Found these giant Beef Tomatoes in the mall yesterday, seemed as if they were staring at me, (really hard to explain in words)... So I bought them, only for the seeds - To grow when Spring season arrives (in mid February)! When compared to an ordinary tomato, which we considered to be giant - These really take the cake! Each one weighs in at almost half a kilogram, (a little larger than oranges I swear)!!! Wonder what the plant will be like? Somehow, I am again reminded of this movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txfdGlxEsG8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYt0dpeyAU8 So has anybody here ever grown giant Beef Tomatoes? Beef tomato 1 ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) Beef tomato 2 ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden )
Are you sure the tomatoes are not secretly plotting against you S-H with seeds from the Little Shop of Horrors? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWu1Q16AV5U Jerry P.S. Does this mean that a metamorphic Pandora's box of bad movies has been opened?
Yes Eileen, that right - But I am not sure if the seeds will be true to the parent plant. I mean, what if they are hybrids? They are probably not, as I never heard Beef Tomatoes to be hybrids... Still, experimentation will finally tell us the real story for sure. So we won't know anything until the plants grow from the seeds which I will extract. Has anybody here got any advice on how should I be doing this? I do know that tomato seeds can be extremely resilient. So I am not really worried too much. But if there is any trick to it, then I'd surely like to know. When successful, I will of course send all the extra seeds to everyone over here who'd like to have some!!! And Jerry, yes, sure - I sometimes do feel that I am going to be the victim of some hidden conspiracy. But again, only time will tell what this will develop into!
S-H, you are right the seeds are resilient. I slice the tomato in half and gently squeeze the jel and seeds into a cup or bowl. Let them set for a few days until they are nasty looking/smelling, but no longer, otherwise they may start germinating on you. Then strain and rinse them, plop them onto a paper towel or plate and let them dry out. You can use the rest of the tomato for cooking/eating, by the way. (I try to use them up instead of tossing them when I am saving seeds. Sometimes I get carried away with the amount of tomatoes I have to use up and and end up making salsa or sauce out of them) You may get something quite similar or not at all, but keep growing out the seeds for several generations (normally it is 8 generations) to finally get a stable flavor, size and shape, you may be very surprised. I doubt if they are heirlooms or open pollinated, too. normally they are too fragile to ship anywhere except from the garden to the house.
