Beefsteak tomato

[annie8]

Am debating whether to try growing a beefsteak tomato this year along with my usual varieties. Tried it several years ago with limited success but am much more experienced now and i would like to try again. I grow in an unheated greenhouse in large pots having started in a heated propagator about end Feb and growing on inside for a while. My main issue is the length of the growing season as I am in scotland. Any varieties you think might be worth a try?

[ameno]

I don't know of any specific varieties, but I would try and get hold of an Eastern European variety if you can. Beefsteak tomatoes are popular there, and most varieties are bred for a short season, unlike Mediterranean varieties.
I grew a Polish variety year before last (I forget its name), and I got a few ripe fruit from it outdoors in late July, before blight killed the plants and rotted the remaining fruit.

[Bren In Pots]

I grew Super Marmande just the once in a unheated GH sowing the seeds 2nd Feb in a heated prop I got a few fruits but most didn't ripen before the frosts.

[greenishfing]

A few years ago, after frying my own tomato seedlings on my windowsill, I called in at a local charity shop. They had some biggish, leggy seedlings for sale called "mortgage lifter". I bought two to try. They gave big, quite ugly, beefsteak tomatoes and gave a marvellous crop in an unheated greenhouse. They also tasted great and carried on producing until we got frosts.

[Penellype]

I've had little success with "beefsteak" varieties like Marmande, and tend to find that they have creases in them which make it very hard to remove the skins or make them look tidy when sliced. However I have had success with large tomatoes from Oh Happy Day and Ferline grown outdoors as long as they have plenty of root space. Ferline has the better flavour but produces fewer tomatoes. You won't get the beefsteak sized fruit if you grow them in a pot or gro-bag though, so you would need a greenhouse bed or border.

[Snoop Puss]

If you can find seeds for Rosa de Barbastro, they might be worth a try. Slightly flattened but not wrinkly whopper beefsteak. Skin just slightly less than bright red. Peel straight off the plant. Lovely flavour and texture.

I grow them outdoors on the plot, start seeds end of February. They are later than others, but we have quite a short season here and I still get a good crop (cold snap in late September regularly kills the plants off). Barbastro is in the pre-Pyrenees, so warm in summer but again, a very short growing season.

Simpsons Seeds sells them but you might find them elsewhere. I see Simpsons say they can grow up to 1 kg. I've never had them as big as that - maybe they'd grow that big if I thinned the fruit, but I don't bother - so mine are maybe around 300-400 g apiece. I grow them every year. My favourite tomato of all.

[Jungle Jane]

They do take a long time to ripen,I’m trying to think of the quickest to ripen from what I’ve grown but weather makes a difference. I’ve grown all mine outside so you having the greenhouse is a bonus for overnight temps. I’ve grown them in containers that are about two foot wide & deeper than other pots so they have the root space. Black seaman is one I remember in my memory of greats

[It never rains..it pours]

Grow Monte carlo f1 here in the north. Guess its a semi beefsteak. Think by weight it's the highest yielder we grow in the greenhouse. Oddly the seed seems hard to obtain.

[annie8]

Thanks all. Have got the heated propogator out of the garage so keen to get going soon, will do a bit of searching based on the advice.

[Ger-annie-um]

I've grown Big Daddy quite successfully in an unheated greenhouse and in mfb's. You need to remember to limit each truss to no more than 3 Tom's (2 better) or you won't get the very big fruits.