Thanks missingtheobvious and Carolyn!

I have a curious (sometimes crazy) mind!

I am growing Brandy Boy (from seed) for the first time this year. I am impressed with the quantity of fruit, so far, vs red Brandywine. More fruit per bush.

I am still a few weeks from harvesting though. Time will tell me if it's a keeper or not!

I think I might order some NAR seeds for next year, they sound interesting!

This is a great thread to follow. Really interesting. Gary, my Mom was born in Long Beach in 1933.

Gary - thanks for posting the photos! Your plants look great and NAR looks to be a great tomato - nothing to be ashamed of there - but back to my original question:

"Is there any other variety that is as prolific, hardy, aggressive with such a great tasting fruit? If so - what is it - I would like to try it - seriously!"

Although NAR appears to be a great variety and may taste wonderful - it hardly looks prolific? Brandy Boy will have 12-15 tomatoes on just a cluster! This is what I would consider prolific (photo) - these are Brandy Boy tomatoes? I would like to try another variety that are as prolific as these - what would that variety be?

Here is another variety that we have already tried and love - Better Boy - it is also very prolific?! It just has a little different taste than Brandy Boy - but we grow and enjoy them both.

Sheeeshhhh, Hudson, I've never had any tomato plant close to that production, in the 10 years I've been growing them, ~~~the closest I ever came to production like yours
was the first year I started and I had many Giant Belgians, but still not in "Your League".

Of the 9 Beefsteak Heirlooms, I planted this year, Green Giant appears to be the best producer, (Largest Fruit, Most Fruit, and nearly perfect shapes.

There is lots written on the Green Giant tomato, so google and find out for yourself,~~~~~~If you like, I can post a picture of my Green Giant Tomato.

It is early here, and this is just the "1st crop" of NAR's, I suspect "The other Gary", will far outdue me in production, but we will see!

Gary

I think you all know that yield is determined by many variables starting with the genes a variety has, then where,geographicallythey aregrown, how the plants are grown,which amendments might be used, if so how much and when,and the season in which a variety is grown.

I could list which varieities are high yielders for me, but that wouldn't translate at all as to how others growing the same varieties would fare.

So I take yields with a grain of salt,as it were,actually much more important to me is taste,but growing up on a farm where we had many acres of tomatoes that were sold wholsale, I do understand the need for yield in those kinds of situations.

Carolyn

Yes Gary - let us see some pics of your Green Giant Tomato! Love to see different varieties and pics have more meaning from the grower. If you are looking for taste and yield - try Better Boy and Brandy Boy - your yield may not be as much as mine - but if they produce for me - they may produce for you.

Carolyn - Here in Wyoming - we do not have the luxury of a tomato climate - the only tomatoes we get are the ones we grow in the GH or get at the grocery store (yuk)! Yield is very important to us - and so is taste - so we are looking for the tomato varieties that have the yield genes and with the best flavor. That is why I inquired about other varieties with yields comparable with Brandy Boy. We realize that we do have to grow them here to find out how they produce in our climate - but why bother if they don't have the yield gene? We do grow a couple of heirloom plants for just flavor and are trying different varieties every year looking for the ones we like best - this year it is Cherokee Purple and Mortgage Lifter - neither of those are prolific - in our GH.

We are certainly not unhappy with Brandy & Better Boy but would just like to know other tomato variety options that have the yield gene like the B&B Boys. Other varieties with their yield and same or better taste is what we are looking for?

Hudson,
Black Krim is a heavy yielder here for me in Charlotte, NC. As you probably know, they taste great.

Thanks realestateguy - does anyone have photos of Black Krim that show how prolific they are? I have not grown them - I do grow Cherokee Purple which may be similar in taste? Cherokee Purple is not what I would call prolific though (for us) but the Black Krim may be a better producer?

Hudson, there is no one yield gene. Yields are dependent on LOTS of variables,in any one season,but if you grow all of your plants in a greenhouse then that cuts down on those variables.

I'll make another suggestion for you and that's Break O Day. When folks ask me if there are any OP varieties that yield as much as MOST hybrids, I always name Break O Day as being one of them.

Link below.

Carolyn

Here is a link that might be useful: Break O Day

Here is the picture of the Green Giant.
It has between 3 to 4 times as many tomatoes
as any of my other Heirloom Beefsteak Tomatoes.

I counted 40, but probably missed some.

Gary

PS, Hudson, my neighbor across the fence has two Hudsons, a 1949 and a 1952 Hudson Hornet~~~Do you think my maters would be "more Productive", If I got my neighbor over to "Bless the Tomatoes"???

