Box Car Willie

[brownrexx]

I liked the name of this variety so I bought a plant last year and the resulting tomatoes were not impressive.

I thought that maybe it was weather related so this year I decided to give Box Car Willie another try.

Tomatoes are very large but totally bland while my other varieties grown in the same garden are delicious. I will not grow this one again.

Does anyone else grow this variety? What do you think about it [mention]pepperhead212[/mention]

[pepperhead212]

Box Car Willie didn't produce much for me this season. Tomatoes weren't even very large, and definitely not very flavorful. Definitely not a keeper.

[slugworth]

From seed it was a disappointment also.
Maybe it doesn't like the East coast.

[zendog]

I've grown it from a few different sources and it has been different every time, so I wonder if there are just a lot of bad versions of the seeds floating around. I initially got the variety from Sample Seeds and it was a tasty, reasonably productive medium size tomato, but unfortunately I didn't save seed from them that year. The next year I grew it from another source and it was bland and not very productive. Then last year I grew it from yet a third source and it seemed like it must have been determinate, or just a small plant, and the tomatoes were okay, not great, and not a single one was bigger than maybe 3" in diameter at the most.

I think I got a version from the MMMM that someone had selected for larger fruit, but I didn't try it yet. I'd be curious to hear what others think of teh variety and if there is a good "version" out there. I've seen a lot of people who seem to know tomatoes praising it.

[Sue_CT]

I have really liked BCW in the past and got good production from it, but this year the taste is mediocre. That said, we had 14 inches of rain in July, so not going to throw it out based on this year. If you are looking for huge tomatoes this is not it, but mine tend to be in the 3-4 inch range. Medium tomatoes that are usually blemish free and round. People who want grocery store looking tomatoes like this one. I have a sister who only "likes" red tomatoes. Of coarse in order to determine that you would have to actually be willing to try some that are not red. I should note, the taste was never going to give Brandywine Sudduth a run for its money.

[slugworth]

box car Willie was supposed to be 10-16oz ea

[PlainJane]

A tomato-growing friend here in N. Florida tried it twice and didn’t care for it so I skipped it as well.
More room for Daniel Burson, which is outstanding.

[eyegrotom]

I used to grow BCW every year. I stopped growing it about 3 years ago, not really anything wrong with it, I just discovered better ones.

[brownrexx]

My tomatoes are very large, like in the 1 lb range but they just have no real flavor. The flesh is very dry and has a very bland taste. They are better than supermarket tomatoes but just barely.

[Sue_CT]

Did you have a lot of rain like we did? I can't imagine dry tomatoes this year. I can certainly imagine less flavorful ones, as I have noticed that myself. I put it down to the torrents of rain. But dry tomatoes? That is a head scratcher this year unless your weather was much drier than ours. Even then less water in my experience has meant more flavorful tomatoes, not bland. Go figure.

[brownrexx]

[mention]Sue_CT[/mention] we were dry during July but August has brought us lots and lots of rain. All of my tomatoes are grown in the same garden so are exposed to the same conditions. My Brandywine Suddeth and Red Brandywine are adjacent to BCW and they are juicy and flavorful just like always.

I am definitely done with BCW. It is not worth the space it takes up in my opinion.

[Sue_CT]

No, it was never a competitor for Brandywine Sudduth. It is more along the lines of Early Girl, Big Boy, Better Boy or other reliable performers but ones that are usually grown for production and reliability, not to beat Brandywine in a taste test. If that was what you were after, I can understand your disappointment. Probably similar to what I had after people raving about Big Boy, I think it is. Now I understand it better. Some people will only get one or two tomatoes from a Brandywine and their reaction is on level with yours for BCW because they seem to care more about production and disease resistance. None of those will EVER compare to Brandywine, so if that is what you are looking for, I agree I would look elsewhere.

[peebee]

I grew BCW here on the West coast, where it's always dry. Tried it 3 times, taste was meh. Heard good things about it back in the day, how productive it was etc. Nope.

[brownrexx]

[mention]Sue_CT[/mention] it sounds like you are a Brandywine fan too. It is my favorite tomato. Since production of the Suddeth strain has always been low for me I still grow it but I also grow Red Brandywine which I find to be just as good. It is a smaller tomato but has that wonderful Brandywine taste.

Brandywine is a sweeter tomato and DH prefers an acidic one so his favorite is Jersey Boy which is a cross with one of the Burpee "Boy" tomatoes and Brandywine. He really likes that one and it is always my first ripe slicing tomato.

I grow others besides Brandywine and all are better than BCW so he is gone from the lineup for next year.

[slugworth]

I bought a distressed jersey boy plant the beginning of the month and nursing it back to health on my porch.
It it performs, I will add that to the hybrid brandywine list for next year with big brandy and brandyman.

[brownrexx]

[mention]Sue_CT[/mention] Tonight I picked my first Brandywine Suddeth tomato and I sliced it for dinner so that we could taste it. It was really good as usual but then I told hubby that I only bought BCW because I liked the name so he pulled up Box Car Willie songs on his phone and played them all through dinner.

It was really funny but the music was actually pretty good and now I can't get the Wabash Cannonball song out of my head!

The BCW tomato is still terrible though!