I have a better boy and a brandy boy (better boy/brandywine hybrid) growing in the same earthbox. This provides for good comparison between the two, as the earthbox provides steady water, and the nutrients are the same for both plants.

Regardless, I’ve recently had to cull most of the fruit off brandy boys, because they were showing blossom-end rot (BER). The better boy had more than twice the fruit to start with, and had no BER.

Now, it is still really early in the season for either of these to be bearing fruit, so I’m not too put off by the early rot problems on the brandy boy, but it does suggest the strain may be more prone to calcium issues than most. (which is impressive, as 1.5 cups of granular dolomitic lime, 3/4 cup of bone meal, and 2 cups of fertilizer with 8% calcium went into this box.. there’s LOTS of calcium around).

We’ll see if the trend continues. But it looks like either the brandy boy is calcium hungry, a really poor absorber of calcium, or just can’t compete with the better boy for absorption (unlikely).