Big cheef

[Tormato]

Originally Posted by sjamesNorway

I've been wondering where this one fits in.

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/B...nk_Potato_Leaf

Steve

I think that fits in with the seed I received, F2 RL pink & insipid.

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

How big does the fruit get on Big Cheef?

Is it mid-season or late?

Not that I have room for even one more, just curious.

Linda

My biggest was about 14 oz, most in the 4-6 oz size, but don't go by that because it's been too hot here for them to grow to any size.

[sjamesNorway]

Originally Posted by Tormato

I think that fits in with the seed I received, F2 RL pink & insipid.

I’m still trying to get my head around the evolution of the variations of Big Cheef. For example, Tormato, if you had F2 seeds, they must have been from Ricky B (Big Cheef) who distributed them 10 years ago. I imagine this is why Ami has inquired about your source. According to Tatiana, from her descriptions of both BC and BC Pink PL history, the F2 plants were both RL and PL, with fruit of widely varying taste. None of the RL plants produced good tasting fruit. Consequently, it’s not surprising that your F2 RL pink tomato had insipid taste. Further growouts and selection (at least to F5) of Potato Leaf plants by Bill Jeffers (travis) and Ted Corbett (amideutch) have led to Big Cheef ("purple maroon") and Big Cheef Pink Potato Leaf respectively.

I don’t see the correlation between your insipid tomato, and the PL tomato Ted Corbett selected in 2008, which has presumably been selected through further generations, until Big Cheef Pink Potato Leaf is now offered by Tatiana as having “outstanding sweet flavor”.


Then again, if your seeds weren’t F2, as travis writes, “Subsequent segregations varied in sweetness/tartness balance as well as size and intensity of flesh color.” (However, there’s no mention of RL plants in subsequent segregations.)


I’m still new to tomato genetics. If there’s any flaw in my reasoning, I’d appreciated learning why.


Steve

[Fiishergurl]

I am growing Big Cheef currently from seeds I purchased from Secret Seed Cartel which state they are PL with clear epidermis making them purple with 10 to 12 oz fruits or larger. Looking forward to trying this one. They are just seedlings right now.

Ginny

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by Fiishergurl

I am growing Big Cheef currently from seeds I purchased from Secret Seed Cartel which state they are PL with clear epidermis making them purple with 10 to 12 oz fruits or larger. Looking forward to trying this one. They are just seedlings right now.

Ginny

I have quite a few seeds of this and it is the correct Big Cheef, purple, PL,clear epi, large, very delicious. They will be part of my upcomng seed offer in just a few weeks.

[Ozark]

Posting to a very old thread to say I received Big Cheef seeds last spring from Marsha's 2019 Seed Offer, grew the large, delicious, purple tomatoes on potato-leaf plants with good success - and those are among the very BEST tomatoes I've ever tasted!


I saved seeds to grow Big Cheef again in 2020. What a great tomato!

[hl2601]

I love seeing old threads about old favorites get bumped-especially when I am planning for 2020. Thanks Ozark!

[b54red]

I have grown Big Cheef for over a decade and the first year it was outstanding. It was a fairly large black or purple tomato with very good flavor that was very juicy with a lot of seeds and a short shelf life. The plant is a potato leaf black which is not that common. Since then my success with it has been hit and miss. Due to my fusarium problems I now must have it grafted in order for it to live long enough to be productive and frequently that has not turned out so well. Grafted to the root stock I like for most of my plants it doesn't seem to produce nearly as large or as plentifully as it did that first year I planted it un-grafted. I just lucked up that year as it did well but until I started grafting years later I didn't get a single one to live long enough to get any fruit off of them. Hopefully I will get a good graft this year and can enjoy it again.

