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Tips to Maximize Your Beefsteak Tomato Production

Open March 1st-November 17th, 2024

Seven days a week including all holidays, 10am-5pm.

In this Issue

1. Tips to Maximize Your Beefsteak Tomato Production
2. Main Mail Order Catalogue
3. The Succulent Situation Pre-Order
4. The Hydrangea Hysteria Pre-Order
5. The Grafted Veggie Pre-Order
6. The Great Citrus and Rare Fruit Pre-Order

Tips to Maximize Your Beefsteak Tomato Production

Other than praying for a hot summer!

Beefsteak tomatoes (and the nearly as large slicers) are a favourite among gardeners for their large, juicy fruits perfect for slicing onto sandwiches or burgers or for chopping into salads. However, to achieve a bountiful harvest of beefsteak tomatoes, it's crucial to provide them with the right conditions. Because of the large size of their fruit, beefsteak tomatoes need the most amount of time and heat to grow and ripen. In this article, we'll delve into the key factors for maximizing beefsteak tomato production, focusing on the importance of hot locations in the garden, proper fertilization, and adequate watering techniques plus we’ll share with you the magic of Mighty Mato grafted tomatoes.

Choosing the Right Location: One of the first steps in growing beefsteak tomatoes successfully is selecting an appropriate location in your garden. Beefsteak tomatoes thrive in hot, sunny environments, so it's essential to choose a spot that receives full sunlight for at least 6 to 8 hours per day, but even more is better. Ideally, the location should also offer protection from strong winds, as excessive wind can damage the tomato plants and hinder fruit production. A protected, sunny location will also usually be warmer than the rest of the garden which is perfect for beefsteak tomatoes.

If you live in a cooler climate (like coastal BC), consider planting your beefsteak tomatoes in raised beds or containers that can be placed in sunnier spots or against a south-facing wall to maximize sunlight exposure and heat retention both during the day and at night. The soil in raised beds and containers also heats up faster than the soil in a garden bed giving your plants a jump start on the season, especially in the spring when your garden soil can still be quite cool.

Soil Preparation and Fertilization: Before planting your beefsteak tomatoes, it's essential to prepare the soil properly. These plants prefer well-drained, nutrient-rich soil. Incorporating organic matter such as compost or aged manure into the soil can improve its structure and fertility, providing a favorable environment for root development and nutrient uptake.

Additionally, beefsteak tomatoes are heavy feeders, meaning they require ample nutrients to support vigorous growth and fruit production. While adding compost to build healthy soils is important, it most likely will not provide enough nutrients to guarantee bumper crops. To ensure your plants have access to essential nutrients throughout the growing season and give you the most tomatoes possible, consider applying a balanced fertilizer formulated specifically for tomatoes. You can use liquid, granular, or slow release formulations. You can also use organic fertilizers but keep in mind that their concentration of nutrients is relatively low so you’ll need to fertilize once a week. A balanced fertilizer or one with a higher phosphorus content (the middle number of the three on any fertilizer container) can promote robust root development and flower formation, leading to increased fruit set and yield. You can also use our various Garden Pro tomato fertilizers with added kelp extract which offers phytochemicals and nutrients that will make your tomatoes taste better!

Watering Techniques: Proper watering is critical for maximizing beefsteak tomato production, as inconsistent moisture levels can lead to blossom end rot, fruit cracking, and reduced yields. During the growing season, aim to keep the soil consistently moist but not waterlogged. Water deeply and evenly, ensuring that the entire root zone receives adequate moisture.

To prevent moisture loss and maintain soil moisture levels, consider applying a layer of organic mulch, such as straw or shredded leaves, around the base of the tomato plants. Mulching helps regulate soil temperature, suppresses weed growth, and reduces evaporation, allowing the plants to conserve water and focus their energy on growth and fruit production.

In hot climates or during periods of intense heat, pay close attention to your tomato plants' water needs, as they may require more frequent watering to prevent dehydration and stress. Consider installing a drip irrigation system or soaker hoses to deliver water directly to the root zone, minimizing water waste and promoting efficient uptake by the plants.

Go Grafted for Bumper Crops: In addition to optimizing growing conditions, another strategy for maximizing beefsteak tomato production is to consider using Mighty Mato grafted tomato plants. Grafted tomatoes offer several advantages over traditional, non-grafted seed-grown plants. By grafting a beefsteak tomato variety onto a vigorous rootstock, Mighty Mato tomatoes combine the desirable traits of both plants, resulting in increased disease resistance, improved tolerance to environmental stressors like cold in the spring and heat in the summer, and enhanced nutrient uptake. This innovative approach not only boosts plant health and vigour but also promotes higher yields and extended harvest periods. Also, grafted tomato plants tend to have stronger, more extensive root systems, allowing them to access water and nutrients more efficiently, even in challenging growing conditions.