This post was edited by dodge59 on Wed, Jun 18, 14 at 12:09

Haha - Thats cool Gary - I've always wanted a 1949 Hudson (that's my model) for my names sake! Sure I can't afford it though. As far as blessings go - I will always be on the side of blessings !!

The Green Giant's look great! Thanks for posting the pics! It is always easier to make a decision on wether or not to try a variety when photos are posted. They appear to be living up to their name too - good sized tomatoes!

Thanks Carolyn - Break O Day looks like a good option - I checked out the link - I need a bigger GH !!

Wow Hudson! Where can I find details about your set up?

Beside many growing conditions and care, I DO believe that genetics plays an important role. That is what what hybridizing is about, trying to improve certain genetic features. For example to influence size, color, shape, taste, ...production. ETC.
This becomes obvious when grow several varieties, side-by-side, in the same be, withe same care and observe marked differences in production.

And in the final analysis, according to the Gulliver's Travels, it is all relative and Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity is also applicable. LOL

You are right Seysonn - others have been suggesting heirloom varieties to me when I should have been looking at hybrids? if I am looking for taste - I should look at Heirlooms - if I want production - that's where I'll find the hybrids! That's why Brandy Boy and Better Boy do so well for me - I doubt there is a heirloom that is as prolific when compared to the hybrids - although I have not tried Break O Day as Carolyn suggested.

Also - that is why Brandy Boy may be the perfect variety for a GH - a hybrid made out of a heirloom !! Brandy Boy has great production with the taste of a great heirloom - perfect. Now - if there are any other hybrids out there that produce and have a great taste like Brandy Boy - I'd like to try it!

Nanelle - Thanks - We just love Gardening and Greenhousing like our friends on GW. Our GH is 16X28 - but other than we custom build it - not much different than most GH's. I have a couple of threads on GH structures if you would like to look - other than that - let me know what you would like to see and I will try to accommodate.

ddsack - thanks for the suggestion

"I have a friend with a greenhouse business in the Yukon that swears by the variety Cobra F1. They gave it a glowing review as a gereenhouse tomato. It would be interesting to try Cobra F1 against Brandy Boy F1."

I finally did a little research on Cobra F1 - you are right - there are glowing reviews for Cobra F1 as a prolific GH tomato. Has anyone tried this variety that can confirm this variety as a good option for a GH grower - how about taste? Photos would be great!

There are some hybrids that I feel have both taste AND good yield and those are some of the earliest hybrids that were offered to the public.

THEy might include:

Big Boy F1 and Betterboy F1, each of which have one parent, Teddy Jones, an heirloom from the midwest/

Those F1's bred by Harris Seeds

Jet Star F1
Supersonic F1
Moreton Hybrid

And finally

Ramapo F1

I've grown all of the above, as have many, and been very pleased by both yield AND taste.

I do have a problem when someone says grow hybrids for yield and heirlooms for taste. There are some F1's that have both, and many don't. And there are many OP varieties, not just heirlooms, that don't have great taste either.

Carolyn

Thanks Carolyn - I am appreciative of your recommendations and promise to report results as we try them - although you have already growth them - you may be interested in how they do at our location and in our GH compared to other varieties in the same growing environment. The info may help someone - who knows - your information has certainly help me!

Nevermind

This post was edited by nanelle on Thu, Jun 19, 14 at 22:46

Hudson, I am in N Cal, and don't need structure, but would love to hear about supports, "pots", growing medium and feeding, if you are not growing in the ground.

Nights are below 55 here until May 1st, then days can be triple digits and without rain for months. My raised beds can no longer compete with redwood roots. I gave up for several years, then this year I've taken to growing determinates in self watering containers.

This year (might be spelling errors)

Russian Persimmon
Principe Borghesse
Bella Rosa
Yaqui
Marianna
New Big Dwarf
Clear Pink Early

They are in earthboxes, and small enough to shade when it's too hot ( 88+).

I see, Seysonn's point about "Genetic", breeding for taste, production or whatever.

However , I've always had better production, (such as it is), with the heirlooms.

I usually buy the "Big Name Hybrids", Big Boy, Better Boy, Jet Star, Big Beef, and several others I can't recall just now.

I did want to try a Brandyboy this year, but alas I could not find a plant for sale anywhere!!!

Now the Hybrids I bought, (except those I bought at the University), I bought at a "Big Box Store", usually Home Depot and the Heirlooms I usta buy at the University but now I buy from Laurels Heirloom Tomatoes~~~~~so maybe the "Source of my Hybrids" had something to do with their productivity?

Anyway, this year I only bought heirlooms.

