This is a nice big tomato, good flavor, it was one of my top producers. I'm growing it again this year.

I'm in the same Zone as hemnancy and have grown this variety as well. It was a large plant with large Tomatoes on the bottom 1/3 of the plant and the tomatoes became smaller as they moved upward. The Tomatoes were tasty,not watery and was pretty good on sandwiches made with sourdough bread,Swiss Cheese and a dab of Mayonaisse..

Sounds promising. Nice to know they had flavor and enough of it to be worthy of a sandwich. I've got enough beefsteak tomatoes varieties for my swiss cheese sandwiches... Yes, I make those too!(except I substitute olive oil or margarine for mayo) I just mainly wanted a variety for sauces, canning, etc. I have some Roma VF started already, but they haven't done well for me in the past.

I started my main batch of seeds on April 1st, but convinced myself to plant a few more varieties today. Someone really HAD to twist my arm.....yeah right! Started a few the Mammas today, so we'll see.

I have grown Big Mamas for several years and agree that they produce nice big plum tomatoes. I have found, though, that they seem to get leaf curl worse than any of my other varieties. I tend to prefer Opalkas for sauce since they are bigger and dryer.
John A

I have grown them. They were quite tasty, but in my garden they were smaller and less productive than Opalka and Polish Linguisa. Your mileage may vary.

I too have grown them and really liked the thickness of them for canning salsa, and good thick juice. For years all I planted was romas and a couple box store varieties, and now I will never grow another Roma...just too little and too much like work to pick, wash, and process for whatever I wanted. There are just too many other wonderful varieties to grow/try to ever grow another Roma ever again.

I haven't grown Big mama in a few years now. The cost of seed went up after the first few years...Burpee cut the number of seeds per pack substantially in their rack packs by about half or more.

Sue

I should mention that I really like heart shaped tomatoes for their meaty quality, flavor, and productivity. Some I like- Verna's Orange Oxheart, Herman's Yellow.

I went ahead and put in a few Opalka seeds in today. With all the positive comments a hear about Opalka, I figured it deserved another shot. I'll grow Big Mamma and Opalka side by side and see which one fares better. I tend to have better luck with hybrids.

The first time I grew Opalka, it set a bunch of fruit, but most were small, and rotted or split before I could get anything usable.

I started Big MaMa for the first time this year on Mar. 27. Only 8 of the 16 came up and I thought maybe that was all I'd get. However, while some of the sprouts are 2 1/2 inches tall, I have another that popped through (#9) that its an inch tall and two more that I can see just a hint of coming through this morning. Guess some are just slow starters.

I grew Big Mama for the first time this year and was quite disappointed. In addition to having leaf curl I have lost most of them to blossom end rot. I have a total of 9 plants in the same area and the Big Mama is the only plant with BER. I must say, however, that the 3 I have gotten without BER were very tasty. Also, mine were not nearly as large as promised.
I realize that the problem probably lies with my garden but I can't figure out how to rectify the situation since none of my other toms have this problem.

I sprouted mine from seed, twice, and have yet to get anything strong enough to transplant. I think I have tried 9 total groups of seeds, only some sprout, and the stems seem to be scrawny. Of course I can be careless, and I've accidently pulled one or two out of the soil or broken them off while moving them, but I've had more issues with Big Mamma than any other variety I've planted. Maybe it's just me, I'm a newbie, still learning, and still trying to give it a chance.

Because of their physiology - that nice teat on the blossom end which gives them their name, Big Mamas are particularly sensitive to blossom end rot. To avoid this, sray the leaves with Cal Mag every three days. Add a copper antifungant, and a small amount of ;ow nitrogen fish emulsion to keep the leaves really happy. This tomato is worth the effort. Murray the gardener

I don't grow it any more. I've had much better luck with Opalkas. They look really wimpy as seedlings but start to take off once they're in the ground, then grow into a fairly large plant.

John A

I've had okay luck with them. They're not quite as big as Burpee claims but still much bigger than a normal Roma. As others have pointed out the plants often look sick when they are in fact perfectly healthy. Like most paste tomatoes they're prone to blossom end rot.

I grow about 200 Big mamma and 200 super sauce each year. Fertilizer and Antifungant will do wonders. I make sure they are trellised and at least 2 feet apart in the row and 4 feet apart between rows. Lots of water to help keep them healthy. Huge yields for sauce. I get return customers wanting these tomatoes for sauce. I have other varieties for slicing.