PlantFiles: Tomato
Lycopersicon lycopersicum 'Brandywine (Sudduth Strain)'

Although the fruits are large and tasty, mine come out rather irregular in shape. But this is the best Brandywine I have raised--I've given up on the red, yellow and OTV varieties which have not produced many tomatoes and don't taste as good to me as the Sudduth strain.

This tomato is extremely large, mild and tasty. I would like to save the seeds from it but I do not know if it would breed true to the seeds? In other words, is it a species or Hybrid? Thanks.

I grow Brandywine in 14" plant pots, and trim them to be about 6" high and not much wider than the pot. I use recycled potting soil and Plant Tones Organic fertilizer sprinkling about a level teaspoon about once a week while plant is fruiting. They also get one treatment of liquid seaweed fertilizer when transplanted over whole plant, and one more when they set flower, but only over the roots. Each year I plant about 3 BW from seeds. I usually get 5-10 fruit per plant, but they are very large. It's probably too big a tomato to grow well in a pot, but it is hard to beat the taste.

This year I decided to try growing some Brandywines by seed. Since the planting season was underway, and I had already planted nursery bought varieties, I decided to just put the seeds in peat pots out on the deck in a shady area and see what happened. Well, after about 4-5 weeks with absolutely nothing appearing, I gave up and just stuck the trays under my deck for storage. Then while looking for some plant supports a few weeks later what do I find?...A dozen little tiny sprouts starting to pop up! They were so small and sickly looking I thought for sure that I'd kill them while transplanting, but I wanted to try anyway.
Within one month these puny little sprouts had passed up the nursery plants, and I was forced to top them off at 6 ft. Each plant now has at least 9 hand-sized fruits ready for picking with more than a dozen smaller fruits in the process of maturing and numerous flowers covering them all. I have no idea what I did to get this much fruit from them and I believe the smallest one so far is still close to 1 1/2 lbs. I was, however, careful to plant at least 60% of the plant under ground when they were big enough, but that's about it.
They've far surpassed my nursery plants in size and production. I've definitely learned one thing, wonders never cease, and I don't think I'll EVER plant store/nursery tomatoes again now that I've seen what my own seeds can do… I can only imagine what they would be like if they would have been sown properly and been healthy seedlings to start!...I can't wait for next spring..."Whoa-hoo!"

The perfect tomato. It is not the heaviest yielder but I grow other tomatoes for heavy yields. This is the tomato you grow for the "wow factor."

One thing I have not seen mentioned is that if you are old school and do not trellis your tomatoes with this tomato it is a must. Not trellising is simply not an option. It is vitally important that Brandywines do not touch the ground, otherwise you will get uneven ripening and probably rot. A farmer friend of mine tried growing these without trellising and he had nothing but rotted tomatoes. He now trellises them and has beautiful tomatoes. :)

Brandywine first appeared in the 1889 Johnson & Stokes catalog. The seed of this strain was obtained in 1980 by tomato collector Ben Quisenberry (of Big Tomato Gardens) from Doris Sudduth Hill, whose family grew them for about 80 years.

This, quite simply, is the king of the tomatoes. Meaty, with relatively few problems, and a full-bodied taste to die for. When you see 'tomato' in the dictionary, this is what they're talking about. My only complaint is its relatively low yields. Plant two of these plants for every one you would of a lesser tomato.

I wasn't disappointed when it came to flavor. These are succulent, delicious, intense tomatoes, large and gorgeous.

I grew BW SS for the first time this year, but I only got two of them from the plant (both were prizes, though). Most of this was due to my own ineptitude (did a transplant when it was too far along not to go into massive, detrimental shock, overpruned), but it also developed fruit-devastating BER without any of my help. I really loved this, the classic Brandy, and will definitely grow it again, but next time more conscientiously.

I have a hard time cutting into these beautiful tomatoes. I could just look at them, except for the fact that they taste so good, it would be a waste! Grow this tomato. I know I will grow it again, probably next year. I'd like to see how it is on a year when we don't have so much rain. This was an exceptionally rainy spring and summer for us.

What a producer this one is! The plants are loaded with HUGE fruit, and more babies growing. Here in the hot, dry California desert, they definitely need consistent watering as they are definitely prone to splitting otherwise. I lost the first 7 tomatoes off of one plant (each in excess of 1 1/2 pounds) to horrible splitting, but that's cuz that plant received more inconsistent watering. The other two plants are doing beautifully, with minor cracking.

Excellent tomatoey flavor. Not too sweet, a little acidic, with a great punch.

Last year was the first time I had grown this tomato and I was skeptical because I had heard that it was a poor yielder and my self worth is all tied up in how well my tomatoes yield.

But despite my insecurities it yielded pretty well here in the muddy,muggy south. I was still getting fruit from them in november.

The tomatoes taste great - I hate to jump on the band wagon, or any other wagon for that matter, but it is a great tasting tomato. For us they were salty, spicey with a dash of sugar. A unique taste for sure.

This tomato has a great flavor, and it get quite large. I had to pull green tomatoes off the plants this year because they were too heavy - even with staking. This is the third year I have grown 'Brandywine Sudduth.'

Everything you've heard about this great tomato is true. A terrific flavor, great size, and most are blemish free. If you are going to grow pink or red tomatoes this really has to be a must.

This is a "must have" tomato for my garden. Beautiful heavy fruits, lovely color and excellent flavor. It does sometimes need a bit of help with pollination, which is easily done by giving the plant a gentle shake whenever you are out cruising your vegetable bed.

One of my top 10 favorites to this point of my tomato growing career. Taste is wonderful. If you make a BLT, you better have a big, big, slice of bread. I've had fruits that when sliced filled the entire plate. Juicy and rich, with a perfect acid to sweet balance.

From Tomato Grower's Supply: "This is widely known as the original Pink Brandywine strain. Many gardener's consider this strain the best Brandywine with fruit that is superior in taste and smoothness. It's tomatoes are indeed special, 1 to 2 pound pink beefsteaks with the delectably complex, rich, sweet flavor that has made Brandywine famous."

I love Brandywines and will continue to post notes about growing this strain through the season.