My brandywines are going nuts!

Denese 8/7/2014, 10:09 am

These are on 2 plants in a new bed I built this year! They're still putting on new tomatoes, as well. Keep waiting for these big ones to start turning red, but they just keep getting bigger! I've never seen leaves this big on a tomato! By the way, anyone know what that bug is in the upper right of the 3rd picture down? Never had too many bug issues, except for the occasional aphid grouping. Should I be worried?

landarch 8/7/2014, 10:52 am

very nice...this has been a really good year for tomatoes. I've picked several large Brandywines, Krim, and Cherokee Purple...lovely large slices completely cover a BLT.

yolos 8/7/2014, 11:36 am

Beautiful. Don't have an answer for the bug. In the first picture, the branch that is hanging down with the Brandywines is partially broken so the tomatoes on that stem should start to ripen fairly soon. Be careful, those are humongous tomatoes and the branches may need to be supported to keep them from bending down and crimping or breaking.

greatgranny 8/7/2014, 12:17 pm

Brandywines are my favorite. Yes, they get huge and yes, one only needs one slice to make a sandwich.

You have a great harvest due soon.

Denese 8/7/2014, 12:31 pm

yolos wrote:Beautiful. Don't have an answer for the bug. In the first picture, the branch that is hanging down with the Brandywines is partially broken so the tomatoes on that stem should start to ripen fairly soon. Be careful, those are humongous tomatoes and the branches may need to be supported to keep them from bending down and crimping or breaking.

Thanks, yolos. It's actually been that way for some time, so I don't think they're going to ripen any sooner. The stem underneath the crack is still really thick. How should I support them?

Windmere 8/7/2014, 1:29 pm

Denese, congratulations on having raised such beautiful tomatoes. I know you will very much "enjoy the fruits of you labor." If you are up for it, please post more photos as you garden continues to produce.

cheers

yolos 8/7/2014, 3:57 pm

Denese wrote:
yolos wrote:Beautiful. Don't have an answer for the bug. In the first picture, the branch that is hanging down with the Brandywines is partially broken so the tomatoes on that stem should start to ripen fairly soon. Be careful, those are humongous tomatoes and the branches may need to be supported to keep them from bending down and crimping or breaking.

Thanks, yolos. It's actually been that way for some time, so I don't think they're going to ripen any sooner. The stem underneath the crack is still really thick. How should I support them?

If you try to do anything with the branch that is already partially cracked, it may just break all the way off so I am not sure I would do anything with it. But in the future, when I have a branch with heavy fruit that has the potential to break, I use the method of wrapping the branch with twine (starting near the tomato closest to the main stem and wrapping around the branch until I get past the last tomato) and tying it up to the trellis. For just that branch. Kind of like the single stem method where they twine the string around the main stem but in this case you would only tie it around the branch. I'm not sure I explained that very well. Sorry. I have also put a stake in the ground near the branch and tied the branch up to the stake.

Judy McConnell 8/7/2014, 5:31 pm

The insect is called either the two-horned treehopper or two-horned leafhopper.

It's food is usually tree or woody weed plants.

http://www.americaninsects.net/h/ceresa-diceros.html

TCgardening 8/7/2014, 7:45 pm

WOW! what great looking maters! It's really hard to get the bigger varieties to do well here.
Being a former Michigan Dutchman I remember Dad growing them like that back in Grand Ledge.

Denese 8/7/2014, 8:12 pm

Thank you all for the great compliments. This is the first year I've actually grown Brandywine's, so I'm really excited. Especially considering my Roma's aren't doing their best this year. I don't think I amended the bed with enough compost.

Thank you, Judy for the bug research. I don't think I'll need to worry about that one, then.

FeedMeSeeMore 8/9/2014, 2:48 pm

Those are very healthy looking plants. I got a few extremely large ones off the one I planted that never hinted at turning red and when they started to crack a little I brought them inside and put them in a dark spot. They immediately started to turn red/pink.

**AtlantaMarie** 8/9/2014, 4:30 pm

Awesome, Denese!

Sunsanvil 9/2/2014, 9:47 am

Denese wrote:
Should I be worried?

I wouldn't. In fact, I'd be thrilled if mine looked like yours.

This is my second year for trying to grow brandywine and have gotten exactly ZERO viable fruits out of the effort.

landarch 9/3/2014, 2:12 pm

save some seeds!

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