Details
- Open-Pollinated: yes
- Type: indeterminate, potato-leaf variety
- Shape: beefsteak: squat and round with some pleats
- Color: dark rose pink
- Maturity: 75 days (main crop), others say 85 days (long-season), also early, though
- 2010: 84 days to 1st harvest
- 2011: 98 days to 1st harvest
- 2012: 84 days to 1st harvest
- 2013:
- grafted: 84 days to 1st harvest
- non-grafted: took much longer (2-5 weeks)
- Size: 1-2 lbs; large, up to 7″ wide
- 2010: average tomato weight was 12.5 oz, but quite a few were over a pound – one was almost 2 lbs.
- 2011: 4.5 oz on average
- 2012: 8.75 oz on average
- 2013:
- grafted: 5.5 oz
- non-grafted: 5 oz
- Yield: “not a heavy-yielding tomato”
- 2010: 5.5 lbs
- 2011: 1.5 lbs
- 2012: 5 lbs
- 2013:
- grafted: 10.75 lbs
- non-grafted: 6 lbs
- Taste: “old-fashioned tomato taste!”; winner of Territorial Seed Company’s 2002 Taste-Off; “sweet, rich, slightly spicy flavor”; “great flavor”
- Disease Resistance:
- seem to be tolerant of fusarium and verticillium in my garden (grafted on Supernatural rootstock = resistant)
- susceptible to cracking
- susceptible to powdery mildew (Leveillula)
Notes:
- Brandywine is probably the most famous heirloom tomato variety
- Highly recommended main crop variety
- said to be an Amish cultivar, originating in Pennsylvania’s Brandywine River Valley
- there are a few different strains of Brandywine available. I’m trying to determine which strain I’ve been growing and having such good results with for the past few years.
- Sudduth’s strain is one, and is said to be the original Brandywine, but it’s from Tennessee. Hard to believe it would be original, since it’s not from near the Brandywine River Valley…
- plain old Brandywine seems to be what I’ve been growing, not Sudduth’s
Sources: (where to buy)
- Seed Savers’ Exchange
- Territorial Seed Co (both plants & seeds)
- Cross-Country Nurseries (just plants)
Results from My Garden:
-
Brandywine tomato from my 2010 harvest
2010: first year growing: vigorous plant produced HUGE tomatoes; beautiful dark pink color; potato leaf foliage gives good protection from sunscald; average tomato weight was 12.5 oz, but quite a few were over a pound – one was almost 2 lbs
- 2011: not a good year for my tomatoes
- 2012: despite lots of competition from pine tree roots, had a great harvest. The two plants that were getting the most competition showed signs of verticillium or fusarium, but the other two did not
- 2013: planted two different strains: plain old Brandywine and Sudduth’s Strain; also planted two grafted Brandywine plants
- Spacing: all were spaced 24″x24″ apart
- Timing: all followed this timeline:
- Received seedlings: late April, up-potted into 1-gal right away
- Planted out: mid-May
- Grafted Brandywine Results (2 seedlings from Territorial Seed Co on Supernatural Tomato Rootstock):
- no signs of fusarium or verticillium
- didn’t get hit by curly top virus, although its neighbors did
- great production, but only toward the end of the summer. Not many ripened on the vine; most ripened after pulling them in before the first frost
- I think both of the grafted plants were hit with powdery mildew (Leveillula), but production kept up
- Total Yield: 30 tomatoes for 10.75 lbs per plant; 5.5 oz on average
- Timing:
- 1st Harvest: early August
- Last Harvest: late November
- Non-grafted, plain old Brandywine Results (1 seedling from Cross Country Nurseries):
- did not get curly top virus, but didn’t produce as much as the grafted plants
- don’t think it showed any fusarium or verticillium
- Powdery mildew was a problem, I think
- very low production, compared to the grafted plants
- Total Yield: 20 tomatoes for 6.2 lbs; 5 oz on average
- Timing:
- 1st Harvest: mid-September
- Last Harvest: late November
- Non-grafted Sudduth’s Strain Results (1 seedling from Cross Country Nurseries:
- Succumbed to curly top virus early on in the season, although CTV is probably not a disease that grafted rootstock can help prevent, since it’s an infection from sucking insects, like leafhopper (but NONE of my grafted plants got CTV)
- Total Yield: 0 (curly top virus)
- Timing: curly top virus showed up on two other tomato plants in mid-June; two weeks later, it had spread to 10 tomatoes out of 30; yanked it on 7/4
- Succumbed to curly top virus early on in the season, although CTV is probably not a disease that grafted rootstock can help prevent, since it’s an infection from sucking insects, like leafhopper (but NONE of my grafted plants got CTV)
- 2014: tried my hand at grafting for the first time; was successful, although the rootstock I picked (Supernatural) may have encouraged to much vegetative growth and not enough fruiting; grafted variety definitely did better than the non-grafted one
| SEASON | SOURCE | DATES | SPACING | MATURITY | PLANTS | YIELD PER PLANT | AVG SIZE | DISEASE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | TSC seed | 3/5 > 4/23 > 5/14 | 18″x20″ | 84 days | 3 | 21 | 16.7 lbs | 12.5 oz | |
| 2011 | TSC seed | 3/5 > 4/2 > 4/16 | 18″x21″ | 105 days | 3 | 6 | 1.6 lbs | 4-5 oz | |
| 2012 | TSC seed | 2/19 > 4/9 > 5/14 | 18″x24″ | 105 days | 4 | 7 | 4 lbs | 9 oz | V or F (slight); over competition |
| 2013 | CCN seedling | 4/23 > 5/14 | 24″x24″ | 119 days | 1 | 20 | 6.2 lbs | 5 oz | powdery mildew (Leveillula) |
| Sudduth’s Strain CCN seedling | n/a | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | CTV (yanked 7/4) | |||
| TSC graft | 84 days | 2 | 31 | 10.8 lbs | 6 oz | powdery mildew (Leveillula) | |||
| 2014 | TSC seed | 3/8 > 4/15 > 5/15 | 24″x24″ | 168 days | 1 | 4 | 1.5 lbs | 6 oz | |
| TSC & DIY grafts: TSC seed on TSC Supernatural rootstock | 3/8 > 4/5 graft > 4/15 > 5/4 | 24″x24″ | 90 days | 2 | 7 | 3.8 lbs | 9 oz | ||