I would wait to see how the "Other Gary" does with his NAR's and Cuostralees before writing off Heirlooms!

In fact when the blossoms appeared on my bushes we were in the middle of a "Santa Ana", (Hot dry winds and temps over 100F)~~~~~so I probably had a lot of "Blossom Drop".

Maybe" it's best to wait and see how these Heirlooms do the rest of the year and also see how my "Co-hort" in Minnesota does with his~~~Ya Thinks?

I mean, "if any body can get an heirloom to produce,
(We all know who that is), ~Now don't we??
(Hint A now "Defunct Car") LOL

Gary

Nanelle - sorry - can't help you with container tomatoes - we plant everything directly in the soil in our GH raised beds. We use our own soil mixture then we compost heavy every year because we do not rotate our GH crops - then I fertilize the seedlings once they are established with a Ferti-lome Blooming & Rooting soluble plant food 9-59-8 weekly (I mix in Iron powder with the Ferti-lome powder) until the plants are about 2-3' high.

Then I switch to a granular 12-15-15-13s-7h with a light application every three weeks. Note: we purchase our fertilizer from a farm fertilizer company that has analyzed the soil in our area. I am not sure how to feed container tomatoes though - probably different than our method.

Gary -
"I would wait to see how the "Other Gary" does with his NAR's and Cuostralees before writing off Heirlooms!"
Good point - I still grow at least 3 different (Heirlooms) every year and I plan to grow some of the ones you and Carolyn suggested next year. I am glad that you did plant all Heirlooms this year - I hope that you will share which varieties you like the best for production and taste. You have Mother Nature on your side - if anyone can get Heirlooms to produce - that would be you?! I seem to do best with Hybrids so far - the Hybrids seem to be more adaptable to this high elevation and cold temperatures?

Every year this Brandy Boy tomato variety amazes!! Here we are in the middle of June and the plant is huge and loaded with tomatoes. Is there any other variety that is as prolific, hardy, aggressive with such a great tasting fruit?Mrs. Benson is similar in appearance to that of Brandy Boy. Its berries are very good... matching that of BB, IMO. Not quite the yield, however. But it has been a productive variety in my patch... I have grown and do grow both varieties.
Reggie

Brandy boy

Another shot

I didn't space them far enough apart, again! It's a jungle!

The weeds, are gone now. I am picking up straw in the morning.

This post was edited by wertach on Fri, Jun 20, 14 at 13:57

Wertach - Your Brandy Boys are looking great! Thanks for sharing your photos. It will be interesting to see how they produce when compared to GH grown? They do appear to have a lot of blossoms? It appears that you may not prune your suckers - that will also be interesting to see if you get more or less fruit per plant? I do prune 2-4 main branches in the GH environment - with our pruning the plants are loaded with fruit - maybe we should compare production - assuming you do not prune?

Our first ripe tomato for the season - Now that's what I'm talking about !! Every year it is Brandy Boy that ripens first of the 5 varieties we planted - for those who have planted this variety - one can almost taste it just looking at the photo?

{{gwi:290193}}

This post was edited by Hudson...WY on Sun, Jul 27, 14 at 11:07

Kelloggs Breakfast

Neves Azorean Red

Meant Heirlooms

Oh - I almost forgot - What about Taste!? Well that is all in the opinion of the taster - I would just invite you to try Brandy Boy and let you be the judge! We think it is an awesome variety - at least for GH growers!

These are from the Green Giant plant.
The big one weighs the same as the large Kellogg Breakfast, 1.4 pounds.

I'm still wating for the NAR's to ripen just a bit more and then I will report on my take of the Tastes.

The Kelloggs Breakfast taste great, really sweet with very little acid, (to me at least)~~~~~wife loves them!

Gary

Are those GGs ripe ?
I am growing some Green Zebra. This my first experience growing green tomatoes. They have just tiny fruits right now.

Yep, some of them were seysonn, and they taste just like a great red tomato~~~~I was really surprised.

The fried green tomatoes were great to me, (Not as strong of a "Tin Can Taste"), (LOL),~~~~~but wife said they were too ripe~~~~go figger! We had both fried green and just sliced Green Giant tomatoes for dinner.

The green giants turn a lighter green, (at the bottom), when they are ripe but the best way to tell is to "Put the Squeeze on them"! They are really gorgeous inside.

As I mentioned before, The Green Giant will most likely be our most productive Heirloom.

Gary

That tin can taste is why I can't get myself to like either fried green tomatoes or eggplant. I can't get past the metallic bite/flavor. I love sauces but a cooked red tomato is also a tin can. Sigh...

