I have been growing different verities of Tomato's for years. I discovered
Heirlooms a couple of years ago. I was so proud to do so well with
Brandywines. I'm not a big Tomato eater but I do like the Pink Brandywine.
I really grow them for my wife and the neighbors.
My wife says grow Celebrities (grow Celebrities) and I do. But isn't there a
Heirloom Tomato that taste just as good if not better then a Celebrity.

Thanks

Bill

If you like Celebrity why on earth would you like to find an heirloom with
the same taste qualities.....Celebrity is super for its desease resistance
and Bush Celebrity is even furher enhanced in this respect...with heirlooms
there is a far greater chance of running into problems.......HW

"Anne Middleton/Harold Walker" wrote in message news:YS7Z9.57666$Ve4.6721@sccrnsc03...
If you like Celebrity why on earth would you like to find an heirloom with
the same taste qualities.....Celebrity is super for its desease resistance
and Bush Celebrity is even furher enhanced in this respect...with heirlooms
there is a far greater chance of running into problems.......HW

It would seem that old threads never die. They even pop back up
almost two years later. Amazing, especially when I found my posts in
the original thread.

In article YS7Z9.57666$Ve4.6721@sccrnsc03,
"Anne Middleton/Harold Walker" wrote:

If you like Celebrity why on earth would you like to find an heirloom with
the same taste qualities.....Celebrity is super for its desease resistance
and Bush Celebrity is even furher enhanced in this respect...with heirlooms
there is a far greater chance of running into problems.......HW



So, if I want a meaty tasty tomato I should consider growing Celebrity
and probably not try Heirloom Amish Brandywine? I only have room for
about six tomato plants and I was going to get the Heirloom brandywine,
but if they have a lot of problems it might not be the best choice.

Heather H. - trying to remind herself that she will have a 1 yr old to
contend with while gardening this year.

So, if I want a meaty tasty tomato I should consider growing Celebrity
and probably not try Heirloom Amish Brandywine? I only have room for
about six tomato plants and I was going to get the Heirloom brandywine,
but if they have a lot of problems it might not be the best choice.

Heather H. - trying to remind herself that she will have a 1 yr old to
contend with while gardening this year.

I would only grow Brandywine as a novelty if you have lots of room.
The best all around tomato is Betterboy--great taste, vigorous grower, large
fruit, widely adapted and the most prolific producer in the tomato family,
disease tolerant for fusarium, verticillium

I grow brandywine and never had problems with it. Not only that, the taste
cannot be beat. I respectfully disagree with Harold Walker. Heirlooms have
been around for many years and have survived all kinds of problems, unlike
hybrids which are touted as being so disease resistant. Besides being around for
years, the taste is delicious, cannot compare it to hybrids.
You will have to experiment to find out what is best for your area and stick to
that.

Heather Husvar wrote:

In article YS7Z9.57666$Ve4.6721@sccrnsc03,
"Anne Middleton/Harold Walker" wrote:

If you like Celebrity why on earth would you like to find an heirloom with
the same taste qualities.....Celebrity is super for its desease resistance
and Bush Celebrity is even furher enhanced in this respect...with heirlooms
there is a far greater chance of running into problems.......HW



So, if I want a meaty tasty tomato I should consider growing Celebrity
and probably not try Heirloom Amish Brandywine? I only have room for
about six tomato plants and I was going to get the Heirloom brandywine,
but if they have a lot of problems it might not be the best choice.

Heather H. - trying to remind herself that she will have a 1 yr old to
contend with while gardening this year.

I respectfully disagree with Harold Walker.????????? No problem at all
with disagreements...we are all entitled to our opinions...and another
comment to follow.......have you ever tried to grow heirlooms in the same
spot year after year after year due to space limitations?.....HW

In article ,
Alice Gamewell wrote:

I grow brandywine and never had problems with it. Not only that, the taste
cannot be beat. I respectfully disagree with Harold Walker. Heirlooms have
been around for many years and have survived all kinds of problems, unlike
hybrids which are touted as being so disease resistant. Besides being around
for
years, the taste is delicious, cannot compare it to hybrids.
You will have to experiment to find out what is best for your area and stick
to
that.

Thanks. I think I'm going to not worry about it so much and get what I
like. I'm in zone 5 so I'm in a nice growing area.

Heather H.

On Wed, 29 Jan 2003 06:44:22 GMT, Alice Gamewell
wrote:

I grow brandywine and never had problems with it. Not only that, the taste
cannot be beat. I respectfully disagree with Harold Walker. Heirlooms have
been around for many years and have survived all kinds of problems, unlike
hybrids which are touted as being so disease resistant. Besides being around for
years, the taste is delicious, cannot compare it to hybrids.
You will have to experiment to find out what is best for your area and stick to
that.


I grew Brandywines in northern Pennsylvania last summer. We
got exactly *TWO* ripe tomatoes from four Brandywine plants.