Even though they cost more than tomato seedlings, choosing Mighty Mato grafted tomatoes can be a smart investment for gardeners seeking to optimize beefsteak tomato production and enjoy a more abundant and resilient crop. It is not unusual for Mighty Matos to reach 6-8 feet tall in garden beds – yes, you’ll need some strong supports – or 4-5 feet tall in large pots. And, if you take care of them, Mighty Matos will take care of you. They can produce 50-100 pounds of fruit on one plant! A local couple who live in Richmond were skeptical about Mighty Matos when they were first introduced but intrigued by the promise of more fruit on their favourite heirloom beefsteak ‘Brandywine’. With seed-grown plants they would only ever get about five tomatoes per year. But with their grafted ‘Brandywine’ they got 100 pounds from one plant! And they repeated the same production the next year. It wasn’t a fluke. Mighty Matos are the real deal.

By providing beefsteak tomatoes with the right growing conditions, including a hot and sunny location, nutrient-rich soil, proper fertilization, and adequate watering, you can maximize their production and enjoy a plentiful harvest of delicious, homegrown tomatoes perfect for enjoying fresh or incorporating into your favourite recipes. If you go with Mighty Mato grafted tomatoes your production could be astounding.

At Phoenix Perennials we love our tomatoes. You can currently pre-order 20 different kinds of Mighty Matos and five different kinds of grafted peppers in our Grafted Veggie Pre-Order. Below we highlight the different varieties of beefsteaks available. In early May we’ll also have lots of seed-grown tomatoes. You’ll find a list of these varieties below. They are not available for pre-order but we’ll announce their arrival in the Edible Alert.

Grafted Beefsteaks and Slicers for 2024

Solanum lycopersicum Mighty Mato 'Beefsteak' - 'Beefsteak' has bright red, slightly ribbed, 4-5" heirloom tomatoes with delicious, sweet, meaty flesh. An excellent slicer, but also wonderful for cooking, salads or canning. 85-95 days. Indeterminate. 

Solanum lycopersicum Mighty Mato 'Berkeley Tie Dye Green' - 'Berkeley Tie Dye Green' could be the most stunning tomato you'll ever grow. And one of the coolest you've ever tasted. It is an incredibly colourful large slicer variety with 8-16 ounce fruit striped with green, yellow, and red. The flesh is tricoloured with each colour offering a different flavour. The green and yellow flesh offers tartness and spiciness while the red sections are sweet and flavourful. An excellent slicer, but also wonderful for cooking, salads, or canning. Imagine it sliced on a plate with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt and fresh cracked pepper for a perfect summer treat. 75-80 days. Indeterminate. 

Solanum lycopersicum Mighty Mato 'Berkeley Tie Dye Pink' - 'Berkeley Tie Dye Pink' produces stunning deep purple-pink 8-12 ounce slicer type fruits with metallic green stripes. The fruit has excellent, sweet, rich flavours and a firm, meaty texture. An early producer for such a large tomato at just 65-75 days. Indeterminate.

Solanum lycopersicum Mighty Mato 'Black Krim' - 'Black Krim' has violet-red, slightly flattened, 4-5 inch fruits with near-black shoulders and an intense, smoky flavour. Colour deepens as summer temperatures rise. A huge favourite at our Heirloom Tomato Festival tastings each year. Russian heirloom. 70-90 days. Indeterminate.

Solanum lycopersicum Mighty Mato 'Brandywine Red' (Sudduth) - Brandywine' is considered one of the world's best-tasting tomatoes. It is a famous heirloom that produces 1-2 pound, scarlet-pink beefsteaks with high acid and sugar content. It is also low-yielding on its own roots in cool climates but our customer Ken got 100 pounds from one grafted plant in 2013 and again the following year! So grafted is the way to go! Russian heirloom. 70-90 days. Indeterminate. 

Solanum lycopersicum Mighty Mato 'Cherokee Carbon' - 'Cherokee Carbon' is a cross of two of the most popular heirloom purple beefsteak tomatoes: 'Cherokee Purple' and 'Carbon'. The flavour is amazing with a double dose of the rich, robust, smoky, umami flavours that will make you swoon and say this is the taste of summer! Extra pretty too, these tomatoes are among the darkest of the purple types. Grow in a really hot spot. 75-80 days. Indeterminate.

