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Old May 6, 2016   #31
Yak54
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You obviously have the knowledge & skills to grow tomatoes very well ! Also your talent with the camera is awesome ! Thanks for the outstanding pics.
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Old May 6, 2016   #32
garyjr
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Hudson, great production. Curious, do you start seed in the bed or in flats under lights? If the latter, when do you plant in the bed? During what stages do you use artificial lighting? Reason for all the questions is I am planning a greenhouse build but just not sure there is enough natural light early in the year for tomato's, or for that matter late in the year. Thanks
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Old May 6, 2016   #33
Hudson_WY
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Thanks Yak54!

Gary - I started my seeds this year on January 1st in the house under grow lights on a germination heating pad. I plant them in the GH when I think they are large enough - this year is was the third week in January. The only light they get once they are in the GH is the sun!! If we have a long period of storms - they get a little leggy but seem to quickly correct when we have sunny days. I use light bulbs and frost blankets to keep them at 60 degrees at night when outside temps vary from -30 degrees to 10 degrees durning January and February. I heat the GH to 30 degrees with our Modine Propane Heater. During the day the GH is 50 - 100 degrees when the sun is out but I set our venting system at 85 degrees.

I was worried about the plants getting enough sun January - March but this year (our first year heating the GH) the plants did very well - I will plant early again. When the plants grow taller than the blanket supports - I remove everything (blanket supports, frost blanket, light bulbs) and set the thermostat on our Modine heater to 50 degrees and heat the entire GH. When the plants start with blossoms I increase the thermostat to 60 degrees. I plan to grow a second crop this year into December. We are in Zone 3 - not sure how that compares with your zone but we have very harsh and stormy winters!!
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Old May 6, 2016   #34
AKmark
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Thanks for sharing your pics, I enjoy them a lot.
I used to grow BB, and it is very good, but I prefer BW Sudduth's for taste, and now only grow them for my BW selection, even though BB does yield a bit more.
Looks like you are enjoying your hard work, your setup looks great, and we love the tomato pics.
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Old May 6, 2016   #35
Hudson_WY
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Hi Mark,
I can see why you would change from Brandy Boy to Brandywine Sudduth. I was ready to give up on Brandywine anything Heirloom until I planted the Sudduth Strain this year. I'm impressed! Currently my Brandy Boys have 50 tomatoes on the vine - Big Brandy 40 - Brandywine Sudduth strain 30 - and Brandywine OTV - 14 tomatoes. I haven't tasted the OTV yet because none of them have ripened. I love the taste of Brandywine Sudduth, Brandy Boy and Big Brandy!! I agree that Brandywine Sudduth has the edge when it comes to taste. I like the idea of saving seeds from Brandywine Sudduth and plan to plant it again next year. Brandy Boy and Big Brandy are very similar - I am not sure if I will plant both of them again next year. OTV will have to taste very awesome to compensate for the poor production in our GH - we have limited space! Brandywine OTV got a slow start - it did not like the colder temperatures when compared to the others!
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Old May 6, 2016   #36
Hudson_WY
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Brandy Boy has the same great look on the inside - that you would expect from a Brandywine!! The taste is awesome - IMO
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Old May 6, 2016   #37
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Would you say this is better and tastier than the famous Big Beef that's been so highly praised here in TV?
Never grew a large hybrid before, perhaps I'll have to give one of these a try one day.
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Old May 6, 2016   #38
Hudson_WY
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Hi Narnian - I'll know in about a week - I have never tasted Big Beef and grew it for the first time this year. I am impressed with Big Beef's production and aggressive growth! I have a couple of Big Beef that are finally blushing. I can tell you that it is hard for me to tell the difference between Brandywine Sudduth, Brandy Boy and Big Brandy they all taste wonderful!! My wife can tell the difference and thinks BW Sudduth is just a little bit better than Brandy Boy and Big Brandy. You really should try either Brandy Boy or Big Brandy Hybrid - they are both about the same except Brandy Boy is PL and Big Brandy is RL. They are both heavy producers for us!
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Old May 6, 2016   #39
My Foot Smells
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Beautiful, heckofa job. Thx
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Old May 7, 2016   #40
garyjr
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Hudson, thanks for the detailed response and pictures. More motivation to get my greenhouse built.

Gary
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Old May 7, 2016   #41
GreenSand117
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Wow, your Brandy Boys look amazing. I tried them in 2011 and had poor results even though that was a very good tomato year for me. Maybe I will have to give them another try. Your pictures are beautiful by the way. Thanks for sharing this.
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Old May 7, 2016   #42
Hudson_WY
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Here's todays harvest of Brandy Boys!

GreenSand - If you didn't have success with Brandy Boy - you may want to try Big Brandy. Big Brandy is very similar to Brandy Boy in production, size & Taste. The last two photos are of Big Brandy. About the only difference is the leaf type - Brandy Boy is PL and Big Brandy is RL - IMO
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Old May 8, 2016   #43
NarnianGarden
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Your pictures are stunning. Has anyone approached you about using them commercially?
Burpee should pay you heftily for such beauties!
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Old May 8, 2016   #44
Hudson_WY
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Thanks Narnian! I am writing an article for a regional garden magazine right now for the fall - I am not sure if the will use my photos and text - but at least they asked me to write one. Burpee is legally using my photo for the Highlander Onion in their current magazine. Dixondale Farms has our permission to use our photos in their onion catalogs (which they do). Our garden has been featured in a couple of our local newspaper spreads (photo below). And - I am in the process writing and self publishing a greenhouse/garden book (another garden book - haha) with lots of photos to show to publishers. If there is no interest - that's fine - I just have an interest in doing it. We live in a unique climate for gardening and it is possible to have a successful garden but not by methods used in warmer zones!
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Old May 8, 2016   #45
Hudson_WY
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Here's a couple of other photos from Burpee and Dixondale Farms - FYI

You can tell that I do enjoy taking garden photos !
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