Big Beef and Better Boy

[Gardeneer]

Thank you guys for revealing the goodness of Big Beef.
It sounds like GOT TO HAVE IT.
Maybe I'll get a plant, if I can find. Or I might look for seeds on the racks of BBS.

[feldon30]

I like the flavor of Big Beef better as a fresh tomato, but I'm growing both this year.

[Ozark]

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.

[Tall Tier]

Big beef all the way, but variety is nice too. The big beef was the #1 producer out of the 70 varieties I had last season. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DiNXpv4YZic

[budfaux]

Man, talk about a thread of arm twisting.... with all the thumbs up.
I'd never heard of "Big Beef" before this topic popped up.
My seeds are ordered and arrived... most under lights and nuturing care. Three big boxers didn't have this variety in their racks.
Add that I watched a YouTube video this evening of a gardener who was impressed by this variety and provided plenty of eye candy...
So now I will place an order for "Big Beef" from one of my catalogues, and can't wait to experience what awaits.

[Irv Wiseguy]

Well, I have to stand alone as the voice of dissension about Big Beef. When I grew it the tomatoes tasted really bland and I had lots of trouble with BER. I thought that maybe I had a bad year and grew it again the next year with the same results.

Needless to say I haven't grown it again and have no plans to in the future. I hope you have a better experience with Big Beef than I.

Irv

[Ozark]

Originally Posted by Irv Wiseguy

Well, I have to stand alone as the voice of dissension about Big Beef. When I grew it the tomatoes tasted really bland and I had lots of trouble with BER. I thought that maybe I had a bad year and grew it again the next year with the same results.

Needless to say I haven't grown it again and have no plans to in the future. I hope you have a better experience with Big Beef than I. Irv

Irv, we lived in Southern California for years before moving to Missouri, and I've grown big gardens and tomatoes in both places. I know you're in a real good growing area there in Thousand Oaks, but your climate where it hardly ever freezes in the winter, and that close to the ocean with the fogs and so forth, is a lot different from that in many other places.

I never grew Big Beef in CA, but I found that many veggie varieties that do well here won't work there and vice versa. I'd guess Big Beef just isn't suited to your area, and some other varieties that do well for you there probably wouldn't work so good here.

[CrazyAboutOrchids]

I grew Big Beef and was not impressed either, Irv, and I am on the opposite coast in CT.

I got a lot of tomatoes off the plant and it grew well, but the fruits were bland, small, wasn't impressed at all. We are spoiled by heirlooms, I suppose, but grew it to try a hybrid in the garden. I have a small space so it won't get a spot again. To me, it was like a super market tomato and if I want that type, I can go buy them.

[Gardeneer]

No pictureS ? HMMM

I think that a picture can/may speak more than a few posts.

[feldon30]

Big Beef is a standard red round tomato. It's not a looker and it does not have any kind of heirloom flavor. However I wouldn't reject a burger with a few slices on it, and it makes a heck of a sauce when roasted. It's a darned sight better than Celebrity or most anything at the grocery store.

I'd suggest people try it. Transplants are widely available from good old Bonnie's Plants. Yes I know there are many reasons to be concerned about Bonnie's such as widespread plant diseases and the use of growth inhibitors, but even with this, I've gotten huge productivity from them before. And it beats having to order seeds for 1 variety and pay $7 shipping.

[Gardeneer]

I could not find the seeds off the rack. And I did not want to order. Maybe I'll be on the look out for a plant , when the time comes.
Big Beef sounds like a work horse.

[Cole_Robbie]

A packet of Big Beef is $2 from Morgan County Seed:
https://www.morgancountyseeds.com/st...productId=2133

As far as I know, they only charge actual shipping. There's no order fee or extra fee tacked on.

[budfaux]

Originally Posted by feldon30

Big Beef is a standard red round tomato. It's not a looker and it does not have any kind of heirloom flavor. However I wouldn't reject a burger with a few slices on it, and it makes a heck of a sauce when roasted. It's a darned sight better than Celebrity or most anything at the grocery store.

I'd suggest people try it. Transplants are widely available from good old Bonnie's Plants. Yes I know there are many reasons to be concerned about Bonnie's such as widespread plant diseases and the use of growth inhibitors, but even with this, I've gotten huge productivity from them before. And it beats having to order seeds for 1 variety and pay $7 shipping.

I didn't order seeds for Big Beef yet because of the unflattering posts which followed my post from a few days ago.
When you say Big Beef is "a darned sight better than Celebrity," are you refering to the taste or the presentation of the tomato? Because if the taste is equal to or better than Celebrity, I'll rethink ordering Big Beef some seed.

[Gardeneer]

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

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by budfaux

I didn't order seeds for Big Beef yet because of the unflattering posts which followed my post from a few days ago.
When you say Big Beef is "a darned sight better than Celebrity," are you refering to the taste or the presentation of the tomato? Because if the taste is equal to or better than Celebrity, I'll rethink ordering Big Beef some seed.

I grow it to sell. I haul my tomatoes to a farmers market so I need a somewhat durable fruit. Heirlooms are just a bit too fragile for most markets. Too much touching by anybody and it is worthless. Compared to a grocery store tomato it is fabulous. compared to an heirloom it is just a bit boring, but it is a workhorse and makes a lot of tomatoes. My largest picking last year from big beef, ultra pink, goliath, early goliath and few odd balls ( a total of about 200 tomato plants) was 12 bushels on one day, I didn't keep track of how many came from each variety.. The big beef are nice uniform globes it took maybe 16 to make a 1/2 busel basket full. like I said it is a nice uniform tomato. When people are used to grocery store tomatoes they think Big Beef is fabulous. I think it is an acceptable tomato for flavor just not a "blow your taste buds away" tomato.