Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zones 3a-8b Experience)
Seeds from V. Redko. Her description: “Compact bush, height up to 3.3 feet (1m), fruits are pinkish-red flat beefsteaks weighing 7–10.5 oz (200–300g), outstanding taste, sweet, meaty, few seeds.”
I grew mine outdoors in the dirt. This is a variety for lazy people (plant it and forget it). I planted it and didn’t prune it at all until the whole thing fell over along with the fruits 😆. I had to put a stake in after all. You can’t even see the tomatoes on the bush, they hide under the leaves. My fruit weights were anywhere from 10.5 to 21 oz (300–600g).
Lyuda, how did the taste seem to you 🙂?
They are sweet. But it’s a short bush, so you don’t get a massive overall quantity of tomatoes. The fruits mostly form right in the center, and the ones at the very top didn’t have time to size up for me. The tomatoes are huge for such a small plant. It’s a beautiful, highly ornamental bush.
This variety really made me happy last year. I pulled the main crop off green at the end of August. They stored and ripened indoors perfectly, with hardly any loss in flavor. And the taste is just incredible, unexpectedly sweet. The color is absolutely gorgeous, a sort of iridescent silvery pink. Unfortunately, my camera distorts the color to make it look more red.
Lenochka (Leo) made me very happy with this one a few years ago, and now it’s a permanent favorite in my garden. I also got a stray seed in that pack that turned out to be a mix-up, and I really loved that one too. I’m growing it as well. It has a dwarf plant structure just like the original, but the fruits are neat little fingers 👍 I just label it for myself as “New Big Dwarf mix-up” 😳
Here is what a truss looked like for me growing in a pot. I grew it outdoors in the dirt and in large containers; I need to find the photos. It’s a beautiful and delicious variety. Even though it’s a dwarf, it’s an indeterminate! Beautiful, sturdy plant. An excellent tomato. Sveta @777 gifted me the seeds along with several other dwarfs. I gathered they didn’t really work out for her, but they were absolutely perfect for me.
I’ve been growing it for a couple of years now and have 2 of them growing this year.
Full Summary: Plant, Yield, Taste and Storage
- 🌿 Plant: A highly ornamental, compact dwarf plant (often classified as an indeterminate dwarf or tree-type). It rarely exceeds 3.3 feet (1m). Extremely robust with thick foliage, but requires sturdy staking due to the massive size of the fruit it bears. Performs wonderfully outdoors in the ground or in large containers.
- 📈 Yield: Excellent considering the plant size. The plant heavily focuses its energy on producing massive central fruits, often sacrificing fruit set at the very top.
- 👅 Taste: Universally praised for its outstanding, unexpectedly sweet flavor. It boasts thick, meaty flesh with very few seeds.
- 📦 Texture/Usage: Gorgeous, flat pink beefsteaks that regularly weigh between 10.5 and 21 oz (300–600g). Perfect for fresh eating and thick slices on sandwiches. Extremely forgiving if harvested green before a frost, as they ripen indoors beautifully without a noticeable drop in flavor.
“New Big Dwarf” is a legendary historic heirloom that was originally introduced by the Isbell Seed Company in 1915. It was created by crossing the famous large pink beefsteak “Ponderosa” with the compact “Dwarf Champion.” Over a century later, it remains one of the gold standards for growers looking to harvest giant, flavorful beefsteaks from patio-sized container plants.
