What's the lowdown on Bucks County Hybrid ?

[TheDens]

Hey, you're right! We won't be getting quite as cool as Atlanta next week, but it looks like it might still be enough.
They sure do change forecasts quickly. Just yesterday ours said it was going to be in the high 80's-low 90's next week.
Now I have to cross my fingers and hope those blossoms survive today's 100 degree weather.

Denna

[SelfSufficient1]

I am counting on that drop in temperature to get some more fruit set here(it would be real nice if I could get a Brandywine or two).

[misschanterelle]

grew Bucks County last year and definitly won't grow it again.We had 15 different tomato varieties and Bucks County was the only one to have BER..we had 6 plants and didn't get a single tomato without rot! We had no problem with any other variety. We have 34 varieties this year but no Bucks County.

[Gimme3]

Stay Tuned...im fixin to show ya some BC hybrids...))) Grown in Dixie...)))....heh...i trust Dr. C....they got to be, simply, but Beautfully....Red BW's...)))

[Gimme3]

Here is a perspective photo. Look at the plants growin in the immediate left foreground. Study...their Uniformity of Growth, an Health. What you are seein...is 7 Buck's County Hybrids....a.k.a. Red Brandywine. These plants Amaze an Please me...Immensely, with their Uniformity, and Wonderful...disease tolerance,/immunity. They sho waited a long time to set fruits, but they SHO LOVE gettin down to it, now, even in our Heat, higher than normal. I'm comin to Love this Plant....an view it as the Perfect Compliment...to a Big Beef. The only thing left...is to taste it, but i SHO...LOVE...how it grows...)))




Here is a closer up view...of a 2 or 3 BC's. It's hard to show...the Fruit set, because this cultivar establishes such Wonderful Foilage, before it ever gets serious about makin some fruits...))) Trust me...there's about 30 fruits on each one...an there's some mighty pretty good lookin Keepers, right now, fixin to blush..an it aint got no idea about Stoppin...)))

]


If i had to sum up...this Cultivar, at this point....my beliefs are Strong...regardin these 2 attributes...
It GROWS, massively, before it gets serious about fruit. It is MIGHTY....HEALTHY, and UNIFORM in growth, it has no fear of disease....in my soil.

Additionally,....it always sets it first fruits , in the Top, but they get hidden, by the Forest it Grows...)))

[travis]

Gimme,

Could you show a close-up of how you attach your plant growth to the PVC frame?

And a little bad news ... I tried a cross of Opalka with Big Beef and was plannin' on naming it "Gimme Paste." But yesterday when I was tyin' up the Opalka, I accidentally broke off the branch holding the crossed fruit.

Those Opalka stigmas are awful fragile too ... maybe I'll try again the other way and cross the Opalka to the Big Beef holdin' the seeds.

I got a good little seed pod goin' on my Brandywine that is crossed to Neves Azorian Red though. I'm gettin' better at it, but it's so tedious for my big fat fingers.

It's inspiring to hear your testimonials about varieties like Opalka, Big Beef, and Bucks County.

Are you gonna save any seeds from the Bucks County to try a grow-out of F2s?

PV

[Gimme3]

PV...yes...on both accounts. I'll try an photograph a close-up of these cages....but really, i only try an keep the growin tips pushed back inside the lateral supports...over time. Sometimes, certain plants get away from me, like big Beefs, and...lol...Eva Ball Purple, this year, because it TOTALLY surprised me....but when that happens, the cages arent glued...so, i jus take a rubber mallet an a pair of slip-jawed pliers an temporarily knock the cage open, an stuff the errant leader back in., then bang it all back together...))) These BC's...im about to give up tryin to do that on....they grow so massive. I shoulda never planted them...side by side....))) Notes to self...dont grow a Big Beef or a Bucks County...side by side. An also...forget what i thought about an Eva...this Plant is Wonderfully Capable of Tremendous Growth an Production.

Gimme a liittle Time...to get the Pic you asked for up...PV.

As regards savin some of these BC seed...Yes...since we have been told...it's a Red BW. Got to find out ...thru time. But the beautiful thing is this...i still got...30 or 40 more seed...in the original pack...)))

I'll say this...In the past...a Big Beef has been my one Reliable plant, that i KNOW, can survive an do well, no matter What Nature throws at me. An it STILL, holds that Rank. But these BC's, might just overtake it...thru time. Like i said...i got to taste one. These plants exhibit every bit of Hardiness, an in my brief experience, MORE...disease tolerance...than a Big Beef, but are not yet close to a BB in yield, tho they may get there, an Taste is gonna be a primary concern/hopeful pleasure...)))

[The Future]

Has anyone tried dehybridizing this hybrid?

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by The Future

Has anyone tried dehybridizing this hybrid?

I just read through the thread and in a post above I said I saved seeds from the F1 fruit, but didn't continue with it.

Looking back I don't regret that since as I also said above I didn't see any great different between the known Red Brandywine and the Buck's County Hybrid one,

I did dehybridize Ramapo F1 when it looked like it was going out of production, and quite a few folks here have grown the OP derivative and liked it very much. But then when Rutgers decided to reintroduce Ramapo F1, b'c I'd used both plants and seeds of Ramapo F1 as controls when dehybridizing Ramapo and honestrly, I could not see that much difference.

Barkeater posted above in this thread and he at one time had been a commercial tomato grower in NJ and he thought the OP Ramapo was as good as the F1, so there you go.

Meaning, would an OP version of the Buck's County Hybrid be about the same or significantly different from the F1? I know that Ramapo F1 has just two parents, as was more common back then, but I don't know the parentage of the Bucks County F1.

[feldon30]

Holy cow this is an old thread.

The Future,

Dehybridizing involves growing out several plants of a hybrid and, in the F2 generation, picking the plant which produces tomatoes closest to the original or desired variety, saving seeds, and repeating for 5-7 more years.

According to Carolyn, the F1 of Bucks County Hybrid was indistinguishable from the heirloom Red Brandywine, so there's really no point in growing followup generations of it from what I can see. Mischka reported similar findings with Brandy Boy as far as the F1, F2, F3, F4, F4, and F5 all being identical, suggesting it's not really a hybrid at all but just a marketing thing.

Of course your mileage may vary and Burpee may have fiddled with things since Carolyn last grew BCH. Hey it only took Burpee 8 years to fix their off-type Bloody Butcher (seeds expected in 2012).

[travis]

You mean Burpee still sells Buck's County Hybrid, aka Little Brandywine? Gosh, what are they calling it this year?

[feldon30]

I'm surprised anyone even buys Burpee seeds anymore. W. Atlas would cry if he saw what the company he built has turned into.

[The Future]

Thanks for the notes feldon and Travis. Being pretty new here am starting from the old posts and working forward. I did search to see if other threads addressed an OP BC but didn't note it. So i dug up the old thread. Elese where i see BCH listed as one ofthehigh yield good tasting toms for some people hence my interest. Your explanation is clear to me now. It does bring to mind (no pun intended) the power of the mind. If I introduce an OP tomato to my farmer friends who insist hybrid is the way to go, and tell them it is a hybrid, will it thus get great results? Maybe.

Double blind placebo controlled studies are done for a reason.

I will to acquire some BCH seed and try it out. If seed can be saved as you say, great. I generally avoid "commercial" hybrids. Brandy boy also gets added to my list if it has this trait.

[tam91]

Interesting - I do like Brandy Boy, and it's the only thing I buy from Burpee. I'll have to try saving some seed and see what happens.

[The Future]

And I will try Ramapo too.