A Red/Orange beefsteak open pollinated tomato on Indeterminate plants
Description
Box Car Willie is a slightly flattened New Jersey tomato variety. The indeterminate, regular-leaf, tall, vigorous, tomato plants yield good crops of large (10 to 16-ounce), smooth, bright-orange/red tomatoes with distinctly delicious well-balanced, rich, sweet that have sufficient acid to push the flavours forward and guarantee this variety as a good choice for sauce or salad and perfect for tomato juice. A good all season tomato that produces well until frost. Good resistance to disease and cracking.
The history seems to be fairly plain, bred by Joe Bratka’s father in the early 1990’s, (Joe Bratka seems to have been a fairly prolific grower for the Seed Savers Exchange but has been accused (by some) of giving the same tomato different names to increase sales) it was one of many varieties which have him in their history.
There seem to be a number of “False Willies” about and we sourced our seeds from reputable suppliers.
It is similar in size and flavour to other Red/Pink Beefsteaks (Mortgage Lifter, Big Beef, Abraham Lincoln, Pink Brandywine) and its always difficult to choose between them.
Quick Facts
- Fruit Type: Beefsteak
- Fruit Shape: Flat/Round
- Fruit Size: Medium/Large
- Fruit Colour: Orange/Red/Pink
- Flesh Colour: Red
- Plant Type: Indeterminate
- Leaf Type: Regular
- Seed Type: Open Pollinated?
- Ripe Days: Late (80+ days)
- Taste: Sweet
- Our Source: Nicky’s Seeds
- Origin: USA – Bratka
- Alternatives: Pink Brandywine, Mortgage Lifter, Big Beef, Abraham Lincoln
- Fruit per Truss: 4-6
- Truss Spacing: 12-18 inches
Buy Your Seeds Here
Prices given are for a packet of seeds (and may be wrong) different suppliers have different numbers of seeds in a packet.
Buy Your Plants Here
Prices may be wrong and will be for different numbers of different sized plants.
Updated: 08/01/2024