Brandywine Tomato Plant:
Growing the Classic Heirloom Beefsteak
★ SaveThe Brandywine tomato plant grows some of the biggest, best-tasting tomatoes you can raise at home. It's an old heirloom beefsteak, loved for its rich, sweet, old-fashioned flavor.
Brandywines aren't the easiest tomatoes to grow. They are slow to ripen and don't make many tomatoes per plant. But one bite of a sun-warmed Brandywine, sliced thick on a sandwich, and most gardeners decide it's worth the wait.
From My Garden
We have grown many heirloom tomatoes over the years, including Brandywine. Yellow Brandywine is one of our favorites. The tomatoes are often huge, perfect for slicing thick for our favorite sandwiches. The flavor and texture are both amazing. You will find nothing like it in a store-bought tomato.
Our favorite summer salad is red and yellow Brandywine tomatoes, English cucumbers, and fresh onions from the garden, tossed with a bit of mayonnaise, lemon juice, sour cream, and sugar.
Charlotte
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About the Brandywine Tomato Plant
Brandywine is an indeterminate tomato. The vines keep growing and setting fruit until frost, usually reaching 6 to 9 feet tall, so give each plant a tall cage or a sturdy stake.
Most Brandywine plants have smooth-edged "potato leaves" instead of the usual jagged tomato leaves, which makes them easy to spot in the garden.
The tomatoes are big. Most weigh 1 to 1½ pounds, and a few reach 2 pounds. The first ripe ones come about 80 to 100 days after transplanting, later than most tomatoes, and each plant makes fewer of them.
As the story goes, Brandywine dates back to the 1880s and is named for Brandywine Creek in Pennsylvania. Because it's an open-pollinated heirloom, you can save the seeds, and they'll grow true to type next year.
Brandywine tomato colors
The original Brandywine is pink, but there are now several colors, all large heirloom beefsteaks with the same long season.
| Type | Color | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Pink Brandywine | Rosy pink-red | The original and the one most gardeners mean. Rich, sweet, complex flavor. |
| Red Brandywine | Bright red | A classic red slicing tomato, with a little more tang than the pink. |
| Yellow Brandywine | Golden orange | Mild, sweet, and low in acid. Beautiful sliced with red tomatoes. |
| Black Brandywine | Dusky purple-brown | Deep, smoky flavor, a little like Cherokee Purple. |
When to Plant Brandywine Tomatoes
Start Brandywine seeds indoors 6 to 8 weeks before your last spring frost. Or buy plants at the garden center a week or two before planting time.
Plant them outdoors once the danger of frost is past and nights stay above 50°F. Keep covers handy for cold nights.
Brandywine planting dates by zone
Find your zone below. Don't know it? Our free Zone Finder looks it up from your zip code.
| Your zone | Start seeds indoors | Plant outdoors | First ripe Brandywines | Average first fall frost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 3 | Late March to mid April | Early to mid June | Mid August to late September | Early to mid September |
| Zone 4 | Mid March to early April | Late May to early June | Early August to mid September | Late September to early October |
| Zone 5 | Early to late March | Early to late May | Late July to early September | Early October |
| Zone 6 | Late February to mid March | Late April to early May | Mid July to mid August | Mid October |
| Zone 7 | Early to late February | Mid to late April | Early July to early August | Late October to early November |
| Zone 8 | Mid January to mid February | Late March to early April | Early June to mid July | Early to mid November |
| Zone 9 | Late December to mid January | Late February to mid March | Mid May to late June | Early to mid December |
Watch your season length. In zones 3 and 4, the first ripe Brandywines can arrive close to the first fall frost. Start with large, sturdy transplants, use a warm, sunny spot, and be ready to cover the plants on cold nights. Or grow one Brandywine for flavor and an earlier tomato for a dependable harvest.
In zones 8 and 9, Brandywines often stop setting fruit in the summer heat. Plant as early as you safely can, so the tomatoes set before the hottest weather.
How to Plant and Grow Brandywine Tomatoes
- Choose a sunny spot. Brandywines need at least 8 hours of full sun a day.
- Enrich the soil. Work in a few inches of compost. Tomatoes like rich, well-drained soil with a pH of about 6.0 to 6.8.
- Plant deep. Remove the lower leaves and bury two-thirds of the stem. The buried stem grows roots, and the plant grows stronger.
- Give them room. Space plants about 3 feet apart so air can move around the big vines.
- Put the support in now. Set the cage or stake when you plant, so you don't damage the roots and branches later.
- Water deeply and evenly. Give about 1 to 2 inches a week, and mulch the soil to keep the moisture steady. Uneven watering cracks the big fruit.
- Feed lightly. Compost at planting is a good start. Side-dress with a balanced organic fertilizer when the first tomatoes are the size of a golf ball. Too much nitrogen makes leaves instead of tomatoes. See our tomato fertilizer guide.
