PlantFiles: Tomato
Lycopersicon lycopersicum 'Big Beef'

This variety produces good-sized, great-tasting tomatoes. I would say that this one is a winner in my trials.

I have been growing this one since it was introduced and have no reason to stop growing it. Very heavy production for such a big slicer. Dependable with all the disease resistance. Very good flavour, dare I say that it was not too far from Brandywine. Even the occasional "scrawny" plant produced lots of good big fruit. It did seem to need a little bit more pampering (bottom heat) at seedling stage (as did Goliath), but worth the little extra work.

Like others have noted, this plant is vigorous, disease resistant and high yielding. Nice uniform tomatoes with no cracking and good colour. Jarred many for the past winter and still have some. Beats store bought tomatoes any day. I'd have to say though that I've tasted better hybrids (Goliath and Ultra Girl). If you want a bumper crop of large and tasty tomatoes with a lot of disease resistance, go for Goliath. (Canadian Zone 6b)

I find the flavor to be pretty good - but not great. Fairly crack resistant, uniform fruit, usually 8-14 oz or so, productive.
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Note -- There is also a dehybridized version available.

This is by far my favorite tomato. I sowed the seed Jan 30. I grew them in my greenhouse. they had ripe tomatoes in 17 weeks. They were so huge they were braking the truss (blossom stem) . One truss had 18 or 20 tomatoes on it. Great flavor. Not too firm and not too watery. Just right. And on the acid side.
The early tomatoes had some cat facing but that was due to some cold spells while they were blooming. They all did great. I only grew them til they were too tall to handle. That was about 12 feet tall By July 5th. (5 months growing) But I did trim the plants to only one stem per plant. That might be why they grew so tall in such short time span.

Cricket

I've been growing this tomato for four years now. I find it to be an outstanding variety. It is disease resistant, bears tons of fruit and I find the taste comparable to "Brandywine" and other heirlooms. I now grow it from seed so I know I'll have some each year

I tried Big Beef for the first time summer of 2003 and it performed great for me. Tomatoes were large and ripened evenly on vine. Flavour was very good to excellent. I live in Nova Scotia.

So far ,as a greenhouse crop it is surviving I bought Johnnys big beef,for a trial this year[I don't know if there is a difference] -in 15 years of tomato growing[mostly organically]-this is the 3rd one to last the season[10 months]still in production and still good quality-the other 2 are Miracle Sweet,and Goliath,[hybrids too]

I live in the San Joaquin Valley, CA. This tomato wintered over with no shelter and I just picked 5 pounds or so of large green tomatoes. We had frost 5 days or so this winter. It is January and it is blooming. The plant was very vigorous and set tasty tomatoes.

This is one of the very few hybrids that I grow anymore in this world of exciting heirlooms. Big Beef proves, time and time again, to be a highly productive variety which seems very resistant to disease and sometimes resists late blight here in the Pacific Northwest. The flavor is very good and texture is firm and juicy. I highly recommend this variety!

This is one of my favorite tomatoes. I have had good germination of seed, good disease resistance, and all plants have been extremely heavy bearers. The tomato is a very large beefsteak type with good flavor. It is excellent for slicing or in salads. If I could only plant one variety each year, it would have to be this one.