beefy tomatoes lacking

[Ricado]

im finding more and more that the beefsteak tomatoes have very poor vigour and disease resistance, when compared to the more conventional varieties.

Brandywine - very poor, wont set fruit and when they do the fruit rots

german pink - as above

big boy - looking so poor i cut the whole plant down.


what experience does everyone else have of the beefsteaks ?

[Ricado]

[redimp]

Mine were dreadful last year so not groing many this year.  I have one Big Boy in and one other beefsteak.  If we can keep this thread alive during the season, maybe we can collect experience and tips for groing big tomatoes in one place.

[katy]

I have one beefsteak that I planted in a big pot, touchwood, it appears to be doing very well at the moment.  It is in full sunlight for most of the  day so I water it quite regularly and feed with an organic feed once a week.

I will keep an eye on this thread and post more results as and when.

[Mrs Ava]

Mine were amazing last year and the fruits were so abundant I was gently frying one a day and smearing over toast for lunch!  I grew super marmande, white giant - or giant white  ???, brandywine and several others as I went for more beefsteaks this year, but can't remember the names.  i grow them outside on the allotment, so they recieve no additional water after planting.

[cleo]

Persevere with `Brandywine`-it`s superb. The big ones need a longer growing season and the flavour might be a bit more complex than the sweeter ?`cherry` types.

But conny sewers like me love them ;D

[flossie]

Have found them a bit tricky but worth it.  Am growing quite a few different sorts with year - will report back

[amphibian]

My Green Moldovan are romping away, the second most vigerous of my tomatoes, after principe borghese, they are currently 5' tall outdoors and covered in trusses of fruit.

[djbrenton]

All my large tomatoes are doing well.

I'm becoming something of a bore on the subject of Brandywein. The strains available for sale have become so crossed that the product is immensely variable. From vigorous to weak, potato leafed to normal and incredibly tasty to bland. I can't recommend enough getting brandywein seed from as early and original a source as possible ( usually the Ben Quinsberry collection strains ) or you might be disapponted. If you do find you've got good plants, save the seed. For reference, red brandywein should have a regular leaf, with potato leafed being pinker.

I'd be interested in comments later in the season from those I sent brandywein seed to.

[ruud]

Just get a good source and you will have true beefsteaks.Mine are from the states the only place to get true beefsteaks and not some infertel crossed rubbish,bytheway mine are rumping away got alot of flowers,so i am looking forward to harvest them.

[RobC]

I grew some 'big boy' a few years ago, in a small, very shelter garden (west London).  Becasue the garden was small I could attend to them every day and water and feed them often.  I had quite a bit of sucess - one tomato weighed 15 ozs - but my wife complained that they lacked the taste of other varieties.

I did get tomato blight (probably from damp from too much watering)

Robert

[jennym]

I'm growing Marmande for the first time this year, have never grown a beefsteak before. They aren't ripe yet, but the fruit appears to be setting and swelling well. Started them off mid march, amd growing them outside.

[flossie]

I can't recommend enough getting brandywein seed from as early and original a source as possible ( usually the Ben Quinsberry collection strains ) or you might be disapponted.

Hello djB - where is this place that you get your seed?

thanks

[djbrenton]

Unfortunately, the company I got them from ( heirloomseeds.com) won't ship to the UK so I had a friend in the States buy them and ship. I'll have plenty for the Swap Shop later in the year though.

You may find this interesting http://www.victoryseeds.com/information/craig_brandywine.html

[redimp]

This I think, is their UK arm:
http://www.seedfest.co.uk/seeds/tomatoes/big/big.html#brandywine

[djbrenton]

As far as I know seedfest is not related to heirloomseeds ( seedfest is the UK arm of Anioleka seeds). Their Brandywine doesn't attribute a source so is likely to be as variable as many other suppliers.

[amphibian]

How come Victory seeds in their brandywine history, describe it as a potato leaf variety, but in their seed pages state the following...

Note:  There is a huge mess in the seed trade regarding seed for this variety.  Much of the seed being sold by others as 'Red Brandywine' is turning out as potato leaf plants.  Some companies are simply changing their description.  We chose to remove this variety from sale last year until we could grow out fresh stock that accurately meets the historical description.

To me that looks like they themselves have dabbled in the exact kind of description changes they are criticising their competitors for, or if it is a simple error it seems rather cheeky to imply that any error on your competitors pages is deliberate when baring such an error yourself.

I note that djbenton says the potato leaved variety is a pink, and the red should have regular leaves, but victory say the pink is the one from Ben Quisenberry.

I am now suitably confused.

[djbrenton]

This is what they say on the history and their red brandywine shows regular leaf on the seed pages.


Brandywine â€" indeterminate, pink fruited, large fruit, oblate shape, some green shoulders, some ribbed shoulders, some cracking, yield can range from how to relatively high, potato leaf, meaty, flavor from insipid to superb.

Red Brandywine â€" indeterminate, red fruited, medium to medium large fruit, slightly oblate shape, uniform ripening, some slight ribbing, fairly crack tolerant, regular leaf, juicy, consistently high yields, well balanced fine flavor.

What they point out in the history is the number of potato leafed varieties that are misnamed as red and tend to be variable as the pink variety is.
The pink ( original) came on sale via Ben Quinsberry who got it from Doris Sudduth Hill. The red ( potato leafed) came from farmers in Chester County PENN. It's only fairly recently that the weakening of strains has become apparent due to the increased interest in growing heritage varieties, so many suppliers may in time go back to basics with it.

[cleo]

This thread is really interesting,my `Brandywine` originally came from a `Heritage` collection over ten years ago. Potato leafed with huge red/pink fruit and a superb flavour.

Caspian Pink is a good large tom as well

[timmyc]

my beefsteak - which I planted a little late are just starting to flower and the plants are HUGE - Day of the Triffids comes to Oxfordshire!
Very vigorous and no disease at all -

[flossie]

thanks for the weblink DJB - really interesting and loved the pictures too