Here is a picture of my Big Beef (F1), flowering

The OP plant has yet to show any buds.

Sey

I did manage to find one hybrid Big Beef to compare to my four OP Big Beef.

Very good, ncr
We should have a good experiment . So far my F1 is ahead of the OP.

Sey

Sey...I know I must be a little ahead of you because of our weather. You are going to love the way your Big Beefs are going to grow! Out of my 17 plants (14 varieties)...the Big Beefs have the most fruit (by far) and the best growth. Both plants have 6-8 fruits...a few of them the size of ping pong balls. I just am becoming more confident every day that these are truly winners! PS Did I jinx us???

Sey,

I have between 15 or 20 flowers on each of my two Big Beef. I'll have some pics Sunday or Monday.

Vince, you are well ahead of me.
You mentioned on April 14th that your plants are TWO FEET tall.
I planted mine as a 6" seedling on April 17th. . It has a truss of buds and so far 3 of the buds have flowered.. The plant itself is about one foot tall and stocky.

OK. We are going to have some fun time with BgBf and the rest of them. .
This coming Mon -Wed. will cool off a bit. But the main trend is upward and getting warmer., especially the night temperatures are warming up. That is a plus to keep the soil from cooling at night.

Sey

I have to put chicken wire around my plants. My two Rat Terrier pups can' t resist the fish smell and they're digging. Here's one of em. This is Bonnie, the other one Clyde. Perfect name for each, very hyper and rowdy.

I have a serama chicken pair named Bonnie and Clyde lol

Went out to check on my tomatoes and low and behold there are at least 4 tomatoes on my 2 Big Beefs. I wasn't expecting that for at least 2 weeks. I started the seeds on Feb 26 under LED grow lights and the growth rate was much faster. Instead of August I'll be eating the beefsteaks in June. Very happy. Here is a picture with Mr Nickel for comparison

That is nice, Vince . When did you plant it out ?
As you know, I bought mine as seedling from HD and planted it out on 4/17. . Probably mine is 2 weeks behind yours. We shall see.
The OP version has no flowers yet. Definitely it is far behind.

Sey

I planted out last Sunday. I didn't really look at them that closely as I was in a hurry. They must of been on there already. I had them in 1 gallon containers and I put lime and bone meal in them about 1 month ago because of all the flowers. I did that because I thought it would help control BER with all the early flowers. We'll see if it helps.

Ok, Vince. It must have had buds when you planted it out.

What kind of LIME are you using ? I use Quick Acting . I think it is the same as dolomitic lime.
BER has several reason:

1- Real deficiency of Calcium. That is rare.
2- Wide fluctuation of soil moisture. This is more often the case in container growing, especially if the container is on the small side. That is because it is difficult to maintain a consistent normal level of moisture.
3- Certain plum and Roma types are prone to BER. You can grow different varieties in the same bed and only some ( like Roma) will develop BER. This happens early in the season and as the season progresses , it will go away.

Good Luck and keep us posted.

Sey

it must be the second one you stated because It always involves just the first couple or so, if I get it.

BgBF... Diary Update so far

Plant out >>>> 4/17 / 15
First Flower 5/4/15 (*)
(*) That is the F! version. OP version is not showing any sexual activity.lol.

I estimated 45 days ( from 5/5/15) to ripe tomato. That should be on or around June 21st.
Lets seed how close I will be in my guesstimating here.
I predict that Vince will pick a ripe fruit On or before June 9th

Sey

I hope so Sey. The LED grow light really quickened the growing process. Either way I believe we will be eating beefsteaks earlier than last year, me by over two months, if the weather behaves itself.

That is fantastic, Vince.
You are a great season pusher. You beat me in this game. lol
Traditionally, now is about the plant out time in our area. But you have cherry size fruits and I have tiny fruit set already.
Good luck ! And keep posted. I wanna see that blush on those maters. hehe

Sey

My dad always planted his tomatoes on Mothers Day. He was a landscaper and always had advice when I first started planting myself. He used VERY little fetilizer and used lots of manure and always had tons of tomatoes. He's 92 now and loves tomatoes as much as we do. When I bring him tomatoes at his retirement home he stands up with a big smile, goes to the sink and just starts wolfing em down. Those tomatoes really cheer him up and makes his day, it makes me feel better too. He's already been asking when my due date is. Later.

Vince,
I am sure you will surprise your dad this year with your early Big Beef tomatoes. That should be a memorable moment.

Sey

I have never done Big Beef before. This year it is Steak Sandwich. So far over a dozen large fruit set. Now if they will just ripen up. Oh and it appears that more have set since the last time I checked.

Yes, Nate. There are so many choices out there.
I picked Big Beef for its earliness, taste, productivity AND they say that it does well in the cooler North climates.
So far I am witnessing the earliness feature of it. Probably it will be also a good choice in your short spring planting season.

Sey

Sey from what I heard from a couple of the local master gardeners SS is close to Big Beef for production, and earliness . I have not done Big Beef before so I will have to give it a try later. Here is a pic of a few of the Steak Sandwich I am waiting on to ripen up.

Yes Nate. That Steak Sandwich looked productive, with close to 10 fruits in just one truss. Let us know how they taste.

Big Beef (F1) also have very good disease resistance and often used as root stock in grafting.
Alright. Let it role, whatever it is. I have to wait another 5 weeks or so to harvest something.

Sey

I have 14 varieties and a total of 17 plants this year. I decided (because of the hype) to plant two Big Beef (hybrids)...and see how they performed. I have one in a 20 gal container and one in my raised bed. Well, I can tell you that my two Big Beefs are by far carrying the most fruit right now in my garden. It is not even close. The plants may be a little bit bigger than the others....but not much. It is all about production. Both BB plants (3 1/2 feet tall)...probably have a dozen fruit each. I am excited to see how they taste!

That is great, fireduck.
My BgBf was the first to flower and set fruits. Now it has several clusters of buds and flowers. Its size is about the same in that bed. My other Big Beef (OP) was 2 weeks behind in flowering. They were both planted out the same day and were of the same size too.
So I believe I've got a winner already, based on the early performance.

Sey

SURPRISE !
My Big Beef OP, looks like a DETERMINANT.
The main branch has ended with a flower truss. Hmmm

I have been pruning lower side branches, assuming that it is an indet.
VERY INTERESTING development.

The F1 version is growing fruits , finally. and the plant itself is much taller than its OP counter part.
It is going to be a season of interesting observations.

Sey

Well, Sey, looks like you've got a dilemma there. Watch that main branch closely and I think you may still have an indeterminate. Heavy pruning isn't recommended but I do it myself early on since too many mains get bothersome. The F1's are doing well here in RI (so far). No fruits yet, too early. Flowers though.

Sey, I have 4 OP Big Beef and they are more productive early on than any of my other 20 varieties, including Brandy Boy. They are Indeterminate, I am certain. Sometimes an Indeterminate plant will, for some reason, seem to end in a truss, but then, given time, it will send out another main stem and keep growing. My Big Beef hybrids were planted out about a month later, so I can not compare them against one another quite yet. But if the hybrids are supposed to be more productive than the OPs, then they are going to be awesome.

Thanks nc,

I have to make a note and report:
6 /8/15 >>> Eureka ! Eureka !
Finally detected a chick pea size fruit on the F1 plant. It is the first of ~ 8 in a truss. I don't think Big Beef will get ripe by the Big Fourth I would be surprised if it did..

Here is a summary on timeline: The F1 version
==plant out >>> April 17th
== First Bloom >>> May 4th
== Cherry size fruit >>> Jun 8th ( day 51 ?)

Sey

My BIg Beef fruited around May 5. They are still rock hard and close to baseball size, another month I believe. Very dark green.

Very good , Vince. Get ready to surprise your dad, ripe tomato in June.
I bet you'll get a ripe one in 15 to 20 days in this kind of warm weather.

BTW: today we hit 90F too.

Sey

My OPs are doing great! Lots of fruit and nice big thick branches/stems. My Hybrids were planted out much later than these OPs , so I can not compare them as far as timing goes, but by the end of the season, I should be able to tell if there are any significant differences.

Honestly, my two Big Beef (hybrids) continue to just amaze me. Compared to my other 13 varieties....they are more productive (number of fruit) and stronger growers. I have harvested 2 fruit so far (dead ripe tennis ball sized). They were juicy/tasty and had a fairly thick skin. So far...I rate them as "very good" on my subjective taste test. These (along with my Brandywine Cowlick's) were the two I was really anticipating most. My BC is growing nicely...with about 1/3 the # of fruit as the BB plants.

Based on all of your feedback, i am jumping on the Big Beef bandwagon next year :-)

ncr, ... please review your BgBfs (F1 and Op), as we go along.
First of all, based on my search, I can't believe how I missed on this variety for so many years. Now by some accident I happen to be growing both F1 and OP versions. .. Interesting.

Sey

PS. Here is a video testimonial of a professional grower

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMl1HBC2INw

My report on F1 Big Beef

==Plant out >>> May 2nd

==Num of bigbeef plants: 14
==First Bloom >>> May 15(?)
==Golfball/cherry size fruit >>> May 31(?)

==Baseball/golfball size fruit >> June 10

==Expected 1st ripe fruit >> July 1st

Burpee says 73 days to maturity so your timeline might be a bit short? But with our lovely weather this year, we shouldn't be too far behind stated DTM.

Sey, in the original post you had picked up 2 Big Beef hybrid seedlings... And I know you also found some OP seeds? How did you get up to 14 BgBf?

