Brandywine, Cowlick's and others

[Randall]

the tomato plants are coming along fairly well, but Cowlick's is blowing me away with the number of blossoms and set fruit.

[jhp]

Your Cowlick's look awesome! I'm growing it for the first time this year. Did you do anything special to get all those blossoms??? Or is it always like that?

Jen

[mysidx]

I grew it for the first time this year and both my plants have been productive. I have noticed that they split very easily, so try and water evenly.

[jhp]

Thanks for the tip! I hope mine are as productive. Nothing to report yet here, as I just planted out 2 weeks ago.

Jen

[Randall]

Thanks for the tip! @ jhp - I put all of my plants through cold treatment this year, which is supposed to increase flowering and fruit production. As far as i can tell, it has really made a difference!

[remy]

Great looking plants! All those Cowlick blooms and fruit makes me want to give it a try. Have you grown regular Brandywine? Brandywine has always be a big disappointment for me.
What cold treatment did you give them?
Remy

[PA_Julia]

Excellent looking!!
Thanks for sharing.


Julia

[PaulF]

Cowlick's is on the menu for next year.

[Randall]

@Remy - Thank you. I've grown Pink Brandywine and Sudduth. I got a much better yield from Sudduth. It's still a bit early but so far, Cowlick's appears to be stomping the Sudduth plants. This is my first time growing Cowlick's so i'm pretty excited. It may be one for you to try, Remy. From what I understand, it produces a bit earlier than the other Brandywines

As far as cold treatment, I kept all of my plants @ ~50 degrees F day and night for 2 weeks. I tried it with just 10 plants last year and it really made a huge difference in the number of fruits set on the first 2-3 trusses. I'm definitely a fan of cold treatment now!

@ PA Julia - Thanks!

[remy]

Thanks for the info!
Remy

[GaryStPaul]

Looking great! At what point do you start the two-week cold treatment?

[Randall]

Gary, I began cold treatment right after the second set of true leaves appeared. It's good to start the plants 2 weeks earlier than normal to account for the slower growth during the 2 weeks of cold treatment.

[camochef]

While I've never tried any type of Cold Treatment, my Cowlick's have always outproduced all other Brandywines almost every year. The very first year, which was a phenomenal year here for tomatoes, the original plant produced over a hundred lbs of tomatoes. From the first three ripe ones on June 27 till the last ripe ones on Nov 1. Have never had another year that was that great but they still do better than other Brandywines.
The next closest variety has been Brandywine-Glicks which tastes just as good but not quite as productive, although the past few years its been the closest rival.
The Brandywine-Cowlick's R.L. from Jon in Alabama has been producing ripe tomatoes about a week to ten days earlier than my Original Cowlick's BW-P.L. and last year lasted longer than my Cowlick's. (Last year was a terrible year here for tomatoes, and my best variety was Purple Dog Creek which put everything else to shame, including all my different Brandywines, including the Black Brandywines and True Black Brandywines. The closest competition came from Liz Birt, one of the Brandywine/Cherokee Purple crosses.
Over the years, The only other varieties to produce numbers of tomatoes like my Original Cowlick's have been Indian Stripe and Sun-Gold and neither one of them produce such large sized tomatoes.
Cowlicks are also heavy feeders and require plenty of nutrients. I always cage mine and prune off anything that even comes close to the ground. This also allows for good airflow to help keep them healthy.
Wishing you the very best with yours and,
ENJOY!
Camo

[Randall]

Thanks, Camo! I set out Cowlick's, Sudduth's, and Pink Brandywine for comparison. Also growing Gary'O Sena, Vorlon, and Amazon Chocolate PL to compare. I hope with several of each and a few other varieties for a total of 50 plants, i'll start to be able to get a good feel for which ones like it best in my part of the world.

[camochef]

Randall,
Sounds like they're in good company. May I suggest keeping a garden journal. Everything from planting dates, harvesting dates, weather conditions, diseases or lack thereof, yields, etc. I keep them for each year, believe me, ten or fifteen years down the road you won't remember all the pertinent information without refering to your journals...at least I couldn't. Then too, I've been doing this for over 50 years, so I'm bound to be a little forgetful.
Enjoy!
Camo