finally seeing a few pollinated pumpkins on a stick on each plant. Hopefully many, many more to come for fun fall/Halloween decorations
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excited for you 
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Any idea what’s causing this on my Ajvarski peppers? Almost looks like something little is taking a chomp
Edit: after a couple of tomatoes prompted me to look up pictures of sun damage, I think this may be sun scald
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Most likely not sunscald. Some small critter, either animal or insect testing out to see what tastes good. Sun scald would show as a bleached out area on any part subject to sunlight and the peppers would shrivel.
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One of the best hybrid tomatoes ever.
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For the third year I am trying to grow Big Beef. The first two tries were busts. My friends on tomato growing sites continue to urge me to grow this hybrid. It has been the only of its sort to be in my garden for many years, me being a tomato snob and still on maybe 500 or so heirlooms/OPs with another 500 to go. Space is limited and time is getting very short to make my growing goals. From this you could guess that giving a hybrid a precious chance is serious business. It must be that my soil recognizes a stranger and diverts all the good stuff to the “real” plants. Is the third time the charm?
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My tomatoes leaves are so dense I cant reallt see through it but theres no real sign of disease think I should just leave it or remove some ?
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I have been growing big beef probably 10-12 years now.
I have grown plenty of fancy heirloom tomatoes too.. but here in the hot humid south Big Beef rules for production.
I am lucky to get 8 or 10 tomatoes off Brandywine or Cherokee purple… where Big Beef will produce 50 tomatoes or more.
They are big and beefy and for a hybrid taste very good. They can take the heat and humidity and still produce loads of fruit.
TNHunter
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I only put in two types of intentional tomatoes this year. Directly into the ground, and directly forgotten about! I don’t think they will sprout. Heh!
Other than that I have some mystery volunteers.
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I also grow Buffalo Soldier. It’s a cross between Big Beef and Indian Stripe. Does well for me in Mississippi. Darker color.
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@teerusty1 … several local nurseries… walmart, coop., TSC… have Big Beef each year here. They are easy to get now.
I used to grow my own plants… But not now.
I like to grow a pink brandywine and can usually find those too.
SunGold is my favorite cherry… could not find it this spring… so my fall back cherry is super sweet 100.
My tomato collection this year is 3 Big Beef, 1 Brandywine, 1 SS 100.
Back in my younger days I have grown 100+ tomatoes a season. Today 4 or 5 will do.
TNHunter
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I’m pissed. Last year, fusarium wilt devastated my tomatoes. 2026, costly interventions were employed to prevent another disaster. The tomato vines and fruit are beautiful, but very few are what they are labeled as. The Cherokee purples I thought I planted appear to be German Pinks. Mealy and insipid blah. I now have a mega tomato patch growing a bumper crop of swine and chicken food.
This ain’t no CP. I also planted Rutgers and I believe these were also not labeled correctly.
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well tomato row has reached the board, so it’s half done with height growth for the year (usually). all have flowers and some have set fruit and one started to ripen up already.
they’re on the left in this picture.
Brazilian red, they popped early, grew fast, and produced immediately on going in the ground. will be planting a ton of them next year if they taste all right.
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I am lucky to get 8 or 10 tomatoes off Brandywine or Cherokee purple… where Big Beef will produce 50 tomatoes or more.
Are the impediments to productivity disease, or lack of vigor?
Big Beef is one I haven’t tried. I hope they’re a good base for spaghetti sauce. I typically use Cherokee purples for sammiches and the Rutgers and/or Marglobes for canning or sauce.
FYI, last year 24 plants were set out. 4-6 tomatoes total were harvested. This year, lime was applied to the tomato patch, the plants were pine strawed to keep the earth underneath softer to make it more absorbent to make the Serenade drenching easier. I drenched the earth every other week and sprayed the vines with Mancozeb and Serenade every other week. German Pinks and German Johnsons get hammered by fusarium and I know for a fact I have one of these this year and they’re doing ok. The Cherokee purple sees less fusarium but is blight prone. The Mancozeb has kept the blight away on all of mine.
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This is one month of growth… These were one to two feet tall when I put them in, all grown from seed, almost 30 varieties, all but four are indeterminates. We got a TON of rain and had warmer than usual temps this month and they really loved that, I was otherwise stingy with the nitrogen because I was trying to avoid them doing exactly this. They do have flowers and some have fruit forming, but not much down low on the plants. Anyways, Golden Gates has the earliest and biggest fruits, I’m hoping they ripen in early July. I have had to prune them twice just to keep the airflow open, I am letting the majority of suckers go this year and am seeing a lot more flowers than last year when I did single stems. I will probably be more heavy handed with the pruning later in the season. I have a fall crop of determinates that will go into the garlic bed once I harvest that.
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All the photos are very nice. My Big Beef adventure yielded zero one year and about three tomatoes the next and those were in the 4 ounce range and were actually spitters. The plants the first year were from donated seeds and the second from a box store plant as is this year’s. Right now everything looks healthy. Most of the responses are from southern gardeners. We are in southern Nebraska so a few of my plants have pea sized fruits and most are blossoming so it will be a month before we can compare to say Mississippi or Texas. By the time mine are ready to eat at the end of July, you guys will be done for the season.
Nice surprise: Sungolds starting to ripen. No more signs of disease after heavily pruning out all weird early blight signs
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I’m 7a high desert. i have lots of flowers and a few fruit starting. one plant was ambitious and made 3 early, one is ripe.
I’ve gotten two small green peppers from the fry pepper plant which is also a few weeks ahead this year
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