Let's talk about Brandywines

[Ed of Somis]

I wondered when Camo would pop up! Well, Camo has been hyping this one for awhile. Ironically, it is "his" strain of Brandywine? I bought in, also....sure hope it is good for me too. Funny, I read Craig's book (excellent book) and noticed he really loves "Lucky Cross". Turns out...it is his tomato he developed! I sure wish I was smart enough to do something like they have. Oh well...I am a pretty good fisherman...

[camochef]

Originally Posted by Ed of Somis

I wondered when Camo would pop up! Well, Camo has been hyping this one for awhile. Ironically, it is "his" strain of Brandywine? I bought in, also....sure hope it is good for me too. Funny, I read Craig's book (excellent book) and noticed he really loves "Lucky Cross". Turns out...it is his tomato he developed! I sure wish I was smart enough to do something like they have. Oh well...I am a pretty good fisherman...

Ed,
I had nothing to do with Cowlick's Brandywine development, other than naming it to distinguish it from other Brandywines at the time. It was simply a plant I had bought from a local nursery. The owner of which had about a half dozen tomato plants in his greenhouse, all about 31/2-4 foot tall. By the time I realized it was something different than all the other Brandywines I was growing at the time, and really something special, It was much later in the year and when I returned to his nursery in search of more information, I couldn't get much. As he remembered, he bought it from an Amish seed source that listed it as either Brandywine or Pink Brandywine.
Now, I was responsible for sharing seeds from it with many tomato growers on this and other forums, about 7-8 years ago. Mostly all were impressed with its productivity, (as well as its taste and characteristics), and they in turn shared seeds with even more tomato growers worldwide.
It is a great tasting tomato, much more productive than other Brandywines, but quite similar with its thin skin, small core, large size, and delicious taste. After many years of growing Brandywines of all types, I'm eliminating Brandywine-Sudduth's and other Pink Brandywines from my gardens, this coming season. I will still grow Cowlick's Brandywine, Brandywine -Glick's, (From Amishland), and a Red Brandywine P.L. from Homegrown Harvest.
I'm more interested in growing German Johnson-Benton Strain. Both the R.L. and the grafted P.L. version and extremely interested in growing German Johnson-Benton Strain crossed with an unknown Black, It's also P.L. and I suspect it to be crossed with Bear Creek, another Brandywine/Cherokee Purple cross developed by someone else.
I suppose the German Johnson -Benton strain cross is mine and I'm calling that one "Barlow's Best Black" No one else has any seeds for that one...yet. Maybe available after I see how it does this coming season. Then it will be available only to a select few, till it proves itself.
Enjoy!
Camo

[b54red]

Originally Posted by camochef

Ed,
I had nothing to do with Cowlick's Brandywine development, other than naming it to distinguish it from other Brandywines at the time. It was simply a plant I had bought from a local nursery. The owner of which had about a half dozen tomato plants in his greenhouse, all about 31/2-4 foot tall. By the time I realized it was something different than all the other Brandywines I was growing at the time, and really something special, It was much later in the year and when I returned to his nursery in search of more information, I couldn't get much. As he remembered, he bought it from an Amish seed source that listed it as either Brandywine or Pink Brandywine.
Now, I was responsible for sharing seeds from it with many tomato growers on this and other forums, about 7-8 years ago. Mostly all were impressed with its productivity, (as well as its taste and characteristics), and they in turn shared seeds with even more tomato growers worldwide.
It is a great tasting tomato, much more productive than other Brandywines, but quite similar with its thin skin, small core, large size, and delicious taste. After many years of growing Brandywines of all types, I'm eliminating Brandywine-Sudduth's and other Pink Brandywines from my gardens, this coming season. I will still grow Cowlick's Brandywine, Brandywine -Glick's, (From Amishland), and a Red Brandywine P.L. from Homegrown Harvest.
I'm more interested in growing German Johnson-Benton Strain. Both the R.L. and the grafted P.L. version and extremely interested in growing German Johnson-Benton Strain crossed with an unknown Black, It's also P.L. and I suspect it to be crossed with Bear Creek, another Brandywine/Cherokee Purple cross developed by someone else.
I suppose the German Johnson -Benton strain cross is mine and I'm calling that one "Barlow's Best Black" No one else has any seeds for that one...yet. Maybe available after I see how it does this coming season. Then it will be available only to a select few, till it proves itself.
Enjoy!
Camo

Camo I may have the same black from GJ. This past year I had two of my German Johnson plants producing a large black tomato slightly less dark than some but with a flavor that surpassed everything else in the garden. I hope the seed I saved will be true so I can experience that wonderful tomato again.

