Brandywine tomatoes are the quintessential summer-slicing heirloom tomato. These are the big beauties we envision when it comes to classic, old-fashioned tomato varieties beloved in the garden and the kitchen, from tomato sandwiches to Caprese salads and topping burgers right off the grill.
These are the best-known heirloom vegetable for good reason. The hefty fruits are large and meaty in red, pink, yellow, and orange shades. They feature exceptional, flavor-rich, sweet, and slightly spicy fruits – characteristic of the variety and a gold standard for other tomatoes.
Characteristics
‘Brandywine’ produces 10 to 30 ounce fruits on productive plants. The fruits are dense and “meaty.” Some yield fruits up to two pounds—that’s a lot of tomato! As an indeterminate plant, The vines reach six feet long or more. Indeterminate tomato plants grow and produce fruit all season until frost.
‘Brandywine’ produces fruit late in the season, about 76 to 100 days after plants go into the ground.
How to plant Brandywine Tomato
🧑🌾Sowing: Sow the seeds in a suitable seedling pot. You can use general seed starting soil or vermiculite cultivation soil, make sure the soil is moist but not too wet.
☀️Keep warm and moist: Tomato seeds require relatively high temperature and humidity to germinate.
🌱Wait for germination: Tomato seeds usually take 7 to 9 days to germinate.
🍅Transplanting seedlings: When the tomato seedlings grow to a certain height (generally 6 to 8 cm), they can be transplanted into a larger pot or planted directly in the soil.
☀️ Provide plenty of sunlight and support: Make sure they receive 6 to 8 hours of sunlight per day.
💧 Regular watering and fertilization: Black tomato plants need to keep the soil moist, but not too wet. Regular watering and the right amount of fertilizer will help promote plant growth and fruit development.
Harvesting
- Leave garden tomatoes on the vine as long as possible.
- Harvest tomatoes when they are firm and very red, regardless of size, with perhaps some yellow remaining around the stem. Harvest tomatoes of other colors (orange, yellow, purple, or another rainbow shade) when they turn the correct color.
- If temperatures start to drop and your tomatoes aren’t ripening, use one of these methods:
- Pull up the entire plant, brush off dirt, remove foliage, and hang the plant upside down in a basement or garage.
- Place mature, pale green tomatoes, stem up in a paper bag and loosely seal it. Or wrap them in newspaper and place in a cardboard box. Store in a cool (55°F to 70°F), dark place. Cooler temperatures slow ripening; warmth speeds it. Check weekly and remove soft, spotted, diseased, or ripe fruit.
- Never place tomatoes on a sunny windowsill to ripen. They may rot before they are ripe!
