Brandy Boy F1 could be compared with Brandywine and Better Boy F1 could be compared with Big Boy F1, both share a common parent, as well as some of the other earliest bred ones such as Ramapo F1, Jet Star F1, Supersonic F1 and Moreton Hybrid,

But whatever works best for you is just fine.

Carolyn

I have no idea how Ramapo F1, Jet Star F1, Supersonic F1 and Moreton Hybrid taste or will tolerate the Wyoming climate but thanks for the suggestions - I will add them to the list. I appreciate the good advice - I am learning good stuff everyday on this gardenweb forum from friends as you!

Heck - I am just a Wyoming cowboy that happens to enjoy growing the best possible tomato in this frigid climate - haha. Oh by the way - if anyone reading this thread is contemplating growing Better Boy or Brandy Boy - I hope the photos I posted will help you decide!

All these new hybrids sure does make it difficult to decide which variety to plant - nice problem to have though.

Hmmmm, I've read a lot about not putting maters in the fridge as it "Kills the flavor", (Paraphrasing).

I must admit, I've never compared maters that have been in fridge with ones than have not, maybe the fridge makes maters taste bad is "An old wive's tale"?????

I do know that I prefer my mater juice, the colder the better.

I guess I will havta try that with maters and see for myself.

Gary

I am definitely with you when it comes to tomato juice! To each his own!

About refrigeration: I do not know if something chemically happens or not but to me all the fruits taste best at room temperature or even slightly warmer. Because, in part, that is how and where they grow. When the fruits are too cold(45F?) they numb the taste sensors in the mouth so you can not get and feel the true taste. Just my personal view.

Northernmn - We are in similar zones - It took some effort to get tomatoes so early in our zone - but it was fun doing it!
Here is the short story: Planted seeds indoors under lights the last week of January - Moved to unheated GH on March 10th - covered seedlings in GH with frost blankets - kept seedlings above 40 degrees under the frost blanket with light bulbs on a timer at night - removed frost blanket on sunny days.

As the plants grew, we had to change the frost blanket supports to accommodate - the outside temps became warmer (32 degrees and colder instead of 0 degrees and colder) - so the light bulbs were still able to keep the plants above 40 degrees in the GH.

Finally the plants grew so tall that we had to remove all protection in the GH to allow them to climb - at that point we used an electric space heater on nights when outside temps were below 25 degrees - the GH kept the plants above 40 degrees without heat above 25 degrees.

There you have it - it worked for us and now we are enjoying nice ripe tomatoes in this frigid beautiful Wyoming in June! We planted 5 varieties - German Giant, Better Boy, Brandy Boy, Super Marzano and Sweet Baby Girl.

Happy results from some early effort. Next year we plan to start the seeds the middle of February and delay the process two weeks - (we think we will have similar outcome - although the plants were always healthy and never appeared stressed) - because the cold weather (sub-zero temps) slowed down the growth process some back in February.

Amerique: Yes - there was therapeutic benefits from opening our GH on March 10th. The photo you are referring to was taken on March 12, 2013. Snow is expected here in Wyoming (zone 3) through May and last frost is forecast by the end of May - but we always get subfreezing temps in June it seems ------- I just can't wait that long!!! I have to start tinkering with grow lights in January and lighting up the GH in March - haha. It proved worth it though because we are now enjoying a bumper crop of tomatoes! Thanks for your comments.