Mini Beefsteak

[ronsmith100]

Its been hot (90-100) and the Super Sioux have done very well. Baseball size, smooth skin, and great tasting.
But
I put in an heirloom beefsteak months ago and last month (in the 80s) it set tons of fruit. However the fruit are ripening (turning red) when they are only one or two inches in diameter. Is it the current heat (90-100) that is making them ripen too early?

Can I coax more blossoms out of in October and will it make good fruit? October will be 50-80.. I usually shut down the water when I want to stress a tomato into forming blossoms.

[Suze]

Ron, do you know the variety name for the heirloom beefsteak you're growing? That would be helpful to know. Also, is the plant diseased or showing some major signs of stress? That can at times have a huge impact on fruit size.

Another thing I'll add is it's not just daytime temperatures that matter when it comes to fruit set. Night time temperatures are a major factor too, for both highs and lows. Edit/add - if by 50/80 you mean night/day temp and/or possible overall highs/lows in Oct (?) that should likely be a decent enough range for potential fruit set.

[ronsmith100]

Home Depot plant said Heirloom Beefsteak. That is all.

It seems to be semi determinate in that is spreading out an over the cinder block raised bed.

No signs of disease. I try not to water too much but now that I have a gillion tomatoes I thought I should water twice a week now but i'm just guessing.
Tomatoes are like fickle

[Suze]

Ron, I think you probably have a plant that isn't "Heirloom Beefsteak", whatever the heck that is. That's just a general term the grower decided to assign to ?? variety or the plant tags they had on hand and chose to label ?? with anyway. In any case, sounds like you ended up with some sort of cherry type instead.

The seedling probably either got mixed up by the grower whenever they were potting up or putting in plant tags, or tags got switched at the store by accident when other customers were looking at plants. It happens - in fact, it can happen frequently - especially at box stores.

[ronsmith100]

[Suze]

Thanks for the pictures. I get what you are saying about "mini beefsteak" now.

But in any case, my guess is still that it's probably a mixup of some sort if you're getting ripe fruits at 1-2 inches diameter. Or it could have also been a cross.

Unless you're getting blossom end rot on all those ripening fruits you happen to be seeing on that plant, which could cause them to ripen so early.

[ronsmith100]

Not all of them Suze... maybe about four this size. I still have five dozen like the picture. Maybe it was just an aberration? If I get more of them turning red I'll take a picture of them. I already got rid of the mini-red ones.

Thanks

Ron

Also how would I know if I had blossom end rot? Is that plant wide or here and there?

[Suze]

Originally Posted by ronsmith100

Not all of them Suze... maybe about four this size. I still have five dozen like the picture. Maybe it was just an aberration?

Perhaps. I infrequently see this sort of thing myself, just a couple of fruits on a plant that are small or ripen early for whatever reason. Usually when the plant is stressed, or sometimes early in the season.

Also how would I know if I had blossom end rot? Is that plant wide or here and there?

Obvious signs of BER would include dark soft spots on the bottom of the fruits, less obvious signs might include dark smaller spots on the bottom that managed to scab over w/o spreading into the rest of the fruit. And even less obvious signs would be internal BER, which you'd only be able to see by cutting into the fruits - would be dark seeds in some of the locules and/or dark locules.

And no, it's not plant-wide (if due to BER) and should correct itself when conditions are more favorable for the plant. Less stress, more even watering, etc.

[dice]

I got fruit like that from a Black Cherry plant. Red mini-beefsteaks,
particularly tart flavored. Black Cherry produces dark, round cherry
tomatoes with a different flavor.

The seed was from a trade, and it was likely a bee-made cross between
Black Cherry and some red tomato that was growing in the same
field. If I saved seeds from that plant and grew out multiple plants
from those seeds, they would likely each be a little different (F2 hybrid
generation).

BER (blossom end rot) is a dark, leathery lesion on the bottoms of fruit
that is a calcium deficiency symptom. With insufficient calcium, the
cell walls in the fruit collapse. It is does not necessarily affect every
fruit on the same plant. It can result from:

* not enough calcium in the soil;

* not enough moisture in the soil (without moisture the calcium
in the soil is not available to the roots);

* too much moisture in the soil (I do not know how this works, but it
happens; maybe the root ball is too small in wet soils, and the smaller
root system is simply not in contact with enough soluble calcium to feed
plant and fruit);

* fast growing plants in high-nitrogen soils (the calcium taken in by the
roots mostly ends up in new leaves and stems, starving the developing
fruit); and so on.

Some cultivars (romas, typically) are more prone to BER than others.

Calcium is not mobile in the plant, so once it lands in a leaf or stem
structure, there is no way for it to get from there to the fruit. If you
spray the fruit with liquid calcium, it does not make it through the skin
of the fruit to the inside. It is possible that saturating the leaves with
calcium using a liquid calcium spray (they have those on the market)
will allow more calcium taken in by the roots to reach developing fruit,
but I do not know that for a fact.

Some people growing in self-watering containers have had good results
adding a liquid calcium supplement (like a tablespoon) to the water when
they refill the water reservoir to prevent BER.

Sometimes first fruits have it, but later fruits on the same plant do not
(this could be from more calcium becoming available as calcium
containing soil amendments are broken down by bacteria and fungi,
or larger root systems simply reaching more calcium in the soil).

[Stepheninky]

Ron I have the same issue with mine as well bought some generic Beefsteak tomatoes at a different box store, they came in little 2 or 3 inch black pots, They were not the Bonnie brand and honestly do not think they had a brand name on them. They have all been small when turning red. I usually have beefsteaks grow in the 1 to 1 1/2 lb range. These small ones taste good but yes are tiny. I am guessing we have plants from the same people or they used the same seed source.

These are planted in ground in my garden and all the surrounding tomatoes and veggies produce in the correct size range so am thinking it is a problem from the source.

Real beefsteak types have usually preformed very well for me. Last year I believe it got hotter here but not for the same duration we have seen this year so prolonged heat and what ever generic variety this beefsteak is could be a cause as well.

The plants themselves look healthy with no signs of diseases, but could be stunted, Mine are rather short compared to other beefsteak types I have grown in the past