Brandywine vs Mortgage Lifter
Two legendary pink beefsteaks with very different origin stories.
| Brandywine | Mortgage Lifter | |
|---|---|---|
| Breeding | Heirloom | Heirloom |
| Growth habit | Indeterminate | Indeterminate |
| Days to maturity | 80-100 | 80-85 |
| Fruit color | pink | pink |
| Fruit size class | beefsteak | beefsteak |
| Typical weight | 12-24 oz | 16-32 oz |
| Primary uses | slicing | slicing |
| Introduced | 1889 | - |
| Documented resistances | 0 | 0 |
| Saves true from seed | Yes | Yes |
Measured against each other
These two have never been grown in the same trial AMSeed holds. Every difference in the table above is a difference between what each variety's own sources say about it, which is not the same as a difference between the varieties. Two catalogs counting days from different starting points, or reporting fruit weight from different seasons and soils, can differ by more than the seed does.
Where head-to-head measurements do exist: the trial record · what else we do not know
Disease resistance
Brandywine
No documented resistance, typical of older open-pollinated varieties.
Mortgage Lifter
No documented resistance, typical of older open-pollinated varieties.
Traits
Both: Heirloom, Open-Pollinated, Indeterminate, Pink, Beefsteak, Late Season, Slicing
Only Brandywine
Nothing unique in the recorded traits.
Only Mortgage Lifter
Nothing unique in the recorded traits.
Origins
Brandywine
The most famous American heirloom tomato: a pink beefsteak associated with Amish growers and first commercialized by Johnson & Stokes of Philadelphia in 1889. Its potato-leaf vines and rich, intense flavor made it the benchmark against which heirloom taste is still measured.
Mortgage Lifter
Developed in the 1930s-40s by M.C. 'Radiator Charlie' Byles of Logan, West Virginia, who crossed his four biggest tomatoes for six years, then sold plants for a dollar apiece and paid off his mortgage, the origin story is documented in recorded family interviews. Huge meaty pink fruit.
More: all comparisons · every tomato variety · filter the full database
Sources & References
Evidence: 5 sources, 3 seed catalogs and 2 community collections. No independent reference documents this yet.
- Seed Savers Exchange catalog & variety histories · Seed Savers Exchange, Community Collection
- Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog · Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co., Seed Catalog
- Tomato Growers Supply catalog · Tomato Growers Supply Company, Seed Catalog
- Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners · Cornell University Cooperative Extension, Community Collection
- Victory Seeds variety histories · Victory Seed Company, Seed Catalog