Tomato Brandywine

Solanum lycopersicum

Characteristics

Culture

An indeterminate variety with a sweet, rich, slightly spicy flavor. Not a heavy-yielding tomato, but the rounded fruit are large, up to 7 inches across.  An indeterminate growth habit means that once the plant  matures, it will continue to bloom and produce fruit as long as conditions are favorable. The Brandywine Tomato is considered the most esteemed late 19th century heirloom tomato, named for a stream in Chester County, Pennsylvania.  These tomatoes have potato-like leaves and large, meaty, reddish-pink fruit. Water at the base to avoid splashing leaves, which can promote disease.  Since these massive vines can reach six to nine feet tall in ideal growing conditions, it is a good idea to use cages or trellises to support them as they grow. It is also a good idea to trim any foliage that touches the ground to decrease the risk of blight.  Plant them deeper than they were in containers.

Noteworthy Characteristics

Grown for over a century, these are one of the older heirloom types available commercially, and were one of the first varieties to appear in seed catalogs in the late 1800s.  Brandywine, which dates back to 1885, is the heirloom tomato standard. One taste and you’ll be enchanted by its superb flavor and luscious shade of red-pink. The large, beefsteak-shaped fruits grow on unusually upright, potato-leaved plants. The fruits set one or two per cluster and ripen late-and are worth the wait. Brandywines qualities really shine when it develops an incredible fine, sweet flavor.  One of the slower maturing tomato cultivars, they take 80 to 100 days to produce fruit.

Problems

It is widely known that is tomato variety is very delicate. Therefore, it is subject to many pests and diseases. The fact that they take so long to ripen makes them more susceptible to pests and diseases than other tomato varieties. Watering at the ground eliminates most of the fungal infections while encouraging plants like Marigolds and the like around the tomato patch can keep many bugs at bay.

Garden Uses

Gardens, raised beds. To reduce root disease risk, don’t plant in soils that have recently grown tomatoes, potatoes, peppers or eggplant in the last two years. Brandywine tomatoes can be grown next to carrots, onions, chives, garlic, asparagus, roses, and nettle.