Brandy Boys gone wild crazy! We picked our first pounder today this year - It is not quite ripe but we will let it finish ripening on the counter.

I am really impressed with the Brandy Boy's.

They are still producing big fruits while most of my other tomatoes are dying out.

My OP Red Brandy Wine's, Better Boys, and some others have just about died out.

The Steak House plants are still going strong also.

I don't have a kitchen scale so I don't know what any of them weighed individually, but I would say most were well over a pound.

I have probably harvested over 200++ pound's. from 4 plants and they are still coming!

Brandy Boy and Steak House are on my list for next year!

I'm really jealous and disappointed! My BB's are not doing well, much to my surprise, but I've had a surprisingly bad growing year. Not sure what is the problem, but disease took down at least one plant and BB was such a strong seedling and I had such high hopes, but the fruit are very cat faced, and weird looking and nothing has even started to blush. I'm giving it another go for next year, but so far, not so great. Anyways, every growing year, you learn lessons. I think mine is the location too close to a fence and the sprinkler system, combined with high humidity. So the containers will have to go back to where I originally had them.. Oh well, live and learn!

sharonie, Since you are in 5b do you have a long enough growing season and heat for them? They take a while to start blushing.

I didn't get a ripe one until the end of June and I had been picking better boys for weeks.

I got some cat facing and a lot of fused, double fruits. But not nearly as much cat facing as I normally do with my OP Brandy Wines.

Sorry to hear that Sharonie! But I'll be the first to admit that a variety is only great for you if it is compatible with your environment! It is always worth a try - IMO - and when it clicks - sweet success! It is interesting how every year is different - even with the same variety. I think the seed source is important too - once we have good results - we make sure to get the seed from the same source in an effort to duplicate results next year.

I agree with Wertach - our Brandy B's are still producing large fruit where other varieties are starting to close down for the season - except Cherokee Purple - it is also still producing good sized fruit. No cat facing on any of our Brandy B's. I know a GH is easier to control the outcome.

We have a lot of larger tomatoes from Brandy Boy this year for some reason - we always get several over a pound - but this year there were at least twice as many as in the past. They ripen at different intervals so I couldn't get a photo of all of them - but here are a few of the the ones around a pound or larger.

Brandy Boy's are still producing!

Hudson, I'm starting to get BB's finally. Some are quite large and some on the smaller side. Wertach, I do have a long enough season and BB was one of my strongest seedlings. I just think it wasn't happy in it's location, but it appears to be producing happily now, just hope the warm weather continues.

My Brandy Boy has started producing delicious one pound plus sized fruit.
First time growing and will grow it again next year.

Sharonie - glad to hear BB started producing for you - Mnwsgal - some of the larger BB tomatoes came later for us too. We had many 16 oz + tomatoes - the largest for the season was 18.9 oz - but we did not prune blossoms for a large tomato. The majority were 12 to 14 oz - a very nice size for a slicing tomato!

Yep, Brandy Boy is a keeper for me.

Big, meaty, very good taste.

I am sold on BB. The next season I'll grow one.

Seysonn, maybe... A FEW ?

One of the things I like at Brandy Boy is the fact that - while the peel is not very thin, is not very thick either - the tomato can be peeled easily, especially if the tomato is well ripped.

My wife doesnâÂÂt like the peel so sheâÂÂs very happy with BB.

For her, the taste of BB, is exceptional.

For me, exceptional taste this year had Mortgage Lifter and ParkâÂÂs Whopper, while Brandywine Pink' taste was OUTSTANDING.

This post was edited by Daniel_NY on Mon, Sep 1, 14 at 9:58

Seysonn - I thought I would bring forward another Brandy Boy thread while we are waiting for our Brandy Boys to set fruit. I agree - where are you Daniel and how are your Brandy Boys??

Something i forgot to mention, i have a BB with 3 cotyledons, nothing too amazing, but there's another with two seedlings out of one seed, two leaders, the stems were fused a few millimeters above the soil level. There is a chance that the twins were two thin seeds stuck together, but i always check for that beforehand and do not like leaving them stuck together.

I plan on growing them out myself, i wanted to mark them today before they become lost in the mix and unidentifiable. Pruning technique for the twins should be interesting. I took a picture of them a couple of weeks back, sent the pics to my PC, but can't find them for the life of me now...

Steve

Hudson, hello. I'm in the other thread about Brandy Boy.

Currently, I have... NOTHING.

I'll explain later.

Hi Daniel - good to hear from you ! I read your update on the other BB thread. It will be interesting to follow your success and compare results this year - thanks for keeping us informed!

Steve - hope you will post the photo when you find it - that will be interesting!