Picked first red Brandywine today!

16 years ago

Just had to share with people who would understand my excitement! To my knowledge, I've never tasted a Brandywine before and the anticipation is killing me :) This one isn't completely ripe, but I couldn't stand it any more, was afraid something would happen to it outside, lol. So now it's sitting on the counter to ripen completely. Can't wait! BLT's? Sliced with salt? MMMMMM, may have to try it lots of ways.

BTW, this is a potato leaf variety, and was labeled simply "red brandywine", and was planted in mid May here in my zone 5a garden. We've had a great year for tomato growing. The plant has at least 20 more fruits on it.

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Comments (11)

wolfwalker
16 years ago
I was raised on a farm and been gardening for 55 year and i feel the same way ever year. driving my wife nuts bringing in a new ripe tomato for her to try. lol
elkwc
16 years ago
The real Red Brandywine is RL. But there is a PL version being sold. I'm growing it this year along with the RL version. I'm told the PL version produces well and is a nice tomato. Let us know. Jay
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Y'all, There is no direct link between tuber initiation in potato plants and flowering. Each of those two is a separate process that is not directly linked to the other. Normally, tuber initiation will occur from 5 to 7 weeks after the potato plants sprout. In many potato varieties, flowers appear after tuber initiation has already ended or as it is just ending, but the tubers will initiate even if the potato plant never flowers. Once initiation ends, that is followed by tuber enlargement which I think does tend to occur as flowering occurs but that's a coincidence too. In his book, THE VEGETABLE BOOK, Dr. Sam Cotner says this about the relationship between tuber initiation and flowering of the potato plant: "Contrary to popular belief, there is no correlation between flowering and tuber initiation or development. Cooler temperatures are conducive to both occurrences and during cooler periods, Texas-grown potato plants may flower profusely, but tubers will be formed regardless of whether or not flowering occurs." At the time he wrote the book, which has been my 'vegetable growing bible' for well over 20 years, Dr. Cotner was the head of horticulture at Texas A&M University and also had been an avid home gardener at that time for over 30 years. For me the biggest surprise in his statement is not that he says tuber initiation isn't linked to flowering but that he says flowering may or may not occur. I thought flowering always occurred, but after thinking about it for a while, I can remember times when either flowering didn't occur, or I didn't notice it occurred. For what it is worth, the new potatoes I harvested this week to cook with the first batch of green beans were from a Russet potato plant that had not yet flowered at all. (It has been several days, and it still hasn't flowered.) Since I harvested potatoes up to the size of hen eggs, this plant clearly has already had tuber initiation and some degree of tuber enlargement even though it hasn't flowered at all. It was Dr. Cotner's book, by the way, that taught me that a lot of what I thought I knew about growing veggies was not correct. I've always grown a lot of veggies dating back to my childhood, but it wasn't until I read his book and applied what he said to my own gardening efforts that I saw the yields on all my veggies greatly increase and felt like the space devoted to vegetable gardening really paid off. I looked at my own potato plants today and about 2/3s of the varieties have flowered already or are just beginning to flower. Oddly, the largest plants---the ones grown in the stock tank---haven't flowered at all even though those plants are 2 to 3 times as large as the in-ground potato plants. I have put a 12" thick layer of alfalfa hay on my in-ground potato bed this week in an effort to keep the ground cooler because unseasonably warm temperatures do have an adverse effect on tuber enlargement. It is ironic that my potato plants look as good as they've ever looked, or even better than they've ever looked in past years but the yield may be reduced because the weather got too hot too soon. Dawn
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tomatovator
16 years ago
Red Brandywine should have regular leaves. I'm not sure what the potato leaf one actually is. I don't think it is true Red Brandywine. Maybe it will taste good however. Post your opinion of it after to get to taste it.
gonefishin
16 years ago
The red Brandywine that I have is regular leaf. The size if the fruit is smaller than the BW Sudduth which has large pink fruit. I have picked a few almost ripe, will probably try one tomorrow to see what I think about the taste.
Bill P.
bigdaddyj
16 years ago
I have grown all three Red Brandywine's in the TGS catalog.

The Landis Valley is the true Red Brandywine.

The large PL and RL "Red Brandywines" are nice large tomatoes but certainly not in the Sudduth Brandywine class regarding taste.

I no longer grow any of the "Red Brandywines".
nctomatoman
16 years ago
Red Brandywine is not at all related to Brandywine. (it really creates a confusing situation!). Red Brandywine is a regular leaf variety of medium size, quite smooth in form, with a well balanced, fine flavor. Brandywine is the large, oblate, pink potato leaf variety that was made popular by Ben Quisenberry (he obtained the variety from the Sudduth family) - it is amongst the best flavored tomatoes of all.

Unfortunately, there is a real mass/mess of confusion regarding the various tomatoes with the name Brandywine included!

Craig
carolyn137
16 years ago
The Landis Valley is the true Red Brandywine.

*****

As listed at TGS yes, and it's not a strain as Linda has it, for there are no strains of RB.

(The large PL and RL "Red Brandywines" are nice large tomatoes but certainly not in the Sudduth Brandywine class regarding taste.)

Again, those two that are listed together as Red Brandywine are not Red Brandywine. Both have followers b'c they are good tomatoes and that's why TGS continues to list them but I do wish Linda would take the Red Brandywine name off them and I've suggested to her that she do that.The PL one was widely distributed by Seeds of Design and so there's lots of PL RB out there and it isn't RB.

Red Brandywine, the true one, is a fine variety. A few places that carry the correct one are Heirloom Seeds in PA where Tom Hauch was the first to get RB out of the SSE Yearbook and offer it commercially, and the one listed at Sandhill Preservation is also correct. There are other sources that have the correct one as well, I'm sure,but those two sources I can vouch for.

Carolyn
bigdaddyj
16 years ago
When I wrote:

"The large PL and RL "Red Brandywines" are nice large tomatoes but certainly not in the Sudduth Brandywine class regarding taste".

I didn't mean to jumble it up that Brandywine was related to Red Brandywine. I meant only to say that those two faux Red Brandies in the TGS catalog were good tomatoes but not as tasty as say a Neves, Pruden's Purple or Brandywine IMO.

Sorry if I confused anybody...:)

Craig, years ago you sent us Nepal seeds and they are very close to Red Brandywine in every regard. I had better luck with Nepal than the TGS Landis. It always amazed me how close those two varieties are!
nctomatoman
16 years ago
I actually like Nepal better than Red Brandywine - I find it has better flavor by far; it is rounder, more solid (though by no means too firm or hard) - just a fine main season medium sized red. In my soil, Red Brandywine stands up to disease a bit better - that's really its main advantage, to me.
tanzi_nite
Original Author
16 years ago
Here's the verdict on taste...................delicious!

Not too sweet, not too acid, just right for my taste buds. But then again, all I've had so far this year are Sun Sugar cherries and some pretty tasteless Celebrities. We planted the Celebrity because of its disease resistance, but it tastes very bland to me. Haven't had any disease problems this year with ANY tom, so I need to branch out next year and get some flavor!

Anyone care to give suggestions on what to plant next year and where to obtain the seeds?
HoosierCheroKee
16 years ago
Why not try all the red Brandywines that TGS has to offer? That way you can find the one that suits you best!

Bill

Picked first red Brandywine today!

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Picked first red Brandywine today!

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