refer to them all as open-pollinated.

Thank you, catman , for the education. I feel better now.
As I understand most of the hybrids are developed for commercial
and grocery stores in m ind. In most of those cases flavor is the last thing
in the mind of the hybbridizers. As a gardener, I do not worry much about
yield and shelf life. Instead , I am interested in taste, flavor, and peculiarities in shape and color as well.
That is why we grow so many different varieties. And, therefore, brandywine fits into that description.

cyrus

I live in east Texas about 2 hours NE from Houston, and was getting ready to ask the same question about BW. I have 4 gorgeous green healthy plants - NO fruit at all, smallish flowers. I was perplexed as to what was going on. My questions answered! Patience! Should I expect to see tomatoes forming in mid July, coming off in August or ??? Is there anything in particular I should do to these tomatoes meanwhile? My boyfriend is a tomato nut, and he has all kinds of tomatoes forming, but doesnt grow Brandywine. We have been giving them Miracle Gro. Thanks for any hints!

BW are pretty persnickety about heat and humidity. Last year I was lucky enough to coax 15 fruit from a BW suddeth plant, and that was my most success by far with BW in Texas. It may need to be big to set fruit, but, by the time it is big, it is generally outside the fruit setting parameters in Texas. I think those parameters for BW are soemthing like Over 90 in the day and over 75 at night, with relatively high humidity and you'll not see any fruit set. So, the window of pleasant weather is small and you better have thriving plants in that window, or you wont get any. (I've had a plant produce 0).

There is another variety called Cowlicks BW that is supposed to be better about fruit set, but I didn't get it early enought to grow this year. Next year it is on the list for sure.

Alameda: hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you will be extremely lucky if you get fruit set on a BW in SE Texas in July or August. I think we are closing in on the close of the fruit set window rapidly. Our DFW forecast calls for over 90 for the forseeable future and right now, it is like swiming it is so dang humid! (51% at 90 degrees. YUCK).

Thanks for the heads up! At least I know what the problem is! Thankfully.....my boyfriend has over 50 tomato plants in his garden so we will have fresh tomatoes! After hearing this....I might just yank the plants up - they are in my flower garden and taking up space that roses, daylilies, etc. could have.......I will try another variety next year.....Thanks for the advice!

jerrya:

That's good to know about BW. Sounds like it might be a good candidate for container growing and an earlier than usual start (with frost protection).

I was going to try it next year because people always give it rave reviews (are they from TX?) but I think I'll try an Indian Stripe instead, as someone recommended.

Alameda: I'd wait a bit if it were me. Last year we had a late "cool snap" towards the end of May and had 3-4 days of mid 80's highs, upper 60's lows and low humidity. In that short window, I got second round of fruit set from BW that was 4-6 additional fruits. So, with no time to get anything else rolling before the true heat sets in, why not give it a shot?

Dragonfly - yes, I think it would do great in earthtainers because of the quick warm up and growth till it hits the setting fruit stage. I've grown both in the Metroplex and Indian Stripe definitely is more heat tolerant and will set fruit under hotter conditions, not August heat, buy maybe early June. It is a delicious, big fruit I really enjoy. That said, BW is even bigger and earth shattering on the taste o meter, imo. You can't go wrong either way.

I feel much better now that I was not alone figuring out BW behavior.
So, fellows in Texas, GA and Florida, we have a dillema: BW will not fruit if the temperature is not JUST RIGHT.
And when that condition is satisfied, then comes the heat waves.
Againg BW will postepone, because it is to hot for HER.lol

Knowing this, I have planted my BWs in spots that will have periods of shade, to cool them off a bit. We will see what will happen.
Like most of you, I have plenty of other varieties some of which will have ripe fruit in a couple of weeks.

Have a bumper crop

cyrus

Cyrus - excellent idea on the shade. My most successful plant referenced above got morning sun until about 3, then it hit full shade for the rest of the day. Additionally, I use over head sunshade cloth because my space is a small, due south facing bed between a 7 foot high fence and a tall brick wall that is the side of my house. I.E. breezes go to die there and the bricks get hot and keep radiating heat for a few hours. Hope she works for you...fickle thing. Happy tomatoing.

Are all Brandywines the same? For example, is Red Brandywine the same as the Brandywine you're referring to in this thread? I have 2 BWs, one for sure is "red BW", not sure what the other is.