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When planning to plant tomatoes, every gardener dreams that they will grow large, productive, disease-resistant and, most importantly, tasty. Beef tomatoes meet all these requirements.
Which tomatoes belong to the beef group?
This group of tomatoes is very diverse. They differ in color, size, vigor and ripening time. But they have one thing in common: all beef group tomatoes have many seed chambers, therefore, the amount of pulp significantly exceeds the total mass of juice and seeds. Most tomatoes in this group have few of them. It’s not for nothing that when translated from English, the name of the group – beef – means meat. All of them have an excellent taste, in which sweetness predominates. They contain more dry substances, vitamins and everything useful, for which these vegetables are valued: lycopene, beta-carotene, and in dark-colored tomatoes also anthocyanins.
As a rule, beefsteak tomatoes are difficult to store and even worse to transport due to their thin skin. But when eaten, this disadvantage turns into an advantage - the skin in salads is not felt at all. It is unlikely that you will be able to enjoy beef tomatoes bought in a store, since it is difficult to transport them and store them. These tomatoes need to be grown in your own garden.
What are the benefits of beef tomatoes?
These tomatoes have many advantages. Among them:
- excellent taste;
- high content of vitamins and nutrients;
- a wide variety of varieties and hybrids;
- high productivity;
- large fruits, there are record holders weighing up to 2 kg;
- Suitable for many culinary delights;
- good resistance to major tomato diseases.
In order not to get lost in the wide variety of varieties and hybrids, we will help you with the choice and recommend one of the best tomatoes in this group - Beefsteak, we will give it a full description and characteristics. Reviews from most gardeners about the Beefsteak tomato variety are positive, and the photo below gives a complete picture of its fruits.
Description and characteristics
The variety was created by the seed-growing company Search. Other companies also sell its seeds: Aelita, Sibsad.
The Beefsteak tomato variety was included in the State Register of Breeding Achievements in 2009 and is recommended for cultivation in all climatic zones.
Features of the variety:
- the Beefsteak tomato is an indeterminate variety, i.e., does not limit its growth;
- the Beefsteak tomato can be grown both in a greenhouse, where it grows up to 2 m, and in open ground, but here its height will be slightly smaller;
- The Beefsteak tomato bush is powerful and can grow up to 1 m wide, so plants need to be planted sparsely to provide them with the feeding area necessary for the formation of large fruits;
- in terms of ripening, the Beefsteak tomato belongs to the mid-early variety, but, according to reviews from gardeners, it often behaves like a mid-season variety; the period from planting seedlings to the first ripe tomatoes is from 80 to 85 days;
- the Beefsteak tomato requires shaping and gartering, not only the bush itself, but also each cluster;
- it gives the best results in regions with cool summers when formed into 1 stem with the removal of all stepsons; in the south you can plant two stems, where all the fruits will have time to ripen;
- the cluster of the Beefsteak tomato is simple, there are up to five fruits in it, but they will be the largest if you leave no more than 2 or 3 tomatoes in each cluster and remove the remaining ovaries;
- Beefsteak tomato fruits are bright red in color, have a flat-round shape, often with noticeable ribs;
- the average weight of one tomato is about 300 g, but with proper care it can be much more;
- The skin of the Beefsteak tomato is thin, there are up to 6 seed chambers, and there are few seeds. Due to their thin skin, Beefsteak tomatoes are stored for no more than a week, and they are completely unsuitable for transportation.
- Beefsteak tomato fruits are intended for fresh consumption, they produce delicious juice, they are suitable for preparing various dishes, primarily for pizza and sandwiches, they can be used to make excellent preparations for the winter, you just have to cut them into pieces;
- The yield of the Beefsteak tomato is not bad - up to 8 kg per square meter. m.
Concluding the description and characteristics of the Beefsteak tomato variety, it must be said that it has high resistance to many tomato diseases. It is practically not affected by Alternaria blight, cladosporiosis and tobacco mosaic virus.
