Tomato- Red Brandywine Heirloom

Tomato-Red Brandywine Heirloom

Solanum lycopersicum

Brandywine are flavorful, firm, juicy tomatoes with a thin skin, and can weigh up to 24 ounces. This indeterminate heirloom tomato is open pollinated and matures in 90 days. Named after Brandywine Creek in Chester, Pennsylvania, this tomato was thought extinct. However, the Hill family in Tennessee had been growing them for nearly the past century, and luckily shared their seeds with the appropriate people. Much like most old heirloom tomatoes, Brandywine sees more flowers on its branches, rather than on the main stem. If your plant is getting to tall, do not be afraid to cut the top off. Many older type tomatoes can be a bit tight with their pollen (more, bigger bees back then). Vibrating with an electric toothbrush may be necessary, unless you have a healthy population of bumble bees, carpenter bees, etc. Brandywine tomatoes need nighttime temperatures to be between 55 and 68 to set fruit.