Brandywine
Heirloom tomato
- Breeding
- Heirloom
- Growth habit
- Indeterminate
- Days to maturity
- 80-100 days 4 sources, none independent · basis unstated
- Fruit
- pink, beefsteak
- Weight
- 12-24 oz 4 sources, none independent
- Bred by
- -
Grey captions say what stands behind that particular figure. Breeding, growth habit and fruit characters carry no caption because they rest on the record's sources as a whole rather than citing their own; closing that gap is ordinary outstanding work, not a finished job.
Also known as
| Name | Kind | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Brandywine (Pink) | Synonym | Disambiguating form used where several Brandywines are offered. |
Commonly confused with
These are different varieties. A name shared between them does not make them the same seed.
- different variety
Red Brandywine
A separate red-fruited, regular-leaf Brandywine line, not a colour variant of the pink one.
- different variety
Yellow Brandywine
A distinct potato-leaf yellow-orange beefsteak, not the pink Brandywine.
- different variety
OTV Brandywine
OTV is a stabilised chance cross found in a trial garden, not the original Brandywine.
- different variety
Brandywine, Sudduth's Strain
Sudduth's is a specific preserved strain; generic Brandywine seed may be any line.
Origin & history
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.
Measurements
| Measurement | Value | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Days to maturity | 80-100 days | Consensus range across the cited sources, which include both independent references and commercial catalogs. |
| Fruit weight | 12-24 oz | Typical range for the cultivar, as a consensus across the cited sources. Not a measured mean from any single crop: fruit weight varies with season, spacing and where on the plant the fruit set. |
Against the rest of the tomato database
Where this variety sits among every tomato we hold a comparable figure for. Position is not merit: earlier is not better than later, and hotter is not better than milder. Only cultivar-level figures are compared, never trial results, and maturity is only ranked against figures counted the same way.
later than 98% of the 258 tomatoes we hold a figure for. None of these figures state whether they are counted from sowing or from transplant, so they are ranked against each other on the assumption that suppliers use one convention, which is not something any of them says.
heavier than 71% of the 72 tomatoes we hold a figure for.
Traits
Disease resistance
No documented disease resistance, typical of heirlooms and older open-pollinated varieties. See tomato diseases for the cultural playbook that fills the gap.
Related varieties
- heirloom
Aunt Ginny's Purple
78-85 days · Indeterminate
- heirloom
Brandywine, Sudduth's Strain
85-95 days · Indeterminate
- heirloom
Hungarian Heart
80-85 days · Indeterminate
- heirloom
Marianna's Peace
85-90 days · Indeterminate
- heirloom
Mortgage Lifter
80-85 days · Indeterminate
- heirloom
Omar's Lebanese
80-90 days · Indeterminate
Head to head
Explore all tomato varieties · compare any two · when to plant it where you are
Sources & References
Evidence: 4 sources, 2 community collections and 2 seed catalogs. 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