A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum The Tomato Forum Help with Big Beef abd seeds for planting next year

I bought some big beef (70day) tomato plants this year. They turned out great. No disease and great production.

I have saved a few seeds but have questions I have not been able to find an answer to:

1. Are the Big Beef heirloom or hybrid?
2. As I understand it if they are hybrid then they may not grow to be big beef..but some other type that may or may not be good.
3 The Big Beef I got the seeds from were at least 7 feet from any other tomato so is this enough that it would not cross pollinate with the cherry 100 or one other plant I have no idea what it was.

**4. Is it better if the Big Beef are hybrid to just order online?

**5. Where would you all recommend buying Big Beef seeds from.

Thank you for any help//

Just a quick look around reveals that "Big Beef" can refer to a hybrid, OR an open pollinated (true) variety. So what matters is which of these your original plants were. Where did you get them? And where did the seed ultimately come from (that produced this year's plants)?

If your plants were not labeled "rare" or "heirloom" my bet would be they came from hybrid seed. If this is the case, then you are correct-- the seeds you have may not be "true". Remember Intro to Biology? If you cross two hybrid individuals, you'll get some hybrids, some like the "mother" (which contributed to the hybrid) and some like the "father": Aa X Aa --> AA, Aa, aa. It's a little more complex than that, but you get the idea.

Of course, the term "hybrid" is also being used to refer to genetically modified seed.

If you are interested in growing heirloom tomatoes, I like the selections at Botanical Interests, and at New Hope seed Co. IMHO-- heirloom tomatoes beat the bejeepers out of all the rest. And contrary to what some folks insist, I have had fewer pest problems with heirlooms than with the "new & improved" varieties.