I grew two each of Sudduth's and Cowlick's side by side for a comparison last spring. They both ripened at the same time with no difference but in the past when I planted them for fall tomatoes ripening in the shorter cooler days of fall the Cowlicks was at least 10 days faster. I don't know but in your cooler climate I would definitely go with the Cowlick's over Sudduth.

Personally I would go with Limbaugh's Legacy because it is far quicker to ripen than most of the large pinks I have grown like Stump of the World, Sudduth's, Cowlick's, and Marianna's Peace.

The last few years, for me, Barlow Jap and German Johnson have beat out the Brandywines for flavor and production but not size and they are both earlier.

Bill

[b54red]

I got my Cowlick's seed from Camo and it nearly always does better than Sudduth's down here in the very deep south with our oppressive heat and humidity. It does not usually make larger fruit but the fruit are slightly firmer and the skin doesn't tend to split on the bottom of the fruit as happens regularly on Sudduth's down here. I still love them both but if asked to pick one it would be Cowlick's.

Thanks for sharing Camo.

Bill

[parah]

Originally Posted by b54red

Personally I would go with Limbaugh's Legacy because it is far quicker to ripen than most of the large pinks I have grown like Stump of the World, Sudduth's, Cowlick's, and Marianna's Peace.
Bill

Camochef and b54red in the same thread talking about Brandywines, tomato heaven.

If you two would write a book about your tomato experiences I would buy a couple of copies. Hey, it is half written just compile some of your best posts and mix with tomato porn.

b54red, I am suprised that Limbaugh's Legacy ripens quicker for you. When you say "ripen" do you mean Days to Maturity (DTM)

I thought Cowlicks is generally considered to have a faster DTM than Limbaugh's Legacy. Someone even had 59 DTM for Cowlicks! What am I misunderstanding, southern weather?

[JamesL]

Originally Posted by parah

Camochef and b54red in the same thread talking about Brandywines, tomato heaven.
If you two would write a book about your tomato experiences I would buy a couple of copies.

Good one Parah! And so true.

[camochef]

Originally Posted by parah

Camochef and b54red in the same thread talking about Brandywines, tomato heaven.

If you two would write a book about your tomato experiences I would buy a couple of copies. Hey, it is half written just compile some of your best posts and mix with tomato porn.

b54red, I am suprised that Limbaugh's Legacy ripens quicker for you. When you say "ripen" do you mean Days to Maturity (DTM)

I thought Cowlicks is generally considered to have a faster DTM than Limbaugh's Legacy. Someone even had 59 DTM for Cowlicks! What am I misunderstanding, southern weather?

The earliest I ever had a C-Brandywine ripen was 27 June. Have had other slicers ripen earlier, Lancaster County Pink, Barlow Jap, Liz Birt, Giant Belgium, Large Pink Bulgarian, to name a few. Depends on when seeds were started, transplanted then set out. The earliest I ever started seed was 26 Jan (2008) when I started 18 C-Brandywines. Transplanted them a couple times before being able to set out in gardens. (Cold Spring).
Most years I set plants out the first week of May and usually have to protect them overnights. Have started plants out last week of April, but that's rare. The past few years I set plants out when they are about 6-8 inches high, but have set out plants over 4 ft high in the past with late springs.
I've never had Limbaugh's Legacy ripen before any of my Pink Brandywines, although it has beaten my Yellows on occasion. Brandywines are usually 80-to 85 days to maturity. I've never been able to figure out where that timetable begins.
Good Luck!
Camo

[camochef]

Originally Posted by b54red

Camo I may have the same black from GJ. This past year I had two of my German Johnson plants producing a large black tomato slightly less dark than some but with a flavor that surpassed everything else in the garden. I hope the seed I saved will be true so I can experience that wonderful tomato again.

