I've looked at those plants sold by HD and Lowe's up close and personal. The varieties they are incorporating into those set up all seem to be determinate varieties (at least the ones I have seen). Do you know the variety name of yours.

So IF yours is an determinate (and from appearance i think it is) your choice becomes

(1) leaving it as is and carefully monitoring its moisture and nutrient levels in the hopes of preventing BER from developing and getting some moderate fruit production or

(2) transplanting it into a proper size larger container (like the clay colored one next to it in the pic) with a good soil-less potting mix added so that it has a much better chance for optimal growth, fewer problems and much improved fruit production.

The choice is yours to make.

Some would say leave it as is and take what you get. Personally, as a commercial grower I hate seeing those set-ups as they are doomed to problems IMO. I prefer providing optimal conditions for optimal production. So yes, I would transplant it.

If you decide to do it, just remove the plastic bracket support, push around on the sides of the plastic pot carefully to loosen the root ball, grasp the center stem about midway down, and lift out the whole plant. Set it into the new pot that already has 3-4 " of well wetted potting mix in the bottom and fill in all around the sides of the roots with freash soil. Water well. Give it 24 hours in the shade for 24 hours before moving it back into full sun.

Dave

Wow, thank you very much for sharing.

They are big beef tomatoes,

Ahh then it is an indeterminate variety and will get substantially bigger. It will bless you for transplanting it. :)

Dave

do as dave says...above. In addition...pre-think a plan to provide better support for the much-larger plant that will be coming your way! goodluck

What container size is it in ?
There are also beef steak determinants
I am growing some called " Bush STEAK" Hybrid by Burpee. which is described as Determinant.
Your plant looks like to be an Indeterminant though. I could be wrong.

The original poster said Big Beef which is an indeterminate hybrid.

I too would get it planted ASAP. If you are going to grow it in a pot, which I don't know, then most indeterminates need at least a 10 gal pot and then very sturdy support, not that smaller ringed one that you show in the picture.

Hope that helps,

Carolyn

For that pot size I have 3 of them. One is Bush Goliath, Two are Husky Cherry Red. I saw a few on the shelf at HD that were Heat Master plants. I did those in ground last year. While they did survive the heat. The fruit set did not happen until fall.

Note I had a terrible time last year. I am not placing blame on any of the plants I planted last year. It was just too late when I did get plants in the ground that the weather did not destroy. (2 late rain storms that turned to ice, and froze the ground killing everything. Then 4 hail storms in 6 weeks that destroyed what I replanted.)

For the pot you could plant a bush type that would do just fine in it. The Husky Cherry Red does fine in one. I have taken over a pound of cherry tomatoes off of the one I have, and it is still putting more off. Bush Goliath gives nice sized fruit for such a small plant. Most are near to baseball sized. Some a bit larger. Also Patio will do well in the 3 gal container as well.