John,
Thanks for the offer, if you don't mind I will ask you after you have saved seeds at the end of summer. I still have to have my garden dug, and until that happens I better hold off starting any more.

PV, I am not sure what you mean by your comment re lopping off my fingers? Who mentioned strain again?

re:
jerseyjohn61:
I made sure to
order seeds from a known to have outfit of the
original SSE "selection"
__________________________________


And we (as traders) appreciate
that John !!!
~ Tom

Clay,
The finger lopping crack was just some wry humor
not truely aimed at you. Carolyn, and rightfully so,
has been correcting folks about "strains" of RBW.
Maybe, to set the record straight, Dr. C could give a
full recital of the history of Red Brandywine. I don't
think that it has fully been aired at this site....JJ61

Ssshhh John, I magically changed my original post so it didn't mention the "S" word. Now I am having a go at PV about it...

but I agree that it would be useful for Carolyn to post that information on this site.

Right now, I'd have to say that Chapman are my 'hunkiest' seedlings. Carolyn sent me the seeds and I planted them 2 weeks after my first wave. They have caught up with the older guys and are more robust than anything I have at the moment.

Djena Lee Golden Girl always gives great seedlings for me (it's not on the playlist this year though) and DLGG also tends to last longer in the fall. The vines have even gone through light frosts with no measurable harm...the tomatoes don't get as tough in the heat of the summer either.

Wimpy...German Red Strawberry.

Elbe is the winner out of 160 some varieties. Thick as a dwarf and taller than everything. Other standouts are Arcadia, Cabot, Break O' Day, Giraffe and Kootenai.
Spindly, wimpy ones are Chinese Red, German Red Strawberry, and Ellis Island. Must be they belong to the wispy, sprawly group....

Jeanne

My most vigorous plants this year have been Sophie's Choice. I had germination in 3 days w/o bottom heat, and the plants are easily twice the size of everything else, with nice thick stems. They're just gorgeous!

The wimpy award goes to Noir de Crimee. Germination was miserable with 6/40 after 4 weeks from 2yo seed from Carolyn (1 after a week). Those that did manage to sprout couldn't seem to support their own weight, and the stems were always arched over. It seems like they don't want to grow roots. The one that did make it to transplant last week is still wimpy and kind of droops over the side of the pot.


-Delora

Delora,

Are you sure that the Noire de Crimmee seed I sent you was only two years old?

The seed of that variety that I sent out was way older than that and was sent out when I made that offer of OLD seed at GW and AOL, and I can check the date on that for you.

I have more recent seed of it, but would never send out 40 seeds of my more recent seed, which is from 2002 or 2003, but would and could have sent out 40 seeds of the much older stock.

[quote=carolyn137]Delora,

Are you sure that the Noire de Crimmee seed I sent you was only two years old?

The seed of that variety that I sent out was way older than that and was sent out when I made that offer of OLD seed at GW and AOL, and I can check the date on that for you.

I have more recent seed of it, but would never send out 40 seeds of my more recent seed, which is from 2002 or 2003, but would and could have sent out 40 seeds of the much older stock.[/quote]

Hiya :)

I actually have both the old and newer seed from you. I had soaked the older and sowed it, then received some newer seed in the mail (labeled 2003), so I oversowed that into the same cells as the older seed about a week later. When that didn't spout after another week, I resowed again. I was using 12 cells for the NDC, so 12 old, 12 new, 12 new a second time, and after a month 4 more just to give it a last ditch effort, which I think used up all of the newer seed (I'd have to double check). Since I used the same cells, I can't be sure if it was the older or newer seed that actually germinated.

I did have excellent luck with the older Druzba seed I planted in the same cell pack (24 total, so 12 for NDC and 12 for Druzba, so obviously both had the same treatment). I had nearly 50% germination after 3 weeks from the 1995 seed.


-Delora

Carolyn,
Just to let you know , I was not being facetious
about retelling the Red Brandywine-Landis Valley-
story.

Carolyn, you have the gift of cutting to the chase
while giving full detail in your typo-oratories.
Many of us now take this for granted, but in truth,
you are the origin of much of our learnings.

This is my 3rd year of heirloom, OP tomatos
and I'm sure as HELL am glad to have had you
as a teacher!

Mischka..... I think we need an archive forum....JJ61

Carolyn,
Just to let you know , I was not being facetious
about retelling the Red Brandywine-Landis Valley-
story.


I know that John, I do.

I just had to get enough dark bittersweet choco into me before I considered doing it again. :lol:

Would it be better to do so in a new thread that I'd start, rather than buried here in this thread?

You make the call. :)

Carolyn -

My opinion ?

A STICKY FOR SURE ~

Tom

Well for us people who don't know anything yet( :oops: that may be just me here), I do appreciate all the explaining about tomatoes that I can get. The only Brandywine I am growing this year was free from Baker Creek. I have no idea if this is the pink or red since it says on the package pinkish-red, lol.
Anyway, my sturdiest plants so far(and I still have quite few planted late that still have some growing to do) would probably be Roma. I stuck them out in the garden last week and they have really taken off and my weakest so far would probably be Glory of Moldova but these may get sturdier after they grow more.

Frankly, I'd like to see as many tomato histories as possible in one spot for all posterity to peruse...maybe a whole forum just for that. :D :D :D

I agree, tomato history should have its own forum.

Please.