Supporting Brandywine Tomato Plants
Brandywine vines are big and heavy, so they need strong support. Small store-bought cages are usually too short. Use a tall, sturdy cage, a strong stake, or a trellis.
To make a trellis, string sturdy wire between posts. Plant on one side and weave twine through the wire to tie up the stems as the plants grow. Keeping the vines off the ground lets air move through the plants and cuts down on soil-splash diseases like early blight.
Tomato corrals for a long row
If you have a lot of tomatoes to support, corral them instead of tying each one. Set a stake every 10 feet along the row and plant the tomatoes 2 feet apart. Then rope them in with seam binding, baler twine, or strips of old sheets.
- Tie the rope to the first stake in the row.
- Run it down one side of the plants to the next stake.
- Wrap it around that stake and lead it out on the other side of the plants.
- Keep going in this zigzag pattern to the end of the row.
- Work your way back up the row, so the plants are enclosed on both sides.
- As the plants grow taller, add another layer of rope higher on the stakes.
Pruning is optional. Removing some of the side shoots (suckers) gives you fewer, but often larger, tomatoes, and lets more air into the plant. In a small garden, pruning to two or three main stems keeps the vines manageable.
Common Brandywine Tomato Problems
Most Brandywine problems come from its big fruit and long season. Like most heirlooms, it has little disease resistance, so good care is the best protection.
| Problem | Cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Flowers drop, no tomatoes | Heat: days above about 90°F or warm nights | Normal in hot spells. The plant sets fruit again when the weather cools. Plant early in hot climates. |
| Few tomatoes per plant | Brandywine's nature | Expect a handful of big tomatoes, not dozens. Grow an extra plant or two. |
| Cracks around the top | Uneven watering, or heavy rain on ripening fruit | Water deeply and evenly, and mulch. Pick nearly ripe fruit before a heavy rain. |
| Scarred, lumpy bottoms (catfacing) | Cool weather when the first flowers form | Common on big heirlooms. Cut away the scarred part; the rest is fine to eat. |
| Brown spots on lower leaves | Early blight or Septoria leaf spot | Water at the base, mulch, remove spotted lower leaves, and rotate where you plant tomatoes. |
| Yellow leaves | Many causes | See why tomato leaves turn yellow. |
Harvesting Brandywine Tomatoes
A ripe pink Brandywine is deep pink-red all over and gives slightly when you squeeze it gently. Yellow Brandywines turn golden orange, and black ones turn dusky purple-brown.
The shoulders around the stem may ripen last. If rain or cracking is a problem, you can pick Brandywines when they are about half colored and let them finish on the kitchen counter, out of the sun. They'll still taste wonderful.
At the end of the season, bring in the green ones before frost and ripen them indoors. Store ripe tomatoes on the counter, not in the refrigerator, for the best flavor.
Saving Brandywine Tomato Seeds
Save seeds from your best Brandywines, and share them with friends. Over the years, your own seed becomes well suited to your garden. Tomato seeds sit in a gel coating, so they need a few days of fermenting before you dry them.
- Pick a fully ripe tomato from a healthy plant. Slice it in half and scoop the seeds and pulp into a clean glass jar.
- Add about ¼ cup of water and set the jar in an out-of-the-way spot at room temperature, about 70 to 80°F.
- Stir once or twice a day for 2 to 4 days.
- When a layer of mold forms on top and most of the seeds have sunk to the bottom, add water to double the mixture and stir well.
- Pour off the floating pulp and seeds. The good seeds stay at the bottom.
- Rinse the seeds in a strainer and spread them on a plate or a piece of window screen to dry for about a week.
- Store the dry seeds in a labeled paper envelope in a cool, dry place.
Don't ferment too long. The warm, wet jar is perfect for sprouting, and you can end up with sprouted seeds! Make a seed packet for your saved seeds with our free printable seed packets.
Brandywine Tomato Plant Questions
- How tall does a Brandywine tomato plant grow?
- Brandywine plants usually grow 6 to 9 feet tall. Give each plant a tall cage or a sturdy stake at planting time.
- Is Brandywine determinate or indeterminate?
- Brandywine is indeterminate. The vines keep growing and ripen a few tomatoes at a time until frost.
- How big do Brandywine tomatoes get?
- Most weigh 1 to 1½ pounds, and some reach 2 pounds.
- How long does it take Brandywine tomatoes to ripen?
- About 80 to 100 days after transplanting, which is longer than most tomatoes. See the planting dates by zone above.
- Why isn't my Brandywine setting fruit?
- Hot weather is the usual cause. When days are above about 90°F or nights stay warm, the flowers drop without making tomatoes. They set again when the weather cools.
- Can I grow Brandywine in a container?
- Yes, but it needs a big one: at least 15 to 20 gallons, with a tall, strong cage. Water often. See growing tomatoes in containers.
- Can I save Brandywine seeds?
- Yes. Brandywine is an open-pollinated heirloom, so saved seeds grow true to type. See the seed saving steps above.
More Tomato Growing Guides
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