Burpee discontinues Bush Big Boy

[Jeannine Anne]

Is there much difference between Burpees Bush Big Boy and Burpees Big Boy, the latter being indeterminate


I grow just a couple of hybrids, Sungold and Big Beef or Big Beef Plus which seems similar to Big Boy

[eyolf]

Originally Posted by OldHondaNut

Just a note here to say I'm still growing Bush Big Boy. When it was discontinued back in the day it came back in 2011. I bought several pack and divided them into groups of 5 and placed them in the refrigerator. This year, 2025, they have all sprouted and look as healthy as any other.


At one point I took a couple of the F1 tomatoes and grew F2. It was a fail, lacked taste and production. The bush was normal, just not the tomatoes. I still have a few years left to grow and I might try f2 again but it's so much work and likely a fail.


Hope you don't mind the revival of an old thread. I guess the message is, if you like an F1, buy enough to keep you going for as long as you like. So many others I wish I had stocked up on (Merced, Sunmaster).

Years ago, I embarked on a dehybridization project, seeking to get as close as I could to one of the original parents.

When I thought I had got there (about F8-F9) I took cuttings of the best plant and kept comparing to selections for a few more years. I ended up with, essentially, one 5-year-old tomato plant...which wasn't materially different than the plants I was getting from seed.

I got the idea from my stepfather, now passed...who kept a NK variety called "King's Choice" alive in that way long after Northrupp-King went under. It wasn't a bad tomato, but there were several others that were about as good (a semi-determinate similar to Wi55, but a little more compact).

Vern would grab about a dozen growing tips as summer wound down, root them, and keep the best 3 or 4 under a fluorescent shop light. They would get long and leggy, and need pruning, but when they were planted out in spring, would take off and "go to town" after sulking for a few days.

I tried it and it worked OK for me.

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