Big Beef Tomato Seeds (F1 Hybrid) ALL-AMERICA SELECTIONS AWARD Hybrid Tomato Seeds

Big Beef Tomato (F1 Hybrid)
73 Days
1994 ALL-AMERICA SELECTIONS AWARD.
One of the finest ever hybrids yet for home gardeners.
Impressive yields of extra-large, 10 to 12 oz. smooth tomatoes with real old-time flavor.
Its virtues include great disease resistance, early harvests and fruit that stays enormous even at the end of a long season.
Indeterminate.

 Bio Dome seed starter is a great way to sow Tomato seeds, because each Bio Sponge has a pre-drilled hole you just drop one seed into — no need to thin seedlings, no wasting of seeds! You can use either the original 60-cell Bio Dome, or our 18-cell Jumbo Bio Dome, which grows big, stocky seedlings ready to transplant right into your garden.

Place your Bio Dome in a 70- to 75-degree room, or just use a seedling heat mat to raise the temperature in the dome. You should see the first sprouts in 3 to 8 days. As soon as your sprouts are up, place the seedlings under strong light.

If you’re using a potting mix, sow at a depth of 4 times the size of the seed. You can also use our convenient Jiffy Pots and Strips — Jiffy Pots are constructed entirely of lightweight, sturdy peat moss, so as the roots develop, they eventually grow right through the Jiffy Pot wall and into the garden soil!
Fluorescent light for around 14 to 16 hours a day is ideal for fastest growth. Keep your seedlings just a few inches below the light so they don’t “stretch” and get “leggy.” If you don’t have strong artificial light, a sunny window will work, too — just keep the clear dome on your Bio Dome to protect your seedlings from those chilly drafts!
Planting Out
About 2 weeks before your transplant date work the garden soil thoroughly, adding generous amounts of compost and about 4 pounds of fertilizer (5-10-10 is ideal) for every 100 square feet. Then cover the soil with a tarp or plastic mulch to keep the weeds from sprouting until you’re ready to plant.

Ten days before transplanting, you’ll need to start “hardening off” your young plants by setting them outdoors in a lightly shaded area for an hour or two. The next day, give them a longer visit outside until they remain outdoors overnight, still in their pots. Naturally, if a cold spell hits, bring them indoors again to wait for the temperature to rise.

When planting, bury the stem almost up to the lowest set of leaves, even if this means covering up several extra inches. If your plants have a long, tall, spindly stem with leaves widely spaced, you can plant them horizontally in the ground right up to the first set of leaves — the plant will root all along its stem. Just dig a long trench a few inches below the soil, lay the plant carefully into it as if you’re burying it, and then gently angle the stem upwards, so that the only part showing is the very top, with at least 4 to 6 leaves aboveground. Strip the underground leaves off the plant and cover up the entire length of “leggy” stem. Be careful not to bend the stem so sharply that it breaks — bank it with soil and pat the earth down firmly around it.

As soon as your Tomatoes are in the ground, mulch heavily around the plants to keep weeds down and moisture in the soil. If you’re growing the plants in straight rows, plastic mulch is far easier and effective than loose mulch (such as straw or pine bark)