Agricultural technology
The future large harvest is laid at the stage of growing seedlings. It is then that the ability to set a sufficient number of flower clusters is formed, and Beefsteak, with proper care, can have up to 7 of them.
Therefore, everything must be done to the seedlings did not stretch, grew stocky and strong.
Growing seedlings
How to grow high-quality seedlings? There are several components of success here:
- properly selected and treated soil. It should not only be loose and breathable, but the optimal nutrient content is the main condition for successful growth and proper development of plants. To ensure the health of the seedlings, the soil is steamed or frozen, destroying all pathogens;
- seeds processed according to all rules. They need to be calibrated - only a large seed can produce a healthy plant, pickled to destroy all possible pathogens, awakened with the help of growth stimulants, germinated to select only viable seeds;
- correct sowing: the depth of immersion of a tomato seed in moist soil is about 2 cm;
- greenhouse conditions before germination. To prevent moisture loss, the container with the seeds is placed in a plastic bag; a constant temperature of about 25 degrees ensures that it is kept in a warm place;
- Spartan conditions after germination. A temperature of about 16 degrees during the day and a couple of degrees at night is what is needed for the roots to grow and the stem not to stretch; the maximum amount of light will also contribute to this;
- comfortable conditions for future growth: temperature about 22 degrees during the day and a little colder at night, enough light, regular moderate watering with non-cold water, liquid fertilizing with low concentration mineral fertilizer solutions 2 to 3 times during the growing season. Often, when growing seedlings, they maintain the desired air temperature, but they forget that the roots of tomatoes need warmth. A cold window sill is a common cause of poor seedling development. It needs to be insulated from drafts with polystyrene foam or penofol;
- sufficient distance between plants, pots cannot be placed close to each other, the struggle for light will lead to the inevitable stretching of seedlings.
Criteria for readiness of seedlings for planting:
- age from 50 to 60 days;
- at least 7 true leaves;
- presence of the first flower brush.
If by this time the soil in the greenhouse is warm, it is time to move the seedlings to a permanent place of residence.
Features of cultivation
Tomatoes from the beef group have certain requirements for living conditions. If you do not follow them, you cannot count on a good harvest of large fruits.
The planting rate for Beefsteak tomato is 3 plants per square meter. m. Even before planting, you need to provide everything for gartering the plant - pegs or trellises.
For this variety of tomato, soil fertility is very important. To produce a large harvest of large fruits, the plant removes a lot of nutrients from the soil. In the first phase of development, green mass increases, so the need for nitrogen is high. If it is deficient, plants develop slowly and you cannot get a large harvest from them. But if there is an excess of nitrogen, it may not be obtained at all. Not only does the rapid growth of shoots inhibit the formation of flower buds and the formation of a crop, plants overfed with nitrogen have weak immunity and become defenseless against pathogens of fungal diseases. Late blight begins to rage, from which it is very difficult to save plants.
Mulching plants with fresh sawdust will also help reduce the nitrogen content in the soil during overfeeding. They pull excess nitrogen from the ground to decompose. After 1.5 or 2 weeks, sawdust must be removed from the greenhouse.
At the stage of budding and fruit set, potassium should predominate in the fertilizing. At the same time, it is necessary to feed the plants with calcium nitrate - prevention of blossom end rot. After 2 weeks, fertilizing is repeated.
The soil should always be under a 10 cm layer of mulch made from organic materials. It provides many advantages for plant development: stable soil temperature and moisture, maintaining its loose structure, preventing growth weed.
Proper watering is very important. If there is not enough moisture, plants experience stress and their development is delayed. With excess moisture, the content of dry substances and sugars in fruits decreases, which negatively affects the taste of the fruit. High humidity in the greenhouse promotes the development of late blight.
If you follow these simple rules, you can hope for a maximum harvest of tasty and large fruits.
More information about the characteristics of the Beefsteak tomato variety can be seen in the video:
