Big Beef and Better Boy

OldHondaNut · February 24, 2015

I want to hear from those that have grown both Big Beef and Better Boy. My experience is with the Better Boy and I am quite happy with it both in taste and production. How does Big Beef compare?

Thanks

Mike

clkeiper · February 24, 2015

I grew both last year and big beef way out performed better boy. Better boy was much more susceptible to the blight than the big beef. Granted our weather was terrible for tomatoes last year, but every year will be different. I won't grow the better boy's this year.

February 24, 2015

Big vote for Big Beef from here.

OldHondaNut · February 24, 2015

2-0 for Big Beef.

Anyone else?

gssgarden · February 24, 2015

Big Beef!!

Greg

mecktom · February 24, 2015

Big Beef!

Fusion_power · February 24, 2015

I've sold Big Beef plants for about 10 years and have not yet had a single customer go back to Better Boy. One customer got 24 plants from me and only planted them because I said he would like them. He got 24 Better Boy and compared side by side. Middle of the harvest season, I went by his house and he wanted to show me his tomatoes. He had 9 buckets (5 gallons piled high) of Big Beef tomatoes. He got 4 buckets of Better Boy the same time. He was picking that amount of tomatoes every other day. He now buys Big Beef plants every year. You do the math to figure out why.

heirloomtomaguy · February 24, 2015

I too like big beef better.

dustdevil · February 24, 2015

Don't forget Early Girl if you need to grow a hybrid. Smaller, but quanitatively more productive and earlier. Taste is decent.

Big Beef gets my vote over Better Boy.

jmsieglaff · February 24, 2015

Has anyone grown the OP Big Beef versus the commercially available F1? How does taste/production compare? Obviously the F1 likely has disease tolerances that may not have made it into the OP selection, but not everyone has soil disease issues.

Cole_Robbie · February 24, 2015

Big Beef gets my vote. My family grew Better Boy lest year; my Big Beef had better production and better flavor. I am going to try the OP version for the first time this year. Hopefully it will perform similarly.

I lost my seedlings last spring to a freeze, so I had to buy plants for the high tunnel. The six nearest plants in the middle row of this pic are Jet Star, the rest are Big Beef. You can see how much shorter the Jet Stars are: http://i.imgur.com/IvVWiwN.jpg

Ozark · February 26, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmsieglaff

Has anyone grown the OP Big Beef versus the commercially available F1? How does taste/production compare? Obviously the F1 likely has disease tolerances that may not have made it into the OP selection, but not everyone has soil disease issues.

I grow a few Big Beef F1 plants in every year's garden. About three years ago I grew some Big Beef OP plants side-by-side with the hybrids to compare. Whoever tried to stabilize that hybrid missed it completely, in my opinion. The OP's didn't produce the same tomatoes at all - production was half that of the hybrid plants, size was smaller, flavor not so good. I had no disease problems so that wasn't an issue, but I won't grow Big Beef OP again.

And I'll add my vote to the others - Big Beef F1 is far superior to Better Boy in flavor, productivity, and every way.

Gardeneer · April 16, 2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmsieglaff

Has anyone grown the OP Big Beef versus the commercially available F1? How does taste/production compare? Obviously the F1 likely has disease tolerances that may not have made it into the OP selection, but not everyone has soil disease issues.

That is the question that I have.
I have seen just one comment about it. I would like to here more.

The other day I bought two Big Beef OP plants. THere has been no F1 version . So here I am wit OP version.

Anybody else has grown Big Beef OP ?

Gardeneer

creister · February 24, 2015

Another vote for Big Beef

Foose4string · February 24, 2015

I grow both every year. Hard to choose. I find Better Boy is more productive in my garden but it takes a little longer to get going. Big Beef is a solid performer and definitely has a slight edge as far as taste goes. Both plants are very hearty and vigorous. Can't go wrong with either one...which is why I grow both! If you haven't grown Big Beef it's worth a try.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

February 24, 2015	#1
OldHondaNut Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Zone 8a Posts: 120	Big Beef and Better Boy I want to hear from those that have grown both Big Beef and Better Boy. My experience is with the Better Boy and I am quite happy with it both in taste and production. How does Big Beef compare? Thanks Mike

February 24, 2015	#2
clkeiper Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: ohio Posts: 4,350	I grew both last year and big beef way out performed better boy. Better boy was much more susceptible to the blight than the big beef. Granted our weather was terrible for tomatoes last year, but every year will be different. I won't grow the better boy's this year. __________________ carolyn k

February 24, 2015	#8
heirloomtomaguy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: glendora ca Posts: 2,560	I too like big beef better. __________________ “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."

February 24, 2015	#11
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	Big Beef gets my vote. My family grew Better Boy lest year; my Big Beef had better production and better flavor. I am going to try the OP version for the first time this year. Hopefully it will perform similarly. I lost my seedlings last spring to a freeze, so I had to buy plants for the high tunnel. The six nearest plants in the middle row of this pic are Jet Star, the rest are Big Beef. You can see how much shorter the Jet Stars are: http://i.imgur.com/IvVWiwN.jpg Last edited by Cole_Robbie; February 24, 2015 at 05:18 PM.

February 24, 2015	#3
JoParrott Guest Posts: n/a	Big vote for Big Beef from here.

February 24, 2015	#5
gssgarden Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: N.C. Posts: 1,827	Big Beef!! Greg

February 24, 2015	#6
mecktom Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Southern Virginia Posts: 342	Big Beef!

February 24, 2015	#7
Fusion_power Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Alabama Posts: 2,250	I've sold Big Beef plants for about 10 years and have not yet had a single customer go back to Better Boy. One customer got 24 plants from me and only planted them because I said he would like them. He got 24 Better Boy and compared side by side. Middle of the harvest season, I went by his house and he wanted to show me his tomatoes. He had 9 buckets (5 gallons piled high) of Big Beef tomatoes. He got 4 buckets of Better Boy the same time. He was picking that amount of tomatoes every other day. He now buys Big Beef plants every year. You do the math to figure out why.

February 24, 2015	#9
dustdevil Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: WI, USA Zone4 Posts: 1,887	Don't forget Early Girl if you need to grow a hybrid. Smaller, but quanitatively more productive and earlier. Taste is decent. Big Beef gets my vote over Better Boy.

February 24, 2015	#10
jmsieglaff Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Southern WI Posts: 2,742	Has anyone grown the OP Big Beef versus the commercially available F1? How does taste/production compare? Obviously the F1 likely has disease tolerances that may not have made it into the OP selection, but not everyone has soil disease issues.

February 24, 2015	#14
creister Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Abilene, TX zone 7 Posts: 1,478	Another vote for Big Beef

February 24, 2015	#15
Foose4string Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Maryland Posts: 20	I grow both every year. Hard to choose. I find Better Boy is more productive in my garden but it takes a little longer to get going. Big Beef is a solid performer and definitely has a slight edge as far as taste goes. Both plants are very hearty and vigorous. Can't go wrong with either one...which is why I grow both! If you haven't grown Big Beef it's worth a try. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk