[URL]http://cuke.hort.ncsu.edu/cucurbit/wehner/vegcult/vgclintro.html[/URL]

Chris, the above is the link I was referring to.

While I only look at various veggie/fruit varieties for background info I haven't seed any of the forms you refer to.

Thanks for the link Carolyn. They sure to have an extensive list of vegetables. I can't even begin to think of what level of work they would have had to invest over the past several years.

Here is the link I was talking about:

[URL]http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/fletcher/programs/tomato/releases/restrictions.html[/URL]

Maybe someone could enlighten me on what all this means. Otherwise I might be tempted to go off on some uninformed rant and embarrass myself.
;)

[quote=organichris;101197]Thanks for the link Carolyn. They sure to have an extensive list of vegetables. I can't even begin to think of what level of work they would have had to invest over the past several years.

Here is the link I was talking about:

[URL]http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/fletcher/programs/tomato/releases/restrictions.html[/URL]

Maybe someone could enlighten me on what all this means. Otherwise I might be tempted to go off on some uninformed rant and embarrass myself.
;)[/quote]

Amusing that you linked to Randy Gardner's page b'c I'm waiting for a call back from him right now.

He's a faculty member at NCSU. Faculty members answer to the University in terms of any monies made from any discoveries, in this case tomato varieties he developed.

A contract is signed by the University and the seed producers/distributers, and then the money goes to the University, not Dr. Gardener.

He is free to share with others certain of his breeding lines, and does so.

What you see there is pretty standard for any person developing tomato varieties who is a faculty member somewhere.

What you won't see are any pages like that for the breeders at Petoseed, Novartis, Takita, Sakata, Syngentea and on and on b/c they're private and in business to make money for themselves.

Thanks for clarifying that.

Morgan,

One Aunt Ginny's Purple has 11 fruit, the other one has at least 7, while Brandy Boy has 4. I'm not impressed thus far. Two years ago, I had an AGP that produced about 30 tomatoes.

Here is a picture (top to bottom) of Brandy Boy F1, Brandy Boy F5, and Brandywine.

The Brandywine is one Morgan and I jokingly refer to as Brandywine FlipTX. Flip, who posts here occasionally, got her plant from a market labeled as "Brandywine". So, basically it is an unknown strain. Flip gave Morgan some fruit and he loved it, so he saved seeds.

Brandy Boy F1 and F5 taste identical. Taste and texture is very good, kind of like Brandywine light.

The Brandywine from Flip is exquisite, best tomato I've had all year. Taste is rich, sweet, and slightly tangy. Texture is creamy/smooth, yet juicy.

All these are fairly productive (avg, at least) for me this year. I don't keep exact count of fruits, but the BW probably set a total of 9-10 fruit per plant, and the BBs probably set around 12-14 fruit per plant.

[URL="http://www.feldoncentral.com/garden/photos/v/memberphotos/suze/Spring+08/bb+and+bw+comparison.jpg.html"] [IMG]http://www.feldoncentral.com/garden/photos/d/10919-2/bb+and+bw+comparison.jpg[/IMG]
Click for Larger Size[/URL]

Hope you are saving seeds of the F5:yes:

Suze,

I'm assuming the F1 wasn't much more prolific than the F5. Anything at all that would distinguish them?

Actually she told me the F5 grew 1-2 more tomatoes than the F1. :)
Same leaf type, same fruit, same flavor.

So the whole "Brandy Boy" hybrid thing may finally be busted! And like Suze, I am not getting more fruit from BB than Brandywine. I am getting about 10 each plant, and since Brandy Boy is not quite as good a flavor as BWS, it's really about to make it onto my "why bother" list? Hmm!

Interesting. Sounds like a "why bother" to me, unless it is somehow more disease-resistant or hardy or something.

I did not count fruit last season but I know I got allot more then 10 fruit off each of my bandy boys I want to say over 20 for sure. Well see this year the one plant I am growing just got some hail damage so it might be set back this year.

Brandy Boy is apparently tolerant to VFNT so Verticillium race 1, Fusarium race 1, Nematodes, and TMV. Of course this just means the plant might live 1-2 weeks longer than Brandywine if exposed to those diseases.

I am fairly new to tomatoes but is my assumption the F5 would have the same tolerances then?

If you are going to accept the hypothesis that Brandy Boy is in fact a hybrid, then the F5 may or may not have those tolerances. Dehybridizing a hybrid means accepting a jumble of genes from the grandparent plants. You never know what you're going to get. And since none of us have testing equipment for those 4 diseases, we'll never know.

If you go on the hypothesis that Brandy Boy is, in fact, a stable OP variety, then from the seed packet all the way to 6 generations later, it should be the same, including those disease tolerances.

A bit of clarification and more detail might be in order on my part. :)

First off, BB is a little more productive for me than Brandywine. Not by a huge amount, but it is. Insignificant in my case because I grow so many total plants/varieties, the production of any one particular variety is of little concern to me. However, for those who grow less plants, it may very well be significant to them. Others report a different experience and say BB is a *lot* more productive/dependable for them than Brandywine. Your mileage may vary.

Secondly, I planted out two plants each of BB F1, BB F5, and Brandywine. I did this because two plants seemed a minimum requirement to me in order to be able to make a fair comparison. Just in case anyone was wondering...

Also, don't get me wrong -- even though I raved about how superb the Brandywine (FlipTX) was, the BB F1 and BB F5 are also *very* good tomatoes. The general flavor profile is quite similar to Brandywine, just not quite as intense.

For example, I recently gave a plastic grocery sack full of BB F1 and F5 to a neighbor. This person said these were among the best of the large pink tomatoes they had ever tasted, and they have had some of my homegrown tomatoes gifted to them in the past.

One more thing -- I regularly shake my plants/cages early on in the season to help my plants pollinate. IME, it really does help, especially with the larger fruited PL types that may sometimes have split calyxes (like Brandywine).

In any case, both Brandywine and Brandy Boy are worth a try, and both will continue to make my list every yr.

One thing I didn't do this yr is grow Brandywine Sudduth, and I probably should have to compare to Brandywine (FlipTX). My BW Sud was not very good last yr (as Morgan will attest to), and so I thought I would give this other (unknown) Brandywine strain a try.