#GREEN ZEBRA TOMATO BEEFSTEAK SKIN#

These tomato plant types can benefit from staking, trellising, or caging-as well as from periodic fertilizing. Slightly flattened, lobed fruit grows on plants that can reach 6 feet tall.

#GREEN ZEBRA TOMATO BEEFSTEAK SKIN#

Because they have a thin skin and a short shelf life, they are rarely available commercially, but remain a perennial backyard garden favorite.įamiliar cultivars include Beefsteak, Big Boy, Beefmaster, Brandywine, and Cherokee Purple. These meaty and juicy tomatoes are among the biggest. PACKET: 40 seeds, unless otherwise noted plants about 60 feet.For a larger tomato that really holds its shape when sliced, the Beefsteak tomato offers a hefty (1-plus pound) and flavorful option. Colder and picking too green will sacrifice end-quality. Store longer with proper variety selection, picking less-ripe, and keeping at cooler temperatures 45–60☏ (7–16☌). STORAGE: Store blemish-free, near-ripe fruit 4–7 days at room temperature in darkness. If staking larger fruit with calyx on, consider trimming below shoulders when harvesting. Calyx can be removed or kept to prove freshness. Any fruit breaking color will still ripen post-harvest. To deliver sound fruit, pick less ripe the further the distance and the longer the time between field and customer. Use fully ripe fruit only for local retail or home-use. Harvest softer fruit unstacked into shallow, padded trays.

HARVEST: Fruits ripen gradually from the blossom end to shoulders and from the base of clusters to the tips. Avoid wet leaves and handling when wet or using tobacco products. DISEASES & INSECT PESTS: Learn your common pests and options for control, including resistant cultivars and pesticides. If needed later in season, consider thinning out leaves to increase airflow or topping plants to help finish ripening last fruits. The lower bottom suckers often miss trellis supports, set fruit closer to soil, take energy from upper parts, and encourage spread of disease from soil. PRUNING: Indeterminates likely benefit by removing all suckers under the first strong branch directly below the first flower cluster. For tall indeterminates, consider short extensions or pruning once they outgrow a manageable size for easy harvest. TRELLISING: Basket-weave by pounding 5–6' stakes every 2–3 plants, using heavier t-posts intermittently and at ends of beds. Water seedlings with a high-phosphate fertilizer solution at planting to help boost early yields. Plant deeply to encourage adventitious rooting. In rows 4–6' apart, space determinates 12–24' and indeterminates 24–36'. Avoid exposing unprotected plants to consecutive nightly temperatures below 45☏ (7☌). For earliest crop, plant under row cover around last frost date. Supplemental lights and lower night temps control stretching. Grow at constant 60–70☏ (16–21☌) temp and use complete fertilizer until hardened-off. At first true leaf, pot-up to 50-cell trays or 4' pots, depending on expected transplant timing. Keep mix at 75–85☏ (24–29☌) with moderate moisture. About 5–6 weeks before transplanting, sow 1/4' deep in 20-row flats with 20 seeds/row, or in 200-cell trays with 1 seed/cell lightly cover. TRANSPLANTING: Don't start too early-leggy, root-bound, or flowering transplants can cause stunting and reduce early production. Tomatoes typically germinate in 5–7 days. For short determinates, succession-plant every 4–6 weeks. Fertilize accurately since excess nitrogen causes rampant growth, rot, and delayed ripening. CULTURE: Medium-rich soil with pH 6.0–6.8 preferred. INDETERMINATE (Climbing): Varieties should be staked, trellised, or caged, and pruned for best results fruit ripens over an extended period. SCIENTIFIC NAME: Solanum lycopersicum DETERMINATE (Bush): Varieties do not need pruning and may be grown with or without support fruit ripens within a concentrated time period.

Green zebra tomato beefsteak