I think it is a like a lot of black tomatoes in that from year to year it can be so different depending upon the weather. Some years my black varieties all do outstandingly and other years they will all do poorly. Another thing I have experienced with all the black varieties that I have been successful with is that the flavor seems much better in dry hot times than in what would be ideal weather for most other types of tomatoes. Black varieties are more negatively impacted by too much rain more than any other types and not just in becoming quite tasteless and splitting terribly but by contracting gray mold far worse and more frequently than reds, pinks or yellows. Due to our long hot summers most of my late summer tomatoes are black varieties and hopefully this summer I will have some good Big Cheefs to compare to my other frequently grown black varieties like JD's Special C Tex, Spudakee, IS, ISPL, Berkley Tie Dye Pink, and Gary O' Sena. I have given up on Black Krim which I love due to the awful splitting that just ruins them so frequently but I haven't given up on Big Cheef.

Bill

[Donna Mattingly]

Just checking in to report my Big Cheef plants this year are far and away the healthiest looking of all the over fifty varieties I have grown out this time. Fruit set earliest and plants are loaded. Big disappointment right now is German Johnson, which has always been a fave of mine. The three plants are the worst looking EVER and I may as well just yank them up at this point. I need to go back and research what seeds I used. AND...the surprise of the season so far has been Petit Poire - a French heirloom from seed I was graciously sent by Carolyn Male's friend and helper. I had not requested that one, but he sent some seed to me and said they were "a favorite". I am so glad for that! It is THE most unusual tomato/plant - the vines are wispy and the leaves tiny and delicate and unlike any I've ever seen. The fruits are TINY oblong reds and so sweet and good! I shared plants I grew out from that gifted seed with several in my community and everyone's going crazy over it!

[hl2601]

Donna, if you can save seeds from Petit Poire, we would love to have them for The Carolyn tribute since they have a direct thread to her! PM me if you want any info.

[b54red]

I successfully grafted several Big Cheefs this year and the plants are loaded with medium sized fruits and so far the gray mold problems have not been to bad. They were some of the last varieties I planted this year and are just now having some of the first blushing fruits. Mine are all still potato leafed but so far they haven't ripened enough for me to see how they taste this year. I need to save some seed from this years crop if possible since my seed are so old now and getting hard to germinate. I am hoping they will be the delicious, juicy and productive plants I remember before I started having fusarium so bad that they just didn't make for a long time. These plants seem to look like the Big Cheef of old with nice healthy looking plants that are very productive. I will know in a day or two how they turned out when I get to taste the first ones. If they measure up then I will save the seeds for the future and if anyone needs any I will gladly share them as they are one of the seedier tomatoes making saving seed so easy.

Bill

[Donna Mattingly]

I have scurried to find the name of the person who so very kindly sent me the Petit Poire seeds (along with so many appreciated others from Carolyn)...Shawn Conant! Wow, do I appreciate him for doing that! I always grow out way more plants than I need and I gift many away to friends. Had I known how great the Petit Poire is, I would certainly have made a special place for more in my own garden. I have an APB out to one friend who says she will give me some of her fruits so that I can have more seed to share with everyone (they are so TINY, seeds are scarce!)...another from Carolyn via Shawn I have grown out and am saving seeds from is Honig Susser Erloser - described as "orange heart - most wonderful color". It is a wonderful color and quite a good flavor, but mine turned out only barely a "heart" shape. I was also sent "That Russian Tomato - so far, so good on that one as for a good looking plant and fruits but none have ripened for me yet. I assure you, my friends - the best seed source for Carolyn's Petit Poire is likely Shawn, but I will do my very best to save as many seeds as I can from that amazingly unusual variety to share with you all!

[b54red]

I now have a few fruits ripening and lo and behold one of the three Big Cheefs is a medium to small pink beefsteak while the other two are medium black tomatoes. I haven't gotten either to the ripened stage to taste. The two plants with the black tomatoes are really loaded but not with large fruit but with the number of fruits on them that is not surprising in this heat. Comparing their size now to the size of other varieties planted so late they seem to be in line because everything is making much smaller fruit than from the early plantings I made so I assume some of the fruits would be around a pound if planted in the spring.

I am hoping the intense heat wave we have been having will influence positively the flavor of the black varieties that are producing right now.

Bill