I would certainly not recommend them to anyone with cool
nights in summer and/or a short growing season.

I will never try Brandywines here again - unless I have a
greenhouse someday. Even so, I don't think I'd grow them
again, they were a disappointment to me in just about all
ways. I didn't find their taste better than - say - Better
Boy either.

Pat
-- Pat Meadows
CLICK DAILY TO FEED THE HUNGRY
United States: http://www.stopthehunger.com/
International: http://www.thehungersite.com/

in article , Frankhartx at
wrote on 1/28/03 8:56 PM:

I would only grow Brandywine as a novelty if you have lots of room.
The best all around tomato is Betterboy--great taste, vigorous grower, large
fruit, widely adapted and the most prolific producer in the tomato family,
disease tolerant for fusarium, verticillium

I have grown both Better Boy and Celebrity. I like them both. To me they
taste pretty much the same. Celebrity is easier to tame in a greenhouse.
Better Boy is so vigorous, that you have to remove suckers diligently if you
do not want to end up with a jungle.

Bill

"Anne Middleton/Harold Walker" wrote in message . net...
I respectfully disagree with Harold Walker.????????? No problem at all
with disagreements...we are all entitled to our opinions...and another
comment to follow.......have you ever tried to grow heirlooms in the same
spot year after year after year due to space limitations?.....HW

While the Brandywines I have grown here have tasted fantastic, they
are very low in production, maybe 10-15 tomatoes per plant per season.
So, I wouldn't recommend them if you don't have much room. There are
several varieties of heirloom tomatoes that produce well and have a
good taste. Mortgage Lifter is very prolific and mine averaged around
24 ounces. The taste beats any hybrid I have found. Delicious also
is prolific and tasty and seems to have some disease resistance.

I think the heirloom versus hybrid question can be solved by
considering what you want out of your tomato plants. If you want
uniformity and disease resistance, by all means grow hybrids. If you
want variety and taste, go with the heirlooms. I usually plant
between 15 and 20 tomato plants each year in a very limited space.
Out of these, only 1 or 2 are hybrids. The only reason I grow hybrids
at all is in case I have a very disease prone year (like last year).
Then, at least, I still have a good number of tomatoes. Despite the
unexpected 50 degree cold snap in June (almost unheard of in TN) and
the excessive rain which made the blights worse than usual (both early
and septoria), I still would have had tomatoes to give away even
without the hybrids.

To avoid planting in the same space year after year, I have two small
patches. I grow cucumbers and melons in one, tomatoes, carrots and
mesclun mix in the other. I rotate the crops back and forth each
year. It would be better to have three patches to have an extra year
but it is usually no problem. I also heavily amend the soil with
homemade compost, greensand, gypsum and rock phosphate and have had
pretty good luck as well growing in compost with no soil at all. If
you try this yourself, be sure to check the pH of your compost as it
can be highly variable depending on what went into it.

Lee Hall
South end of Zone 6B in Tennessee

Bill.......you certainly started something with this one....I have been
growing tomatoes for over 60 years and have never (yet ) been with a group
of more than one person that could agree on the best tomato. Harold the
Immigrant.

From: Repeating Decimal

Better Boy is so vigorous, that you have to remove suckers diligently if you
do not want to end up with a jungle.

Bill

Why bother to grow a huge producer if you are going to curtail production by
removing suckers? All you need is a nice big cage and let the world's champion
producer, produce.

I am curious if someone has grown both (big boy) and (better boy) and would
be willing to give information about their preference as to the best
selection of the two. Thanks

On Wed, 29 Jan 2003 12:11:21 GMT,since it's all about me
"Anne Middleton/Harold Walker" professed:

Harold...would you please include some attributes with your
posts so that it is clear to whom you're responding? An
attribute, in case you're not sure, is that little tag at
the top of this message that tells anyone who is reading
that I'm responding to you.

I respectfully disagree with Harold Walker.????????? No problem at all
with disagreements...we are all entitled to our opinions...and another
comment to follow.......have you ever tried to grow heirlooms in the same
spot year after year after year due to space limitations?.....HW

Yes.

At my old house I had exactly one spot that got enough sun
for tomatoes and peppers. It was about 12 feet long and 3
feet wide. I grew heirloom and open pollinated tomatoes
there for 14 years with no problems.

At my new place I have lots and lots of sun, but The War
of The Thrips is raging. Last summer, I lost most of my
tomatoes by mid-July because thrip damage was followed
by a succession of diseases. The two varieties that came
through war still producing were Brandywine and Arkansas
Traveler.

The only bell peppers that survived, in case you're
interested, were a Polish heirloom, Buran, Geeez, those
are tough little pepper plants! They produced in the hottest
part of the summer and in the cool, cool fall. (Seeds or
plants are available at www.seedsavers.com)

The many varieties of hot peppers kicked Thrip butt.


Pam


--
"Maybe you'd like to ask the Wizard for a heart."
"ElissaAnn"