I grew two each of Sudduth's and Cowlick's side by side for a comparison last spring. They both ripened at the same time with no difference but in the past when I planted them for fall tomatoes ripening in the shorter cooler days of fall the Cowlicks was at least 10 days faster. I don't know but in your cooler climate I would definitely go with the Cowlick's over Sudduth.

Personally I would go with Limbaugh's Legacy because it is far quicker to ripen than most of the large pinks I have grown like Stump of the World, Sudduth's, Cowlick's, and Marianna's Peace.

The last few years, for me, Barlow Jap and German Johnson have beat out the Brandywines for flavor and production but not size and they are both earlier.

Bill

Bill,
That's great! Were you using Dana's German Johnson-Benton Strain? or another German Johnson.
Mine was also the best tasting, by far, throughout the gardens. I simply assumed, that it was an unintentional cross with Bear Creek because it looked more like Bear Creek than the other two blacks I was growing that year. (Amazon Chocolate and Dana's Dusky Rose). Although I've been growing German Johnson-Benton Strain for about 8 years without ever seeing any sort of mutation, I guess there is that possibility. Also the fact that German Johnson-Benton Strain is R.L. yet the one I grew grafted to maxifort root stock produced a P.L. plant with all other characteristics being equal although it was more productive.
The black version is P.L. and came from the seed of the grafted plant.
I also realize that this is/was a thread about Brandywines and not other varieties, so I'll simply say that German Johnson-Benton Strain has tasted better than any of my favorite Brandywines for a few years now.
Good Luck with yours, Bill!
Enjoy!
Camo

[b54red]

Originally Posted by camochef

Bill,
That's great! Were you using Dana's German Johnson-Benton Strain? or another German Johnson.
Mine was also the best tasting, by far, throughout the gardens. I simply assumed, that it was an unintentional cross with Bear Creek because it looked more like Bear Creek than the other two blacks I was growing that year. (Amazon Chocolate and Dana's Dusky Rose). Although I've been growing German Johnson-Benton Strain for about 8 years without ever seeing any sort of mutation, I guess there is that possibility. Also the fact that German Johnson-Benton Strain is R.L. yet the one I grew grafted to maxifort root stock produced a P.L. plant with all other characteristics being equal although it was more productive.
The black version is P.L. and came from the seed of the grafted plant.
I also realize that this is/was a thread about Brandywines and not other varieties, so I'll simply say that German Johnson-Benton Strain has tasted better than any of my favorite Brandywines for a few years now.
Good Luck with yours, Bill!
Enjoy!
Camo

Camo I don't know why the Limbaugh's Legacy ripened faster for me the two years I planted it the same time as the two Brandywines. It may be the heat we have down here affecting one type more than another. For instance the LL produced earlier and had slightly thicker tougher skin. The Brandywines while starting to ripen later had thinner skins. They both made about the same number of tomatoes for each plant but the Brandywines were spread more evenly over a longer period of time while the Limbagh's made more early and production dropped off sharply. While the two Brandywines, Sudduth's and Cowlicks had about the same DTM when planted in the spring the Cowlick's set out for fall production was much earlier than the Sudduth's set out on the same day.

I don't know what strain of German Johnson I have but I got it in a trade years ago and it is potato leaf. Due to it's susceptibility to fusarium it wasn't until last year when I grew it grafted that I had good ripe fruit to deal with and half my plants had black tomatoes and half pink/red. I don't know if it is a cross or not but the black tomato was far superior in flavor to any of my other plants last year while my other blacks were good they did not rank in the top five like the German Johnson did. My best tasting tomatoes last year were the German Johnson black, German Johnson PL, Coulles de Toureau, Donskoi, Brandywine Cowlicks, Brandywine Sudduth's and Barlow Jap in that order.

I am really hoping that black version of German Johnson is true so I can enjoy them again this year. I'll just have to wait and see. I started four different German Johnson seed this year. One were from the black, one from two years ago, one from last years and some new ones I ordered to compare. I don't even know if the new ones will be potato leaf or regular leaf but I would like to compare them all.

Bill

[b54red]

Since I do have nematodes I can attest to the fact that Brandywine roots are especially attractive to the little buggers which is just another reason besides fusarium for grafting onto resistant rootstock.

Bill