Based on my experience with Big Beef, hp's expectation of 1st ripe fruit on July 1st seems to be right on target. Last year, I planted out on May 3rd and had first ripe Big Beef on June 28th (57 days). Big Beef has always beaten the 73 days DTM the past several years. But this year, with the cool and rainy spring, I'm thinking I may end up a bit closer to 73 days.

hp has some very nice looking plants and with 14 of them, will be harvesting them by the bucket fulls soon.

My bad! Somehow I thought hp's post was by Seysonn. Doh! Nevermind!

Enjoying seeing all your experiences with Big Beef.

Thanks Nitsua and wg. Here in Boston the whole month in May was super warm and dry (TV said 2nd record of drought in history). That helped the soil temperature a lot. The next 10 day forecast is everyday low 60+-, high 80+-, low humidity and occational showers. Perfect condition for tomatos.

I should add that bigbeef has always been the winner for the last 15+ years: very productive, short DTM (except 2014, always had first ripe on or before July 4th) and good taste with ok disease resistance.

Sey, in the original post you had picked up 2 Big Beef hybrid
seedlings... And I know you also found some OP seeds? How did you get up
to 14 BgBf
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Yes, Jenn. Originally I picked two Big Beef (OP) , not hybrids , from Fred Meyers.
Then I learned that OP is not the REAL THING. So I returned one of them and bought an F1 version from HD. So I ended up with one of each.
They have very similar (almost identical) leaf shape and foliage but F1 is bigger and the OP turned out to be a determinant : The main stem ended with fa lower truss. All along I was nipping the side branches thinking that main will fork out. But it did not happen. So from now on I'll let the side branches stay. I don't prune my determinants, except for the lower leaf branches.

Tomorrow I will further investigate the spacing between the trusses on the OP and F1, to make a report. .
In the meantime the fruits of F1 are growing.

Sey

I have found in my garden that big beef is an aggressive grower, and if you don't tie him up soon enough, he will promptly lie down in a rainstorm. Where he will wallow in the mud like a pig, covering every inch of himself in dirt. Taller and more "beefy" haha, than my other plants, I would think he would self-support a little better, but sadly, no.

Sey,

Big Beef OP is not a determinate. I have four of them and they are already 5 feet tall and full of tennis ball sized fruit. I don't know what is going on with yours, unless it was incorrectly labeled. If it is, no worries... I have three hybrids also to make some comparisons.

NCR, my BgBf (op) , growing in the same bed with F1 and 3 others, is the smallest/ shortest ( ~ 3 ft) of them all. The F1 is about 4ft now.Maybe even taller.

As I said, the main ended wit a truss on the last leaf. Now a shoot is growing out of that last leaf node. In indet the main keep going like a vine.

Update:
The hybrid one has fruits growing ...Finally. Here is a picture.

The first BgBf ever , here.

Sey

Amazingly, I have one big beef starting to break color, even though it is only 4-5 ounces. It will be my earliest tomato even beating out my Sun Sugar. Pic to follow.

Good news, Nugrdnnut,
Probably my BgBf will be the first to have a ripe one. Unless my red cherry ( already has several) come from behind and catch up.

Sey

Well it looks like I judged the OP version a bit harshly last year. It is performing much better this year. Thee hybrids are doing very well too. The hybrids are taller and bushier , but the fruit seem to be the same. Last year the OP had several fruit but were all tennis ball size. This year they seem to be about baseball size with some even a little larger.

OP

Hybrids

I have picked one blushing fruit off the hybrids so far but have yet to eat it. Will give a side by side comparison on the ripe fruit when able.

Hoosier, I envy ! hehe
In zone 6a you are doing so much better than me in zone 8.
My OP does not have any fruits yet. But the hybrid is coming along and picking up speed. So far it has half a dozen fruits, couple of the small peach size. But the plant itself is twice as big as the OP.
Here is a picture

Most of the fruits set on trusses are not growing. Darn it !

Sey

I have been harvesting my OPs for about two weeks now and now am also harvesting the hybrids. My plants and fruits are different. My OPs are really dark blue gren leathery leaves that have thick stems and petioles. Looks a lot like Hoosier's picture. My OPs are producing tennis ball sized round, blemish free, orange fruit. the hybrid plant is a lot less bold of a plant with leaves that look and are the size of most plants. But, the fruit is a red, not orange, and it is not round... it is flattened somewhat . I will do a taste test tomorrow.

So far, my OPs are winning out, but we have a while to go to see for sure.

I have 2 big beef, each is about 4'6" tall and 25-35 nearly round fruit on each. I reported one with color break ~ 2 weeks ago,but that was one with BER, so hopefully soon with the baseball sized ones!

Please Make new post at the second thread.
HERE