Solanum lycopersicum Mighty Mato 'Copia' - 'Copia' is a gorgeous and tasty slicer or beefsteak tomato with yellow skin beautifully striped with red. The interiors are also yellow and red, look gorgeous on a plate, in an open-faced sandwich, or in a salad, and are very juicy, flavourful, and sweet. A cross of 'Green Zebra' and 'Marvel Stripe'. 85 days. Indeterminate.

Solanum lycopersicum Mighty Mato 'Momotaro' - 'Momotaro' is one of the most popular tomatoes grown in Japan, a country of people who appreciate flavour and quality in their food. These beautiful and distinctive dark pink tomatoes are 6-7 ounces with meaty flesh and a wonderful sweet and tangy flavour. An early producer with great yields. 70 days. Indeterminate.

Seed-Grown Tomatoes for 2024 

Coming in Early May

Here's the list of seed-grown tomato starts that we'll have available in early May.

Main Mail Order Catalogue

1000 different plants for the 2024 gardening season

We are so excited to launch our main mail order catalogue featuring 1000 different garden plants including hundreds of new species and cultivars for the 2024 season. In future Alerts we'll explore many of our different offerings with you but for now we'll let you follow your nose and explore. Though one good place to start is the New Plants section which highlights plants new to the world of gardening and/or new to our mail order selection. Enjoy!

The Succulent Situation Pre-Order

230 Rare and Choice Succulents for Pick-Up or Shipping in May 2024

Here it is, succulent fans! It's the 2024 Succulent Situation, your chance to add some cool, unusual, and rare plants to your succulent collection. We are pleased to offer one of the largest and most diverse selections in Canada of plants we have sourced from around the world. There are a number of exciting new succulents available. For now we'll let you explore the new additions but we'll feature them in a future alert. Have fun!

Hydrangea Hysteria 

Pre-Order 

You'll Go Crazy for these 115 Top Cultivars

Hysteria (noun): 1. A wild uncontrollable emotion or excitement exhibited in gardeners when a state of plant lust becomes uncontrollable. 2. a functional disturbance of the nervous system, of psychoneurotic origin, caused by the presentation of too many amazingly beautiful things, for example the Hydrangea Hysteria Pre-Order at Phoenix Perennials.

This year we've really gone crazier than ever with 115 different cultivars. We hope you are excited by these Hydrangea. There are so many great old favourites and so much amazing breeding work pumping out new cultivars all the time. The past 10-15 years have seen an incredible number of distinctive and unusual Hydrangea introductions with innovations like the ability to bloom/rebloom on new wood, dwarf habits, and new flower forms & colours. In this pre-order we assemble a specially curated selection of the best that the Hydrangea world has to offer including many hot new introductions as well as some tried and true classic performers.

The Grafted Veggie

Pre-Order

Choose from 20 different Mighty Matos and 5 different Mighty Veggie Peppers

Welcome to our Grafted Veggie Pre-Order offering hand-grafted edible plants that will produce at least 2-3 times more fruit than own-root veggies with more disease resistance, cold tolerance, and longer seasons of production. With good fertilizing, many customers get 50-100 pounds from a single plant! These plants are revolutionary and worth it, especially for small spaces. Grow them in the ground or in large pots (10 gallon and up).

This year we are pleased to offer Mighty Matos and Mighty Veggie peppers including many new, exciting, and tasty varieties.

We have many new varieties in store including everything you see above!

The Great Citrus and Rare Fruit Pre-Order

300+ Amazing Edible Plants including 97 Different Citrus!

We are excited to offer by far our largest Citrus selection ever - 97 different varieties - one of the largest in Canada. Citrus are a relatively easy-to-grow and rewarding group of plants that can be grown by all Canadians as long as you have a a sunny outdoor spot for summer and a good, bright place indoors for the winter. Beyond classic favourites like Meyer lemons, navel oranges, blood oranges, key limes, and Thai limes, we also have a number of cultivars of mandarins, kumquats, yuzu, and sudachi that are hardy in zones 7 or 8. They can be grown outdoors year round in coastal BC in protected microclimates.

These Citrus are joined by a few hundred other rare and choice fruits including avocados, paw paws, persimmons, passionfruit, figs, olives, mulberries, pineapple guavas, guavas, kiwi, tea, papaya, dragon fruit, jujubes, honey berries, medlars, goji berries, bananas, pomegranates, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, currants, elderberries, and more.

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Happy Gardening!