📌 Quick Summary (TL;DR): Giant Belgium Pink
- 🌍 Origin: A pink strain/selection of the legendary Giant Belgium heirloom, which originated in Ohio (USA) in the 1930s. The original variety was so sweet and massive that commercial growers reportedly used it to make tomato wine!
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall). It is a late-season variety that requires a long, warm growing period. It can be somewhat finicky about setting fruit if environmental conditions (like temperature swings) aren’t ideal.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Large, meaty pink beefsteaks. Fruits can vary heavily in size on the same plant, ranging from medium slicers to 1.5 lb (700 g) giants.
- 👅 Flavor: Highly praised for being exceptionally juicy, meaty, and sweet. A phenomenal slicing tomato for sandwiches.
Tasty, large-fruited, heavy yielder. It differs from the regular Giant Belgium variety.
I grew two bushes of Giant Belgium Pink. I tossed one bush out in the middle of summer because it didn’t set a single fruit. The yield on the other one wasn’t great either. The fruits were all over the place in size—from small to large.
I think the yield can be higher, I just need to figure this variety out. It turned out to be a late season one for me. Started picking the smaller ones in mid-August, and the large ones in early September. The fruits are meaty, tasty, and juicy 🙂
I grew Giant Belgium Pink in the hoop house. The bushes were tall and productive. I really liked the taste. The fruits were juicy.
Every year it delights me with its yield, flavor, and disease resistance.
Tamara mentions a frustrating but very common problem with giant late-season heirlooms: she had to yank an entire bush out mid-season because it “didn’t set a single fruit.”
This phenomenon is called Blossom Drop. Large beefsteak varieties like Giant Belgium produce massive, complex blossoms. However, tomato pollen becomes completely sterile if daytime temperatures rise above 90°F (32°C) or if nighttime temperatures drop below 55°F (13°C). The plant will flower beautifully, but the unpollinated yellow blossoms will dry up and fall off at the stem joint. If you are growing late-season giants, you sometimes have to be patient and wait for the extreme summer weather to break before the plant will finally start setting fruit!
