Gardeners often grow brandyvine and other heirloom tomato plants from seed.
The popular brandywine tomato plant is a variety of tomato first grown by the Amish in the 1800s. Since then, the brandywine tomato has become a garden standard and is rated as one of the best-tasting tomatoes to grow in the home garden. Because of its popularity, brandywine tomato seeds have been saved and passed down through generations, making brandywine one of the more popular heirloom varieties of tomatoes. Does this Spark an idea?
Purchase Seed Instead of Plants
Brandywine tomato plants are an heirloom variety, so they have no resistance to many of the diseases that hybrid varieties are bred to resist, such as the tobacco mosaic virus, early blight or verticillium wilt. These diseases are common in greenhouses and department store plants and can easily spread from one plant to another. Therefore, it is better to buy seeds online or through a seed catalogue and start them yourself.
Plant brandywine tomato seeds in new potting soil in a container that is well drained. Keep the seeds moist, but not wet, and place the containers in a bright, warm (65 to 75 degrees F) area until they sprout, in about 8 days.
Planting Location
When the plants have two or three sets of true leaves, plant in the garden in a location that receives at least 6 hours of sun each day. Nighttime temperatures should be above 55 degrees F and daytime temperatures should be below 90 degrees F for optimal production. The brandywine tomato plant can grow to 12 feet during the season, and the root system can spread out to 36 inches in each direction, so space plants at least 3 feet apart.
Plant Support
Because of the potential size of a brandywine tomato plant and the weight of the fruit--up to 1 lb. each--build a sturdy trellis or support that you can tie the plant to with plastic garden tape or garden twine as it grows. Commercial tomato cages are always too small for brandywine tomato plants. Build a trellis with old fencing or other material that allows you to have access to the fruit as well as providing the needed support. Remember that a strong wind can blow over an entire row of tomatoes attached to a weak trellis, so plan accordingly.
Don't allow tomato plants to sprawl on the ground or you will lose most of the fruit to rot where it has contact with the soil.
Pruning
Train and prune the brandywine tomatoes so there is a main stem and strong lateral stems spaced every 6 to 8 inches on each side of the plant. Prune out any suckers that grow in the crotches where the lateral stems meet the main stem. This will force the energy of the plant into growing tomatoes on the lateral stems.
Fertilizer and Irrigation
Keep the 36-inch area over the root base of the plant covered with a 1-inch layer of compost followed by a 1-inch layer of mulch placed over the compost. Add a granulated organic fertilizer or a fertilizer specifically labeled for tomatoes around the bottom of the plant during the growing season, pulling back the mulch to apply. Follow directions on the fertilizer container. Do not use a water-soluble high-nitrogen fertilizer because too much nitrogen forces the plant to produce more leaves at the expense of fruit production.
Pest Control
Pests such as tomato hornworms or stink bugs can be killed with an application of pyrethrum powder or spray. Apply in the evening, because pyrethrum degrades in sunlight and most bad bugs are active at night and in the early morning when bees are not present. Pyrethrum is an organic solution and is effective against most pests that attack brandywine tomato plants.
Harvest
If birds or squirrels are a problem, harvest the fruit when the shoulders and bottom of the fruit begin to turn pink. Set the fruit on a table out of direct sunlight to ripen. Do not put in the refrigerator until fully ripe. You can leave the tomatoes on the plant until fully ripe, but there is not much difference in taste if picked beforehand and allowed to ripen in a place where pests cannot attack it.
Tags: brandywine tomato, tomato plants, lateral stems, 1-inch layer, brandywine tomato