Are Beefsteak Tomatoes Easy To Grow?
In a word – yes! The fact is that beefsteak toms are no harder to grow than small salad tomatoes or even the cherry tomatoes we all love. However there are certain little ‘tricks’ that you must observe if you really want to grow big delicious tomatoes like the one in the picture below.
This is a picture of the ‘Gigantomo’ Hybrid Cultivar tomato
just emphasizing what size a 1 3/4lb pound tomato looks like if your are new to the area of giant tomatoes. The fact is that they are no harder to grow than normal tomatoes, and the main thing is to pick the proper variety for the region and to feed and water them well.
This variety is a hybrid and so not the favourite of the traditionalists – which I can quite understand. However there are a few heirloom tomatoes that also grow to an impressive size.
Heirloom tomatoes like the Brandywine, Cherokee purple, Black Krim, and German Pink are all beefsteak tomatoes.
They are also indeterminate or vine tomato plants that can grow to over 6 feet and carry enormous fruits weighing in at over one pound on average.
What Does A Beefsteak Tomato Look Like?
Check out the picture below and you will see how a beefsteak tomato looks after it is sliced open and set in a frying pan! A really ‘meaty’ tomato – not the ‘sack of water tomato’ you may be used to.
The beef tomato is ideal for salads sliced with buffalo cheese – or placed on top of a large burger in a toasted bun!
Try out your beef tomato fried with potato, ham and eggs for sunday breakfast – beautiful.
Tips For Growing Giant Tomatoes
There are certain things that have to be in place in order to grow giant tomatoes, quite aprt from the ‘given’ of plenty sunshine (at least 8 hours daily) and regular temperature with no too much night-time fluctuation. Temperature between 55F and 75F are ideal. Also they must have…
- Great Soil. For growing exceptional tomatoes then it just makes sense that you must have a great nutrient-rich soil or rather soil/compost mix to grow them in.
- A good regular watering regime to avoid split tomatoes – which happen when the soil becomes too dry before you water the toms. In their rush to drink up the water, the tomato skins will burst.
- A good organic feed and regular feeding when the fruit is on the vine.
- Daily trimming excess tomatoes and nipping away side shoots
- A deep enough container or soil area for root development.
How Deep Should Beds Be To Grow Tomatoes
There is a general fallacy about the depth of containers needed to grow good tomatoes. I have read many times that a raised bed has to be at least 12 inches deep to get good results.
Some folks even say that they have to be at least 30 inches apart.
Let me just put these ideas ‘to bed’. The giant tomato in the picture above and the ones in the frying pan, came from the plants growing in these 4 foot square beds in the picture below.
As you can see these beds are very shallow – only 6 inches deep, and there are 9! tomato plants to a 4 foot square Raised Bed, which also has a membrane on the bottom so the roots are not growing in soil.
So how can they grow to such an extent in only 6 inches of soil? We get back to the points above all being in unison to get the good results seen here.
The one drawback from shallow beds such as these is that they need careful and constant watering as they will soon dry out otherwise. For later versions I have used 12 inch deep beds and they need less watering – but the results were the same as the shallow beds.
What is the soil mix for great tomatoes?
The ‘soil’ in the beds is a mixture of topsoil, compost, sand, and vermiculite. 10% topsoil, 60% home made compost, 20% vermiculite and 10% sand.
Just as important or even more so is the feed. Especially if you wish to grow lage tomatoes free of Blossom End Rot. I make my own organic plant ‘tea’ from Russian Comfrey, and it couldn’t be simpler. Just get yourself a large bin and cram it half full of comfrey and fill the rest with water.
After 3 weeks or so infusing the mixture is ready to use. Pour about 2 inches into the bottom of a watering can and fill with water.
When the plants first begin to bear fruit then start the feeding. Once a week to start with and increasing to 3 times per week as the fruits develop.
Trimming Tomato Plants For Best Results.
You may notice from the picture above that the leaves are missing from the stem of the plant. This is to stop the plant leaves from sapping the nutrients away from the fruit, and is essential if you want to grow big tomatoes.
The time to do this is after the plant has reached almost full hight, when you begin gradually to trim away the leaves. Many people start this process immediately, however to do so may mean that your plant stems will end up weak and skinny.
I always let the leaves grow a while to encourage strong stem growth – which you will need to hold giant tomatoes.
Trimming side shoots is also an essential part of tomato cultivation. These are shoots that grow out between the stem and leaf of the plant – as you may see in the following picture.
If these side shoots are left unchecked then they will grow wild and sap your plant of energy needed to grow large tomatoes. This is for indeterminate tomato plants. With bush or cherry tomatoes like sungold I have left them at times to grow a bit wild – with great results overall.
Finally if your goal is to grow large tomatoes and you are not really interested in volume, then you must nip away the tiny excess tomatoes from the bunch. Allow only 2 or 3 tomatoes to grow per bunch if you want to increase the chance they will grow to be champions before they start to ripen.
Whether growing giant tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, be sure that all the normal proceedures highlighted above as well as supporting your plants is followed and you will not go far wrong. Disease control and pest control has to play a bigger part in this as the season wears on, and the temperature builds up.
Although the Raised Beds in the pictures did have 9 plants per bed, I would really aim for no more than 5 plants if you want to really get the best from them. This will also give a better air flow between the plants which will help prevent fungus problems.
Lack of sufficient air flow can cause humidity problems as you must keep up the water levels while at the same time not create too humid an atmosphere. This can be an especial problem if you are growing tomatoes in a greenhouse situation.
